My Personal Interest Project will investigate the institution of arranged marriage with a cross-cultural emphasis on western perceptions and attitudes towards traditional marital unions. Through various research methodologies, this investigation will determine a socio-cultural explanation of the decision-making within traditional societies to engage in traditional marriage as well as the role of media in shaping persons’ attitudes and perceptions towards such unions.
This investigation explores the role of family and traditions on a macro and micro level in the decision-making of persons regarding the social institution of marriage. Continuity and change within traditional society is established through an examination of the influence of globalisation and westernisation on the practice of arranged and consanguineous marriage. Conflict is also explored as a concept directly in correlation with the diffusion of western ideology and break down of traditional gender hierarchy.
In concluding my research, it is established that westernisation plays a significant role in constructing persons’ attitudes and perceptions regarding traditional marriage. Not only has it influenced a decline in arranged and consanguineous unions but it has globally acculturated traditional societies to progress towards westernisation by altering their values and worldviews. Media, as a socialisation agent, is dominant in diffusing western ideology and to some extent influencing changes of modernisation in traditional cultures, constructing micro world values and norms.
|
