Guérin Isabelle, Natal A., Nordman Christophe, Venkatasubramanian G. (2025). For money can't buy me love ? The political economy of marriages at the time of financialization. Contemporary South Asia, 33 (2), 281-300. ISSN 0958-4935.
Titre du document
For money can't buy me love ? The political economy of marriages at the time of financialization
Guérin Isabelle, Natal A., Nordman Christophe, Venkatasubramanian G.
Source
Contemporary South Asia, 2025,
33 (2), 281-300 ISSN 0958-4935
Anthropology has long shown that kinship, marriage, and systems of production and accumulation are deeply intertwined. In rural Tamil Nadu's increasingly financialized landscape, marriages function less as a means of wealth transfer and more as mechanisms of debt circulation. Drawing on two decades of ethnographic research and three waves of a quantitative household survey in rural Tamil Nadu, this paper examines how growing dependence on financial capitalism shapes marriage decisions - who marries whom, at what cost, with what consequences. Quantitative analysis identifies broad trends and correlations, while ethnographic insights uncover the complex negotiations and trade-offs between families, linking individual and familial trajectories to the region's political economy. While dowries have become widespread, their financial impact varies: families of grooms often use them to reduce debt, whereas families of brides see their financial burdens grow. Weddings and dowries reflect and reinforce the devaluation of women, mirroring agricultural decline, land fragmentation, and the precarious yet rising investment in education amid labor force proletarianization. Rather than offsetting inequalities, ceremonial gifts function as a reverse redistribution mechanism, benefiting wealthier, higher-caste families, particularly those with sons or those investing in education. Ultimately, the dowry system subsidizes both an unstable job market and the financial industry.
Plan de classement
Economie générale / Macroéconomie [094]
;
Société, développement social [106]
