Exchange Marriages in a Community of Pakistan

Abstract

The structuralist and social exchange theorists relate the system of the exchange marriage mainly to socioeconomic interests, the formation of political and social alliances, as well as to the creation of a kinship network. However, they negate the inherited problems of the system of the exchange. This article discloses positive and negative aspects of the exchange and the cycle of social exchange. This study focuses on the notion of adequate social exchange. The study reveals tensions between individual and collective perspectives, as well as the conditions under which it—gradually and slightly—is being transformed on the basis of the notion of the adequate social exchange.