04 The Sociology of Human Rights with Reference to Customary Practice in Rural Pakistan: The Social Structure of Violence

Abstract

This paper deals with the sociology of human rights, particularly with reference to customary practices that exist in areas outside of the cities. We took the example of the ‘exchange marriage’ in rural Pakistan: the actors involved in the system of exchange and their interpretations of human rights within the structure itself and the existing social conditions of the society. Also, this paper highlights the mechanism of violence that is associated with these customary practices and the fabric of the vicious cycle of this violence. State-of-the-art field investigation on the exchange-marriage system reveals that it does not exist only in Pakistan, but that it has also been exercised on every continent of the world. With the advent of industrialization and individualization, this custom changed rapidly in the West. The customary practices that shaped the structure and ‘culture’ of violence in Pakistan still remain strongly manifested in the society.