The Commodification of International Marriages: Cross‐border Marriage Business in Taiwan and Viet Nam

Abstract

In this article, we attempt to place the issue of international marriage in an institutionalized profit-oriented social context, which is described as "the commodification process". The starting point included measuring the scale of the international marriage market in Taiwan.Socio-demographic change in Taiwan and Viet Nam has created a market for profit-pursuing marriage agents. Agents scattered in different social spheres have gradually linked to form a profitable industry. Two different industrial organization types have emerged in the matchmaking process to meet different market constraints. As the cross-border marriage market matures, more and more people enter the market, and competitive price, good quality and delivery on time become the necessary conditions for success. In this competitive process, female migrant partners become increasingly commodified to conform to the new situation. They are required to accept reduced prices, to be "good enough" to marry and to be married when there is demand. The social networks of individuals are gradually transformed by agents in pursuit of profit.

Factors of Intermarriage in Tourist Destinations: Case Study of Yangshuo

“…The first term is usually used in studies on the attachment and behaviors that partners or couples may have in relation to their countries of birth or residence. The other two usually describe spouses belonging to different ethnic groups although they are in a same country, which emphasizes cultural issues between ethnic groups (Lee, Williams, & Arguillas, 2016;Wang & Chang, 2002). Some scholars point out that there are three topics in intermarriage among global academic research, they are: patterns of intermarriage, intermarriage & migration as well as intermarriage & social and economic integration (Kalmijn, 1998 (Yang & Shi, 2015).…”

Nemzetközi vándormozgalom és kezelése Dél-Koreában

“…Ugyanakkor az önkormány-zatok is érdekeltté váltak az egyes települések elnéptelenedése miatt, s rendszeres támogatást kezdtek nyújtani a fiúgyermekes családoknak, hogy feleséget hozathassanak maguknak a házasságközvetítő cégeken keresztül. Ez utóbbi pedig jelentős szerepet játszott a partnerközvetítő iparág hazai és külföldi fellendülésében is (Wang -Chang 2002). S végül azt sem szabad elfelejteni, hogy a globális etnikai migrációs hálózatok kiépülése is nagyban hozzájárul a jelenség intézményesüléséhez.…”

Reproductive contributions of Taiwan´s foreign wives from the top five source countries

“…19 The values of the proportion being divorced were also computed by the authors from the data in the second table mentioned in the previous footnote. 20 It is likely that the lack of importance of the wife's educational attainment on the reproductive outcome is partly due to the fact that the Taiwanese government assumes that households with a foreign spouse (especially one with little education) tend to have very limited resources for raising and educating their children, and hence offer them subsidies to practice fertility control (Douglass 2006). commitment to remain in Taiwan (Wang and Chang 2002). This could be especially true for those whose current marriage was their second marriage, because they were more likely to have one or more dependent children left in their home country.…”