The New Malay Middle-Class Family

Abstract

This chapter considers several interrelated questions about the impact of modernization, industrialization and urbanization on the new Malay middle-class family. First, what is the pattern of marriage and parenthood among the new Malay middle class? Second, is the Malay middle-class family becoming more egalitarian, with power shared between husbands and wives? Third, is the new Malay middle-class family preoccupied with class reproduction? Fourth, is the fact that the new Malay middle-class family is becoming increasingly nuclear leading to its isolation and the breakdown of extended kin networks? These four questions are discussed in the light of our empirical study conducted among the new Malay middle class in the Klang Valley and in the two provincial towns of Kota Bharu and Kuala Terengganu. In the course of the discussion, comparisons will be drawn, wherever possible, with other studies of both the new middle class and the working class.