Conjugal-Role Organization and Social Networks in Japan and England.

Elizabeth Bott's hypothesis that "the degree of segregation in the role-relationship of husband and wife varies directly with the connectedness of the family's social network" has been tested with inconclusive results. C. C Harris has reinterpreted the English data by suggesting that the degree to which monosex groups exist for each spouse explains the data better than does Bott's thesis. In this paper, Japanese and English data are compared and the relative merits of Harris' thesis over that of Bott discussed. Implications of the findings for further research are discussed as they relate to the contrasting rates of divorce found in the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]