Interethnic Marriage and Intergenerational Gender Norms Transmission

• In Event: Minority Politics in the Comparative Context

Abstract

A key aim of the long-standing literature on cultural transmission is to account for the intergenerational transmission of cultural traits. We identify two limitations in existing work. First, although in recent years mainstream economics has moved away from the unitary household assumption (Doss, 2021), many seminal models of intergenerational norm transmission have retained it (e.g., Cavalli-Sforza & Feldman, 1981), presenting household units as homogeneous in their preferences and thus obscuring “a set of complex within-household dynamics” (Khan, 2017). Second, in many of these models the consideration of social context is either missing or contested. For example, some find that local minority groups will instill their distinct cultural values while others find that local majority practices are adopted nearly universally. In view of these mixed results, we argue for the need to carefully explore factors that introduce conflicting incentives for cultural transmission at the household- and community-level. To showcase this point, we study the transmission of gender norms drawing from cross-sectional survey data (DHS, LGPI) from Africa, given the continent’s generally high levels of household- and community-level ethnic diversity and its kin-based forms of social organisation, which are often gendered. To delve into causal mechanisms, we also design an original qualitative household survey of interethnic couples in Zambia. Leveraging this mixed-methods approach, we explore how ethnic heterogeneity at different levels shapes the formation, practice, and intergenerational transmission of cultural traits, and what implications this brings for household dynamics. 

Authors

• Ioanna Gkoutna, University College London

• Adam Harris, University College London