Examines an important aspect of inter-ethnic relations, namely inter-ethnic marriage, in Singapore, 'one of Southeast Asia's most ethnically heterogenous societies'. With chapters on the sociological significance, sociological factors and types of such marriage, traditional sociocultural organization and ethnic marrying-out rates, and an assessment of findings and research possibilities.

This is one of six titles resulting from the Ethnicity and Fertility in Southeast Asia Project that commenced in 1980. Building upon the results of an earlier study, which established that ethnicity was a significant factor underlying fertility differentials among the various ethnic groups in Southeast Asia, the project aimed to explore in greater detail the extent to which ethnicity and ethnic factors such as ethnic attitudes, ethnic identification and cultural practices influenced reproductive behaviour. Instead of utilizing secondary sources, the project relied on primary data collected through the survey technique. In all, twenty ethnic groups from the five ASEAN countries were surveyed in this study which spanned a period of three years.

Twelve essays on the sociology of the family in Singapore in the modern period.

As discussed in this paper, fertility behaviour is determined by various factors such as ethnicity, education, income and other variables. In Singapore, ethnicity is found to be the most significant factor affecting all the four fertility-related measures, namely, the number of children ever born, desired family size, wife's age at first marriage, and current contraceptive use.