“What’s Love Got To Do With It?” - Social Networking through Marriage in Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract

The paper suggests that extended family organisations in India can be regarded as social networks. Networking in this case includes arranged marriages. The empirical example of one middle class family in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh is presented. The paper shows how the arrangement of the marriage can be subdivided into four parts: the activation of the family network for the identification of possible marriage partners; the screening of the proposed family network in terms of a similar amount of social and cultural capital; the evaluation of the individual qualities of the proposed bride in terms of physical and monetary factors; and eventually the marriage itself. The implication is that arranged marriages still play an important role in present day India since the carefully expanded family social network is the easiest available appropriation avenue for its many members.