2127. Lifeboat Ethic versus Corporate Ethic: Social and Demographic Implications of Stem and Joint Families

Monica Das Gupta
(May 1999)

Kinship systems profoundly influence household economic strategies and thereby affect a wide range of development outcomes.

Das Gupta distinguishes the lifeboat ethic of Northern Europe's stem family system from the corporate ethic of North India's joint family system, which has much in common with that of China. She contrasts these family systems to show how norms of residence and inheritance

• Profoundly influence our values and social constructs.
• Shape patterns of conflict and cooperation between people, thus influencing many basic aspects of social organization and behavior.
• Influence health outcomes by categorizing people according to whether their health is promoted or allowed to fail.
• Shape a wide range of other development outcomes, including migration, strategies of household resource management, ways of exploiting commercial opportunities, and the operation of civil society.

Das Gupta develops a number of hypotheses about the nature of these relationships. Some of these are substantiated quantitatively, and others can be tested empirically.

This paper—a product of Regulation and Competition Policy, Development Research Group—is part of a larger effort in the group to study social institutions and development outcomes. Copies of the paper are available free from the World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433. Please contact Monica Das Gupta, room MC3-579, telephone 202-473-1983, fax 202-522-1153, Internet address mdasgupta@worldbank.org. (23 pages)

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