A Tale of Two Villages: Modernization and Household Change in India’s Deccan Plateau

• In Event: 1541 - Population Processes: Cohort dynamics and social change

Abstract

This study combines demographic and ethnographic data to compare processes of development and household change in two villages in India’s Deccan Plateau. In the first village, traditional joint households have become virtually extinct in recent years. Analyses suggest that frequent labor migrations and slow economic growth largely explain this state of affairs. In the second village, the data show a recent increase in the prevalence of joint households. The expansion of irrigation created economic opportunities in farming and other industries. With land revenues soaring, many young men now jointly invest in land with their father and brother(s) instead of purchasing separate houses. This suggests that agricultural improvements and the revitalization of the village economy have stimulated the formation of joint households. Overall, the villages’ stories illuminate mechanisms by which economic growth and development can raise or lower the incentive for joint coresidence depending on often ambivalent residential preferences.

Author

• Etienne Breton, University of Pennsylvania