Overlapping Social Networks: How Couples Manage Family Expenditures in Taiwan

Abstract

This study uses Burt`s theory of structural holes and Lin, Fu and Hsung`s theory of position-generated networks to examine a hypothesis about the overlap of couples` social networks and the degree of joint behaviour in conjugal role relationships. The authors devised five overlap types of couples` networks based on two-dimensional network characteristics: the diversity of ego`s kin ties and the degree of cross-linkages through spouse`s contacts. They measured the conjugal role by how couples manage their day-to-day expenditure and classified them into three categories: mainly managed by wife, mainly managed by husband and joint management. This study used the 2001 Taiwan Social Change Survey to test the hypothesis on the couples` networks and conjugal roles. After controlling for all other variables, the overlap types of the couples` social networks still had significant effects on their management of family expenditure. Specifically, the couples with high diversity of ego`s kin ties and high cross-linkages through spouse practised the joint conjugal role pattern of family expenditure. The reason is that the high diversity of ego`s kin ties provides plural patterns of conjugal roles to be identified and the high cross-linkages through the spouse provide the bargaining power from the spouse.