Rania Salem
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199856749
- eISBN:
- 9780190497613
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199856749.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, Family History, World Modern History
Public discourse in contemporary Egypt frequently uses the language of crisis to describe the state of marriage today. In particular, media commentators and policymakers have expressed anxiety over ...
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Public discourse in contemporary Egypt frequently uses the language of crisis to describe the state of marriage today. In particular, media commentators and policymakers have expressed anxiety over the rising prevalence of involuntary singlehood among young people. Using data from the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey, this chapter examines trends and differentials in delayed marriage and never-marriage, arguing that there is little empirical support for a marriage crisis, which is more myth than reality. Marriage remains virtually universal in Egypt, and while recent cohorts of men and women marry later today than they did in the past, the average age at first marriage is by no means high by international standards. The chapter also investigates the cost of marriage, the factor most commonly blamed for the so-called marriage crisis, and finds that marriage expenses, while prohibitively high for many, have in fact declined over time.Less
Public discourse in contemporary Egypt frequently uses the language of crisis to describe the state of marriage today. In particular, media commentators and policymakers have expressed anxiety over the rising prevalence of involuntary singlehood among young people. Using data from the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey, this chapter examines trends and differentials in delayed marriage and never-marriage, arguing that there is little empirical support for a marriage crisis, which is more myth than reality. Marriage remains virtually universal in Egypt, and while recent cohorts of men and women marry later today than they did in the past, the average age at first marriage is by no means high by international standards. The chapter also investigates the cost of marriage, the factor most commonly blamed for the so-called marriage crisis, and finds that marriage expenses, while prohibitively high for many, have in fact declined over time.
Xin Liu
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520219939
- eISBN:
- 9780520923478
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520219939.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
As in other parts of rural China, the idea of kinship, largely coming from the traditional source of historical influence, plays an important role in structuring a vision of social relationships by ...
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As in other parts of rural China, the idea of kinship, largely coming from the traditional source of historical influence, plays an important role in structuring a vision of social relationships by defining both individual and collective identities, and by shaping individuals' attitudes and sentiments toward one another. This chapter discusses the traditional concept of kinship in the context of a marriage crisis that has followed the economic reforms in this community. Patrilineal descent and virilocal marriage had survived the encounter with the Maoist revolution, but were forced to give way in the 1980s. Endogamy, which in earlier times would have been taken as incestuous, had become a social norm in the 1990s. The discussion argues that this is one of the changes which reflects a shift in how these people conceptualize the relationship between the self and the other.Less
As in other parts of rural China, the idea of kinship, largely coming from the traditional source of historical influence, plays an important role in structuring a vision of social relationships by defining both individual and collective identities, and by shaping individuals' attitudes and sentiments toward one another. This chapter discusses the traditional concept of kinship in the context of a marriage crisis that has followed the economic reforms in this community. Patrilineal descent and virilocal marriage had survived the encounter with the Maoist revolution, but were forced to give way in the 1980s. Endogamy, which in earlier times would have been taken as incestuous, had become a social norm in the 1990s. The discussion argues that this is one of the changes which reflects a shift in how these people conceptualize the relationship between the self and the other.
