Understanding Marriage and Families in Social Transition in China and India: A Comparative Approach

Studies on family change yielded significant insights into marriage and the family over time, and how these changes redefined the boundary of family, its composition, the roles and the dynamics of relationships between the members in the family, and inter-family relationships in the society. Comparative studies of family change between countries have provided important understanding about the structural and cultural constants of family and the relevance of family in a global context. This study aims to understand how family as an institution changed in China and India, and factors that led to those transformations over the period through a critical analysis of studies using data drawn from Census data, National Survey Organisations such as NSSO, NFHS (India) and similar data sources from China (Census, China General Social Survey (CGSS), etc. This comparative study addresses questions – How have Chinese and Indian families changed in structure and form? Have Chinese and Indian peoples shifted their values from collective interests to individual interests?  Have both China and India follow a similar path of changes in marriage and the family during the social transition?