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Economic and demographic factors in historical change in joint household formation in India: 1921 and 1981
Abstract
The main argument in this dissertation is that changes in male nuptiality in rural India between 1921 and 1981 was a form of household adaptation to wage dependency and proletarianization in the countryside. The male nuptiality in rural India in 1921 was characterized by extremely early marriage throughout the country. Under conditions of high mortality of that period, early marrying men had an advantage in forming joint households (with both parents present). Male nuptiality in rural India grew more diverse in 1981, and came to be characterized by at least two distinctive nuptiality regimes: One which strongly resembled peasant nuptiality of the early 20th century and the second represented an emergent adult pattern of nuptiality among males in rural India. The variation in marriage age of males in rural India was significantly related to the level agricultural proletarianization in 1981. Regions characterized by early male nuptiality were generally dominated by household-based or peasant production, while regions of later marriage among males were more likely to have a substantial wage labor sector. Due to declines in mortality, the possibility of young men living in a joint household with both parents rose between 1921 and 1981, regardless of age at marriage. But within each level of mortality, early marrying men still had better chances of being able to form a joint household (with both parents). Marriage postponement among males in some parts of rural India may have modified many aspects of the household development process. More important, it may have allowed greater flexibility with respect to the timing of household formation, and also ensured that men were financially able to support a family when they married.
Subject Area
Demography|Asian History|Individual & family studies|South Asian Studies
Recommended Citation
Banerjee, Kakoli, "Economic and demographic factors in historical change in joint household formation in India: 1921 and 1981" (1993). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9329564.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9329564