In 1900, South Asia, East Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa were patrilocal and patrilineal, but with one fundamental distinction. Endogamy versus exogamy. South Asians married kin, East Asians did not. This cultural difference may have mediated their responses to economic growth, in turn shaping culture.
Just a quick comment regarding Hong Kong and filial piety -
My wife is from Hong Kong, I'm Spanish, we have 3 kids. One of the places where our values differ the most is on -let's call it- "family obligations". For me, 'duty' flows downwards, i.e. it's the parents' duty to make sure your children are succesful, educated, happy citizens. For her, it flows upwards, in that children owe their lives to their parents, so they have to pay back the favor by taking care of them. In such an individualistic society like Hong Kong, parents don't affect your life choices, but children need to pay up to 1/3 of their salary to their parents, etc. From this point of view, children schooling and education is an investment in yourself - by setting them up for a good career path, you ensure they will be able to pay more money back to you in the future.
From an Indian POV, I completely concur. Caste continues to persist and, in my opinion, and many others, doesn't respect civil and personal liberties, often reducing them to choices exercised by the parents of the children.
What does this add up to?
1. Many marriages between business families also happen within religious and caste lines, so it's not a case of marrying for money but rather keeping the money circulating between these dynasties
2. Since the male person would not just be the head of the family but also the patriarch of the family business, many men lost out on chances to expand their employability; stories abound within my friend circle where the person would state, I am going abroad to get an MBA but in the end, I will probably grow the family business whether I like it or not
3. Finally, in my two years working in Bangalore and now living in Australia, I have come across numerous stories where the person would state that they love their lives in the US or Australia or X country but would come back home to marry because that is what feels right; now the logic aside, one thing that always got to me was why did they not want to marry an Indian girl who grew up in those countries?
These are still personal observations and I haven't gotten into the weeds to see if they are supported by the numbers
Something that hadn't occurred to me before: could endogamy in the Muslim world be related to their restrictions on alcohol? They might not see value in boozy nights out if they don't value building up social ties with non-kin to similar degrees.
Interesting observation. Reminds me of Joe Henrich's argument in his book, that the reduced kin selection due to changes in religion leading to less cousin marriage spurred economic growth and led to more individualistic and WEIRD cultures.
These are fascinating essays. I hope that they are not merely taken from your book, and that instead the process of writing them helps your book-writing in some way. As someone who is increasingly skeptical about the book format, I would like to see you experiment with training a chatbot on your writing, resulting in something like Tyler Cowen's GOAT project. The result would be something more interactive than a book. https://arnoldkling.substack.com/p/links-to-consider-1029
Just a quick comment regarding Hong Kong and filial piety -
My wife is from Hong Kong, I'm Spanish, we have 3 kids. One of the places where our values differ the most is on -let's call it- "family obligations". For me, 'duty' flows downwards, i.e. it's the parents' duty to make sure your children are succesful, educated, happy citizens. For her, it flows upwards, in that children owe their lives to their parents, so they have to pay back the favor by taking care of them. In such an individualistic society like Hong Kong, parents don't affect your life choices, but children need to pay up to 1/3 of their salary to their parents, etc. From this point of view, children schooling and education is an investment in yourself - by setting them up for a good career path, you ensure they will be able to pay more money back to you in the future.
From an Indian POV, I completely concur. Caste continues to persist and, in my opinion, and many others, doesn't respect civil and personal liberties, often reducing them to choices exercised by the parents of the children.
What does this add up to?
1. Many marriages between business families also happen within religious and caste lines, so it's not a case of marrying for money but rather keeping the money circulating between these dynasties
2. Since the male person would not just be the head of the family but also the patriarch of the family business, many men lost out on chances to expand their employability; stories abound within my friend circle where the person would state, I am going abroad to get an MBA but in the end, I will probably grow the family business whether I like it or not
3. Finally, in my two years working in Bangalore and now living in Australia, I have come across numerous stories where the person would state that they love their lives in the US or Australia or X country but would come back home to marry because that is what feels right; now the logic aside, one thing that always got to me was why did they not want to marry an Indian girl who grew up in those countries?
These are still personal observations and I haven't gotten into the weeds to see if they are supported by the numbers
Something that hadn't occurred to me before: could endogamy in the Muslim world be related to their restrictions on alcohol? They might not see value in boozy nights out if they don't value building up social ties with non-kin to similar degrees.
Interesting observation. Reminds me of Joe Henrich's argument in his book, that the reduced kin selection due to changes in religion leading to less cousin marriage spurred economic growth and led to more individualistic and WEIRD cultures.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_WEIRDest_People_in_the_World
These are fascinating essays. I hope that they are not merely taken from your book, and that instead the process of writing them helps your book-writing in some way. As someone who is increasingly skeptical about the book format, I would like to see you experiment with training a chatbot on your writing, resulting in something like Tyler Cowen's GOAT project. The result would be something more interactive than a book. https://arnoldkling.substack.com/p/links-to-consider-1029