Developmental Idealism and Cultural Models of the Family in Malawi

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which developmental idealism has been disseminated in Malawi. Developmental idealism is a set of beliefs and values about development and the relationships between development and family structures and behavior. Developmental idealism states that attributes of societies and families defined as modern are better than attributes defined as traditional, that modern societies help produce modern families, that modern families facilitate the achievement of modern societies, and that the future will bring family change in the direction of modernity. Previous research has demonstrated that knowledge of developmental idealism is widespread in many places around the world, but provides little systematic data about it in sub-Saharan Africa or how knowledge of it is associated with certain demographic characteristics in that region. In this paper, we address this issue by examining whether ordinary people in two settings in Malawi, a sub-Saharan African country, have received and understood messages that are intended to associate development with certain types of family forms and family behaviors. We then examine associations between demographic characteristics and developmental idealism to investigate possible mechanisms linking global discourse about development to the grassroots. We analyze data collected in face-to-face surveys from two samples of Malawian men in 2009 and 2010, one rural, the other in a low-to-medium income neighborhood of a city. Our analysis of these survey data shows considerable evidence that many developmental idealism beliefs have been spread in that country and that education has positive effects on beliefs in the association between development and family attributes. We also find higher levels of developmental idealism awareness in the urban sample than we do in the rural sample, but once dissimilarities in education and wealth between the two samples are controlled, awareness levels no longer differed between urban and rural respondents. We explore how these beliefs intersect with longstanding local values and beliefs in Malawi.

Conflict and Compatibility? Developmental Idealism and Gendered Differences in Marital Choice

“…Mass education, mass media, colonization, tourism, migration, and international aid all played a role in in this diffusion. Recent surveys show that DI schemas are now widely endorsed in many different countries, ranging from Iran to Bulgaria to Malawi (Abbasi‐Shavazi, Askari‐Nodoushan, & Thornton, ; Melegh, Thornton, Philipov, & Young‐DeMarco, ; Thornton, Binstock, et al, ; Thornton, Pierotti, Young‐DeMarco, & Watkins, ).…”

Influences on the knowledge and beliefs of ordinary people about developmental hierarchies

“…This survey research shows that many people in these countries hold models of developmental hierarchies, that the perceived hierarchies are similar across these countries, and that these hierarchies are often similar to the hierarchies published by the UN. Survey research in Argentina, China, Egypt, Iran, Malawi, Nepal, and the United States also demonstrates that many individuals associate development as both a cause and an effect of intergenerational independence, gender equality, older ages at marriage, low fertility, and the involvement of young couples in spouse selection (Binstock and Thornton 2007; Abbasi-Shavazi et al 2012; Thornton et al 2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2012d). …”

Kinship Practices Among Alternative Family Forms in Western Industrialized Societies

“…Nuclear families continue to represent the preferred family form for many in the West, even though an ever‐declining portion of the population resides in two‐biological‐parent households. Cultural acceptance of alternative structures such as same‐sex marriage, intimate partnerships outside of marriage, and shared parenting across households has increased in most if not all nations with high‐income economies and a growing number of low‐ and middle‐income countries where the nuclear family had never been the ideal (Thornton, Pierotti, Young‐DeMarco, & Watkins, 2014; Thornton & Young‐DeMarco, 2001). Alternative forms of the family have been gradually, sometimes reluctantly, accepted resulting in changing social practices, laws, and public policy that define and support the family system.…”