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PAPER ID:IJIM/V.II(IV)/28-45/5
AUTHOR: Jitendra Kumar Kushwaha and Mahesh Kumar
TITLE: REFLECTED PSYCHO-SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF MATRIMONY ADVERTISEMENTS: INSIGHTS FROM LOCAL NEWSPAPER OF HARYANA
ABSTRACT: With the advent of modern global changes brought by information technology and globalization have push academia to unravel the essence of existing psycho-social dynamics of Indian society which is predominantly determined by the hierarchical structure of caste. Most often the caste identity operates through daily activities and in the behaviour to form distinctive sets of attitude toward particular individual belonging to particular caste. It also has the potential to form firm beliefs and social cognitions which can be reflected in social affairs. The modern education upholds the philosophy for abolishing caste and caste system from Indian society and therefore it becomes highly pertinent to analyse the extent of caste persisting in the contemporary society and determines the mind-sets of people. Thus the need has arisen to unravel the extent of caste rigidity (affiliation/operation/function) and its impact on mind-sets of people by exploring (analysing) the matrimony advertisements of local newspaper. The local newspaper which has been taken in this research covers the areas of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan where practices of endogamy are high. In this research, the systematic observation of previous six months entries of every Sunday edition (September 2015 to February 2016), where matrimony advertisements are made, are done meticulously with proper attention to keep particular entry under particular heads of advertisements. The simple descriptive statistics analysis is done by using Microsoft Excel. The analysis is completed by calculating percentage of representation within the community and proportion with respect to total entries. From the analysis, it has been found that the larger chunks of advertisements are made by the upper caste, highly educated and by those who are more than thirty years old. Most of the cases it is found that matches are sought within the caste (community) and inclination towards inter-caste marriages are made by those who are either divorced, widow or have achieved more than 35 years of age. Very miniscule or negligible entries are made for inter-caste marriage that are looking for first marriage and are between 25-30 years. The proportion of ‘Caste No Bar’ is very minimal or almost negligible among the entries made for boys and girls. These contrasting situations till date clearly reflect the psycho-social dynamics of marriages in Indian society and thereby undermining the influence of globalization, information technology and role of modern education. The proportion of advertisements to search suitable match is equal for both boys and girls and also the girl’s age of marriages have increased which reflects the systematic change in the society and questioning the age old patriarchal structure of the society.
KEYWORDS: Matrimony, Caste, Social Cognitions.
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