ENDOGAMY, HOMOPHILY, AND FAMILIAL INFLUENCE IN PARTNER SELECTION: A CULTURAL AND STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS IN BRITISH PAKISTANI CONTEXT

Abstract

The research paper explores the intergenerational partner choice among British Pakistanis in the United Kingdom. Using the homophily theory, the social exchange theory, and the push factor of third-party influence, the paper addresses the idea of how matrimonial preferences are maintained and changed in a diasporic environment. The study employs reflexive thematic analysis of qualitative information, which uncovers that first-generation parents still value endogamy, religious orientation and honour. Conversely, second-generation descendants mention education, compatibility of the lifestyle and personal preference more and more as valid criteria in choosing the partner. Gender mediates such negotiations: women are more controlled and placed as the holders of the culture, sons are more free. The paper develops an integrative theoretical hypothesis, which holds that the process of diasporic homophily develops into a process mediated by class and filtered by gender, as in the case of diasporic homophily, the redefinition of similarity in relation to kinship and the regulation of agency permissibility in families respectively. The paper therefore adds to the sociological study of migration and marriage by showing that partner selection in the diasporic community is not about the straightforward change of tradition to individual choice, but is rather a composite process due to the interplay of the influence of class, gender and exposure to transnationalism.