The Computer As 'Middle Agent': Negotiating the Meanings of Marriage on a Sikh Online Dating Site
Pauline Maclaran, Keele University, UK
Anne Broderick, De Montfort University, UK
Amandeep Takhar, Keele University, UK
Liz Parsons, Keele University, UK
In this paper we consider how virtual marketspaces are reshaping socio-cultural contexts by exploring how intergenerational meanings and expectations of marriage are being negotiated through consumption of an online dating site, Shaadi.com, a site that is used by the Sikh community to find potential life partners. The findings show that key socio-cultural tensions around the question of Sikh courtship are being negotiated through the use of this medium. The paper concludes with a discussion of the role of the computer as ‘middle agent’, a role that is taken traditionally by a family friend in arranged Sikh marriages.
[ to cite ]:
Pauline Maclaran, Anne Broderick, Amandeep Takhar, and Liz Parsons (2007) ,"The Computer As 'Middle Agent': Negotiating the Meanings of Marriage on a Sikh Online Dating Site", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, eds. Stefania Borghini, Mary Ann McGrath, and Cele Otnes, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 60-65.