Mid Term Essay Exam: Perspectives of Mate Selection
This Essay Exam assignment will take you on a cross-cultural journey to explore other strategies humans have invented to select mates. Initially, these Indian ads may look strange to us, but exactly how different are they? By developing a more global perspective on marriage and family, we gain an awareness of and appreciation for the rich variety of strategies humans have created to address basic cultural needs.
Before you begin review the meanings of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism and additional applicable module(s) and supplemental information presented in our SOC 1010 Course Canvas site.
1. Analyze India and U.S. dating, mate selection and wedding traditions using the concepts ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.
2. Post a minimum of 800 words, or more, essay that compares and contrasts the Indian and American strategies that humans use to select mates and eventual Marriage.
Instructions: (1) Study the “Indian Wedding Advertisements” from websites in India and/or research Indian sites that provides Indian Wedding Ads and Information being sure to (cite the new resource)
2. Identify at least eight criteria Indians consider when selecting a spouse.
3. Identify six criteria people in the U.S. use to select a spouse. Provide data and cite sources. You have probably done your own fieldwork, but try free match-making websites.
4. How do Indians go about choosing a mate? How do people in the U.S. select a mate?
5. Similarities: What kinds of values in the U.S. seem to underlie the criteria used in Indian spouse selection? Differences: Compare this with the criteria used in U.S. spouse selection. Upon closer inspection, do we have more in common than first appeared?
6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these two different sets of criteria used to select partners?
