Online personals, e-dating and matrimonial Web sites are changing the rules of how relationships are formed and maintained in communities all over the world. In societies where dating itself is taboo according to social and religious norms, online matrimonial services are filling the gap left by the absence of social networks in societies transition­ing to […]

Our study investigates the influence oftechnology and its use on arranged marriage in India with the use of online matrimonial services. The study has several limitations in its present form. The nature of the research method creates limitations on replicability and generalizability of the study. As natives of the culture we were studying, we carried […]

Our analysis of the use of online matrimonial services for arranged marriages reveals the pos­sibilities created by technology and how they are appropriated by users. To many, the change may appear to be glacial in pace, but against the back­drop of a society that has a history and traditions dating back several millennia, they show […]

Perhaps the biggest change that online matrimonial services have introduced to arranged marriage is opportunity for interaction. In the traditional off-line mode, once a potential match was identi­fied, the next step would be for the prospective groom’s family (with or without the groom) to visit the prospective brides family at home. In more traditional families […]

Traditionally, arranged marriages have been bro­kered by family and friends, an elaborate process laced with social nuances that involves matching candidates on the basis of caste, community, religion and horoscopes. The family plays two important gate-keeping roles; the first is that of controlling the entry of new members into the family, especially the bride, and […]

The decision that a son or daughter should enter the marriage market is usually made by the parents and as a consequence the process is initiated by parents or a trusted family elder. For somebody to raise the matter of their own marriage would be considered bold and indicate that they are self-absorbed rather than […]

There are a growing number of Web sites that are dedicated to providing matrimonial services in India. Major players from U. S. in Internet — related businesses view this as a potential market and have tied up with Indian firms, for example, Yahoo! along with a venture capital firm has taken up a stake in […]

Data for the study was collected over a span of fifteen months which included two visits, 63 days in 2006 and 49 days in 2007, studying Web sites and follow-up conversations over telephone. Dur­ing the first visit, the authors spent time talking to people and collecting secondary data about matrimonial Web sites, investigating the sites […]

The objective of this research is to examine the adoption and use oftechnology in situ in a complex social process involving numerous stakeholders in order to develop a grounded understanding of the phenomena. Our aim here is to observe what people actually do rather than what they say they do or what they say they […]

A nation of over one billion people, India is a country of many contrasts and contradictions. A visitor may witness signs of a progressive economy in its infrastructure, media and use ofmobile com­munication devices. At the same time, institutions such as marriage and the role of women continue to be dominated by traditions. Sociologists cat­egorize […]