Marital Roles and Power

Perceptions and reality in the Urban Setting

Bibliographic Data

ID2940378
AuthorsG N Ramu (University of Manitoba, corresponding author)
Year1988
Volume19
Issue2
Pages207-227
Publication date1988-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Comparative Family Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-2328 • E-ISSN: 1929-9850
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/jcfs.19.2.207
OpenAlexW2285262016
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited2

This paper explores the perception of roles and distribution of power among a sample of 312 married men and women in an urban-industrial city in South India (kolar Gold Field). The paper argues that although Indian society is experiencing significant social change associated with modernization cultural and normative codes continue to exert their influence on marriage and the family. Consequently consensus between husbands and wives about each others roles has increased markedly with husbands defined as the breadwinners and wives as homemakers. In practice nearly 90% of the husbands studied are the sole providers and nearly all wives including a small proportion who are employed are dependents. With regard to marital power the general perception is that the husbands have the right to make critical decisions and hold undisputed authority over their wives. In fact however there is close consultation and bargaining in the exercise of domestic authority. The nuclear family structure with an emphasis on conjugal solidarity companionship open communication and mutual dependence has helped wives to gain a good measure of equality in the spheres of decision-making and interpersonal influence. (authors)

Bargaining power · Interpersonal communication · Interpersonal relationship · Modernization theory · Normative · Perception · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Sociology · Solidarity · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Gender Studies · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Law · Psychology · Social and Economic Development in India · Social Psychology

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