Culture, ecology, and beliefs about gender in son preference caste groups

Ethnographers have documented the prevalence of extreme forms of female neglect and female infanticide in Tamilnadu, India, among two caste groups: Thevars (a warrior caste) and Gounders (a landowning caste). Using a cultural ecological perspective, three field studies were conducted with Thevar, Gounder, and Brahmin participants to examine caste-specific psychological antecedents to female infanticide. Studies 1 and 2 investigated son bias using resource allocation tasks. Using a culture-of-honor task, Study 3 examined the relationship between honor and son preference. In general, Gounders' son bias was related to a desire to have more sons for patrilineal transfer of ancestral land, whereas Thevars' son preference was related to honor concerns. Furthermore, the relevance of cultural ecological perspective to study female neglect is discussed.