Cultural Determinants of Power for Women Within the Family: A Neglected Aspect of Family Research

Abstract

Sources of power family for the United within the States and India are compared based on empirical studies from Blood and Wolfe for the United States and a replication carried out by the author in 1969. It was found that for both the United States and India the spouse with the greatest power was the spouse with the greatest competency. Urbanization increases power for women in the Indian sample, a factor not important in the United States according to Blood and Wolfe. However, the idea that "tradition" means lower power for women in India is not proved in that love matches seem actually to lower power scores for women. From evidence on family separations and other empirically based research in India, it is concluded that while structural changes in family and society lead to increased power for women, women seem to be using their power in India to de-emphasize the "love match" approach to the family and to re-emphasize the "business alliance" or power approach to marital decision-making. Several implications of this finding for social theory as it relates to the field of the sociology of the family are discussed.