Examining patterns of mate selection and the core issue of agency, this brief article reports on fieldwork in a remote community in Pakistan, where the family continues to have supervening influence over individual choices in mate selection through exchange marriages. It explores the role of the family as a security provider and demonstrates the limited scope for individual agency. The behaviour of the family in mate selection, where strong security concerns are observed, indicates a culture–centered approach to tackle the issue in a clan context, where members try to maximise various aspects of security in the exchange of mate relations. Intensive fieldwork indicates significant feelings of insecurity among individuals over spouse selection and adoption of family–centered choices. Often the families of this agrarian community give priority to exchange marriages of their offspring, leaving limited options for the evasion of family control, since social security concerns normally prevail. The article also considers briefly the wider implications of such research.
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