Attitudes of South African Indians towards interreligious and arranged marriages: A preliminary study

Abstract

Research on the family institution of South African Indians is scarce. This article deals with the results of a preliminary study of one aspect of their family life, namely, attitudes towards arranged and interreligious marriages. Two working hypotheses were formulated. First, that older, less-educated and economically deprived Indian persons are more in favour of arranged and intrareligious marriages than younger, better-educated and economically independent persons. Second, that South African Muslims have stronger feelings towards the perpetuation of arranged and intrareligious marriages than Hindus and Christians. The sample studied included elements from the lower, middle, and upper socio-economic strata. Variables brought into relation with the hypotheses were age, education, religion, occupation, and annual income. It was concluded that evidence from the study tends to support the working hypotheses. The tentativeness of the conclusions, owing to the preliminary nature of the study and the need to v...