Pakistan Association of Anthropology, Islamabad, Pakistan Special issue Sci.int.(Lahore),27(1),695-697,2015 ISSN 1013-5316, CODEN: SINTE 8 695 Jan.-Feb SOCIAL CHANGE, MODERNITY AND ENDOGAMOUS MARRIAGES: ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS Samia Imtiaz, Zubaida Ilyas , *Abid Ghafoor Chaudhry and Syeda Aimen Hadi Department of Anthropology, PMAS- Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, *Corresponding Author: abidgc@uaar.edu.pk ABSTRACT: Modernization followed by globalization has changed the marriage patterns all over Asia. Diffusion of cultural patterns, education, changing family patterns and global awareness can be accounted for this change. The objective of the study was “to study the effects of modernity on endogamous marriages”. The locale of the study was PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi and Satellite Town District Rawalpindi. Modernity, education and increased dependence over ICT can be accounted for diminishing endogamous marriages pattern sand increased inclination towards exogamous marriages. Key words: Social change, Modernity, Endogamous marriages INTRODUCTION Marriage is a social contract between two individuals who can produce off springs lawfully and in socially respectful manners. “Marriage is a socially legitimate sexual union and culturally approved custom and “marriage is cultural”[1]. Which allows two opposite sex members of the society to have sexual relationship and become legal parents of the offspring that result from their sexual intercourse [2]. “Marriage is unification of a man and a woman such that the children born to the woman are accepted as rightful offspring of both partners.” “Marriage is cultural, so it setup certain rights and responsibilities between the people including, husband wife their children and their in-laws [3]. In Islamic societies adultery is strongly prohibited. Individuals found to have sexual relationship with a person other than spouse were sentenced to death” [4]. Endogamous marriage is marrying within close relatives. It is characterized by marriage between cross cousins and parallel cousins. “Anthropologically marriage is a group of two or more people related by blood, marriage, or adoption” [5]. Endogamy is mostly practiced in South Asia. There are many factors that support endogamy. People prefer endogamy to strengthen their family ties because they have sense of pride, belongingness, and identity attached to their specific family and caste. Endogamous marriages are also preferred for the maintenance of social status, keeping the property and wealth within the same family. Modernity can be taken in terms of advancement in technology; life style of people, social institutions, education, beliefs and norms. Modernity as transition from old to new. Modernization brought changes in class systems which resulted in new marriage patterns [6,7]. “Industrialization, the traditional family structures are breaking down”, which is a sign of modernization. Under the light of modernization theory, it can be hypothesized that with “modernization” of societies “dimensions of stratification” and status also change, from “ascribed” to achieved i.e. from “inherited social position” to “formal education and skill” [8, 9]. Thus now, marriages within the family to safeguard achieved statuses are declining, while the focus is now to achieve statuses and then marry. Moreover, modernization brings about social change in terms of family patterns also. In the view of this theory it is argued that industrialization and development in terms of economy will alter attitudes of people towards family patterns. People prefer to live in an independent environment with their children. This obviously affects the family ties negatively, weakening the bonds and changing preferences [10]. As the effect of modernity amplifies it not only bringing changes in technology but also influences the life of people. They are changing their life styles and values according to modern world. In the same way marriage patterns have been changing people prefer to marry outside their kin as they contact with the modern world, It can be proved by ‘[8] hypothesized a decline in consanguinity(marrying within close relatives) with modernization”. Modernization increases the opportunities of education. Children meet new people in schools and colleges and make friends. They belong to different ethnic groups and different socio economic status. This meeting enables them to select their mate. “It is maintained that higher education raised the chances for cultural minorities to meet members of the outer group” [11]. Industrialization revolutionized the whole world. As the time passes people’s attitudes toward things are changing. With this people’s preferences about marriage partner is also changing. People are more conscious about their mate. Shorter claimed that after the end of the eighteenth century romantic love gained position in the Western world: ‘‘the most important change in nineteenth- and twentieth century was courtship which promoted emotions. People started to give importance to affection and personal compatibility in choosing their mates. These new values expressed as romantic love.’ Another reason of declining endogamous marriage is genetic pool. According to inbreeding theory before the advancement in knowledge about genetic marriage within kinship, they are more likely to have same harmful recessive genes which produced higher genetic defects which resulted in higher mortality rate. To overcome this problem people started out breeding [1]. METHODOLOGY This study has been designed to find out the effects of modernity on endogamous marriages. For this purpose sample of 100 respondents was selected through convenient sampling technique out of which 50 youngsters were interviewed from PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi and 50 respondents of middle age were interviewed from satellite town district Rawalpindi.