Global economic inequality is on the rise, with poorer regions bearing the highest burden. There is a common assumption that by understanding family dynamics across the globe, we can gain clearer insight into the roots of inequalities. This common assertion that macro-level phenomena can be indirectly inferred from studying micro-level social processes remains somewhat inconclusive, both theoretically and empirically. Existing demographic theories, notably those aligned with modernisation hypotheses, are subject to this claim. This dissertation leverages three essays to illustrate the challenges of addressing this micro-macro gap. The first essay, for example, demonstrates that ‘top-down’ classifications of household types could drastically underestimate the complexity of family arrangements in rural South African settings, countering predictions from the convergence thesis. The second essay extends this endogenous concern by demonstrating how economic resources can diffuse across a large-scale interhousehold social network, highlighting an overlooked domain in family research. The concluding essay examines how, whether, and to what degree small-scale family interactions could affect large-scale economic inequalities. These studies highlight the importance of understanding ‘how’ families are interconnected as a potential pathway to contextualise population processes and changes.

Shao is a PhD student at the ANU School of Demography. His dissertation examines the emergent properties of social and economic networks.

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