An emergentist vs a linear approach to social change processes: a gender look in contemporary India between modernity and Hindu tradition

Abstract

Using Census of India data from 1901 to 2011 and national and international reports on women’s condition in India, beginning with sex ratio trends according to regional distribution up to female infanticides and sex-selective abortions and dowry deaths, this study examines the sociological aspects of the gender imbalance in modern contemporary India. Gender inequality persistence in India proves that new values and structures do not necessarily lead to the disappearance of older forms, but they can co-exist with mutual adaptations and reinforcements. Data analysis suggests that these unexpected combinations are not comprehensible in light of a linear concept of social change which is founded, in turn, on a concept of social systems as linear interaction systems that relate to environmental perturbations according to proportional cause and effect relationships. From this perspective, in fact, behavioral attitudes and interaction relationships should be less and less proportionally regulated by traditional values and practices as exposure to modernizing influences increases. And progressive decreases should be found in rates of social indicators of gender inequality like dowry deaths (the inverse should be found in sex ratio trends). However, data does not confirm these trends. This finding leads to emphasize a new theoretical and methodological approach toward social systems study, namely the conception of social systems as complex adaptive systems and the consequential emergentist, nonlinear conception of social change processes. Within the framework of emergentist theory of social change is it possible to understand the lasting strength of the patriarchal tradition and its problematic consequences in the modern contemporary India.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-015-0933-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Socioeconomic Determinants of Anticipated and Actual Caregiving for Older Adults in India

“…This finding also suggests that when care needs of parents/parents-in-law arise, adult children are marshalled into the actual caregiver role regardless of level of religiosity. Note that our sample is collected from urban India, where people are known to subscribe less to Hindu and patriarchal traditions compared to rural India (Condorelli, 2015). Given this, it is very likely religiosity is more salient for both anticipated and actual informal care in rural areas than in urban areas.…”

“…India continues to be a highly patriarchal society that is juxtaposed between the Hindu tradition of having women subservient to men and modernity in which women have more relational power (Condorelli, 2015). Female children are still considered a burden due to dowry costs, and consumerism brought about by modernity contributes to the escalation of dowry prices (Condorelli, 2015), which further devalues women in the eyes of their family. In this cultural context, concern for long-term care leads parents to prefer having sons because daughters are expected to eventually marry out of the family (Kadoya & Khan, 2017).…”

“…Major social change such as this shapes norms and role relationships in ways that affect exchanges of resources and power within and beyond the family (Bruhn & Rebach, 2014). Note that even though women's workforce participation may prevent women from rendering more actual care than men (Bruhn & Rebach, 2014), we expect that women continue to be primarily responsible for providing care because: (1) women's labor force participation is on a downward trend (World Bank, 2022) and (2) labor markets pay women less and institutions (e.g., religious, state) hinder the full realization of women's careers, which, in turn, may lead Indian women to have low opportunity costs associated with engaging in unpaid domestic work (Condorelli, 2015), and (3) most importantly, when care needs arise, we expect females would provide more care than males because traditional gender norms set an expectation that females are responsible for overseeing household chores including personal care tasks (Dhar, 2012). In addition, once females are married, care responsibilities are shifted from parents to parents-in-law, and females are expected to assume their spouses' filial obligations if the spouse is unavailable due to reasons such as employment and emigration (Ugargol et al, 2016).…”

Gender Trouble in Social Psychology: How Can Butler’s Work Inform Experimental Social Psychologists’ Conceptualization of Gender?

“…This societal view of gender is also reflected in the works of many feminist writers, who define sex as biological and gender as cultural (see Gould, 1977, for a review and critical discussion). Butler criticizes this distinction between sex – as natural, essential, and pre-discursive (i.e., existing before culture and before interpretation) – and gender as its cultural interpretation.…”

Local Wisdom-Based Livelihood Strategies of Women Households in Central Maluku

“…Beberapa studi gender menemukan bahwa, perempuan memiliki kontribusi terhadap ekonomi rumah tangga (Karin Hoisl & Myriam Mariani, 2016;Fatimatul Muzakiyah and Hartoyo, 2017;Mufaro Andrew Matandare, 2018). Sementara pada studi lainnya memperlihatkan jika perempuan seringkali dibatasi aktifitasnya oleh tradisi, politik, patrilinealitik maupun agama (Condorelli, 2015;Kirsten Wesselhoeft, 2017;Neetu, et al, 2017;Yujing, 2017;Isaken & Czapka, 2018). (Chang, 2002dan Helmsing, 2003.…”