“Marriage is a Complete Gamble”: Marriage Attitudes of the Indian Middle Class

Abstract

Arranged marriage remains popular in India, despite its decline in other contexts. Using data from 40 interviews, this study documents how middle-class young Indians make sense of their marriage options and think about arranged and self-choice marriage. Middle-class young adults were found to approach marriage with marital pragmatism, centering risks, uncertainty, and costs in describing their preferences. To many, arranged marriage was the “safest” option because parental support for the marriage served as a form of insurance against later marital issues. Self-selection of one’s marriage partner was viewed as coming with steep costs, such as stigma; yet this was still the preferred choice for some who described wanting to avoid the “gamble” of compatibility in arranged marriage. This study helps us contextualize the persistence of arranged marriage in India by demonstrating how young people use marital pragmatism to grapple with uncertainty, the burden of personal responsibility, and social expectations.