Transition into marriage in Greater Jakarta: Courtship, Parental Influence and Self-Choice Marriage

This paper questions whether the shift to self-choice marriage implies that the traditional cultural norms stressing family influence on spouse selection have been weakened by inroads of modern norms of greater individual autonomy in the marriage process. Using a representative sample of married young adults (aged 20-34) in Greater Jakarta, we explore the courtship processes, and the degree of parental role in spouse selection. While only 4 per cent of the respondents cited that their marriage was arranged by others; over half of the respondents reported their parents or in-laws played a major role in their marriage decision. Our multivariate analysis suggests that the tertiary educated respondents are those most likely to report their parents playing a major role. We reflect on the prevailing cultural norms to discuss the centrality of family in studying the interactions between marriage, education, and social mobility in modern Indonesia.