TY - CHAP
T1 - EMBODIED CAPITAL AND HERITABLE WEALTH IN COMPLEX CULTURES
T2 - A CLASS-BASED ANALYSIS OF PARENTAL INVESTMENT IN URBAN SOUTH INDIA
AU - Shenk, Mary K.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was largely funded by a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant, Award ID No. BCS-0001523. Additional funding came from the Ruby Weitzer Morris Memorial Fellowship. I would like to thank the following individuals for their assistance with this project: First, my advisors at the University of Washington: Eric Alden Smith, Donna Leonetti, Stevan Harrell, K. Sivaramakrishnan, and Shelly Lundberg; Second, my advisors at the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, India: M. G. Rao, G. K. Karanth, and Gayathri Devi. Finally, P. Rajeswari, Padma Sastry, Sangeetha V., D. Tharamathi, and Indira M. for invaluable assistance in the field.
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - In the recent literature in human behavioral ecology, two types of explanations have emerged as important for understanding fertility and parental investment in modern market economies: embodied capital and heritable wealth. Using this perspective, I compare the education, income, and marriage outcomes of daughters and sons among three urban south Indian social class groups that differ in terms of their education, resources, and the types of jobs they typically perform. The three class groups are found to have predictably different parental investment strategies based on their position in competitive labor markets and the investment currencies they rely on most heavily. Furthermore, I find that the currencies of both embodied capital and heritable wealth have important but separate impacts on parental investment behavior. Finally, I find that these different investment currencies may entail different investment structures, which in turn may differ by social class: in some classes, education attracts education in the marriage market and marriage expenditures help ensure a wealthy spouse, but in other classes, these currencies are substitutable.
AB - In the recent literature in human behavioral ecology, two types of explanations have emerged as important for understanding fertility and parental investment in modern market economies: embodied capital and heritable wealth. Using this perspective, I compare the education, income, and marriage outcomes of daughters and sons among three urban south Indian social class groups that differ in terms of their education, resources, and the types of jobs they typically perform. The three class groups are found to have predictably different parental investment strategies based on their position in competitive labor markets and the investment currencies they rely on most heavily. Furthermore, I find that the currencies of both embodied capital and heritable wealth have important but separate impacts on parental investment behavior. Finally, I find that these different investment currencies may entail different investment structures, which in turn may differ by social class: in some classes, education attracts education in the marriage market and marriage expenditures help ensure a wealthy spouse, but in other classes, these currencies are substitutable.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34247673005&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=34247673005&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0190-1281(04)23013-X
DO - 10.1016/S0190-1281(04)23013-X
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:34247673005
SN - 0762310820
SN - 9780762310821
T3 - Research in Economic Anthropology
SP - 307
EP - 333
BT - Socioeconomic Aspects of Human Behavioral Ecology
ER -