McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc Marriage Anthropology: The Exploration of Human Diversity 11 th Edition Conrad Phillip Kottak

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2 Marriage Incest and Exogamy Explaining the Taboo Endogamy Marital Rights and Same-Sex Marriage Marriage As a Group Alliance Divorce Plural Marriages

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 3 Marriage –Genitor—biological father of a child –Pater—socially recognized father of a child No definition of marriage broad enough to apply easily to all societies and situations

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 4 Incest and Exogamy –Forces people to create and maintain a wide social network –This wider social network nurtures, helps, and protects one’s group during times of need Exogamy—practice of seeking a spouse outside one’s own group

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 5 Incest and Exogamy Incest—sexual relations with a close relative The incest taboo is a cultural universal What constitutes incest varies widely from culture to culture

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 6 Incest and Exogamy In societies with unilineal descent systems (patrilineal or matrilineal), the incest taboo is often defined based on the distinction between two kinds of first cousins Parallel cousins— children of two brothers or two sisters Cross cousins— children of a brother and a sister

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 7 Incest and Exogamy Parallel and Cross Cousins and Patrilineal Moiety Organization –Insert Figure 19.1

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 8 Incest and Exogamy Matrilineal Moiety Organization –Insert Figure 19.2

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 9 Explaining the Taboo Instinctive Horror Theory—Homo sapiens are genetically programmed to avoid incest This theory has been refuted

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 10 Explaining the Taboo Specific kin types included within the incest taboo have a cultural rather than a biological basis

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 11 Explaining the Taboo –Decline in fertility and survival accompanies brother-sister mating across several generations Human marriage patterns are based on specific cultural beliefs rather than universal concerns about biological degeneration several generations in the future Biological Degeneration Theory— incest taboo developed in response to abnormal offspring born from incestuous unions

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 12 Explaining the Taboo –Malinowski (and Freud) argued incest taboo originated to direct sexual feelings away from one’s family to avoid disrupting the family structure and relations Opposite theory argues that people are less likely to be sexually attracted to those with whom they have grown up Attempt and Contempt

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 13 Explaining the Taboo –More accepted argument is that taboo originated to ensure exogamy –Incest taboos force people to create and maintain wide social networks by extending peaceful relations beyond one’s immediate group Marry Out or Die Out

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 14 Explaining the Taboo –Argument focuses on adaptive social results of exogamy –Incest taboos also function to increase group’s genetic diversity Marry Out or Die Out –Incest taboos are seen as an adaptively advantageous cultural construct

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 15 Endogamy Endogamy can be seen as functioning to express and maintain social difference, particularly in stratified societies Endogamy and exogamy may operate in a single society, but do not apply to same social unit

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 16 Endogamy Homogamy is practice of marrying someone similar to you in terms of background, social status, aspirations, and interests

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 17 Endogamy –India’s caste system is extreme example of endogamy –Although India’s varna and America’s “races” historically distinct, they share caste-like ideology of endogamy Caste

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 18 Endogamy Royal Incest –Royal families in widely diverse cultures engaged in what would be called incest, even in their own cultures

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 19 Endogamy –Manifest function of royal incest in Polynesia was necessity of marriage partners having commensurate mana Latent function—effect custom was not explicitly recognized by the natives –Latent function of Polynesian royal incest was to maintain the ruling ideology Royal Incest Manifest function—reason given for a custom by its natives

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 20 Endogamy –Royal incest, generally, had latent economic function Consolidated royal wealth Royal Incest

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 21 Marital Rights and Same-Sex Marriage –Can establish legal father of woman’s children and legal mother of man’s –Can give either or both spouses monopoly in sexuality of the other –Can give either of both spouses rights to labor of the other Edmund Leach argued that several different kinds of rights allocated by marriage

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 22 Marital Rights and Same-Sex Marriage –Can establish a joint fund of property for benefit of the children –Can give either of both spouses rights over the other’s property

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 23 Marital Rights and Same-Sex Marriage In U.S., since same-sex marriage is illegal, same-sex couples denied many of these rights This does not mean same-sex marriages, like any other cultural construction, are not capable of meeting these needs, only that in U.S. laws prevent them from doing so There are many examples in which same-sex marriages are culturally sanctioned –Can establish socially significant relationship of affinity between spouses and their relatives

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 24 Marriage as Group Alliance –Particularly in descent-based societies, marriage partners represent an alliance of larger social units –Bridewealth—gift from husband’s kin to the wife’s Stabilizes the marriage by acting as an insurance against divorce Bridewealth and Dowry

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 25 Marriage as Group Alliance –Fertility is often considered essential to the stability of a marriage –Polygyny may be practiced to ensure fertility –Dowry—marital exchange in which the wife’s group provides substantial gifts to the husband’s family; much less common than bridewealth; correlates with low status for women

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 26 –Continuation of marital alliances when one spouse dies –Sororate—may marry wife’s sister if wife dies –Levirate—right to marry husband’s brother if husband dies Marriage as Group Alliance Durable alliances

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 27 Marriage as Group Alliance Sororate and Levirate –Insert Figure 19.5

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 28 Divorce Marriages that are political alliances between groups harder to break up than marriages that are more individual affairs Divorce found in many different societies

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 29 Divorce Divorce is more common in matrilineal societies as well as societies in which postmarital residence is matrilocal Payments of bridewealth also discourage divorce

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 30 Divorce Divorce is harder in patrilocal societies as the woman may be less inclined to leave her children who, as members of their father’s lineage, would need to stay with him Contemporary Western societies stress idea that romantic love necessary for good marriage

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 31 Divorce –Very large percentage of gainfully employed women –Americans value independence U.S. has one of world’s highest divorce rates

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 32 Divorce Changing Divorce Rates (Number per Year) in the United States, 1940 through 2000 –Insert Table 19.1

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 33 Plural Marriages –Even in cultures that approve of polygamy, monogamy tends to be the norm Most populations tend to have equal sex ratios. –Polygyny more common than polyandry because, where sex ratios are not equal, there tend to be more women than men Polygyny

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 34 Plural Marriages –No single explanation for polygyny Polygyny –Multiple wives tend to be associated with wealth and prestige

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 35 Plural Marriages –Polyandry quite rare, being practiced almost exclusively in South Asia Polyandry usually practiced in response to specific circumstances, and in conjunction with other marriage formats Among Paharis of India, polyandry associated with relatively low female population, due to covert female infanticide Polyandry

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 36 Plural Marriages Multiple husbands ensured the presence of a man in the home Polyandry –In other cultures, polyandry resulted from the fact that men traveled a great deal

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 37 Plural Marriages Location of Bornu, home of the Kanuri, in Nigeria