Marriage and Sex as a Social Practice in the Human Culture: Introduction to the Problem Lolita Nikolova References: Haviland W. et al Nikolova L., Anthropology of Everydayness (in preparation for print) and references cited there

Marriage Marriage is backed by social, legal, and economic forces. Monogamy is the most common form of marriage, primarily for economic reasons. In most of the world, marriage is not based on romantic love, but on economic considerations.

Sexual Relations Every society has rules that govern sexual access. Among primates, the human female is unusual in her ability to engage in sexual activity whether she is fertile or not. In the human culture the sex is not a biological but a cultural phenomenon (it is an element of the complex relationships between humans and have positive and negative aspects) Sexual relationships depend on: age, sex, social status, religious beliefs, enculturation, human psyche, etc.

Marriage FORMS Monogamy Polygyny Polyandry Group marriage RULES Endogamy is marriage within a group of individuals. Exogamy is marriage outside the group.

Marriage, complexity and rites of passage COMPLEXITY Differentiation Integration Specialization RITES OF PASSAGE Separation Initiation (Transition) Integration MARRIAGE SOCIAL COMPLEXITY RITES OF PASSAGE

Marriage and cultural process Social agents (actors) Marriage function: Specialization Successful (biological and social reproduction) Unsuccessful (separation, divorce, re- marriage) opposition AB AB C A B C D three-agent modelfour-agent model Two agent model

Ethnography: Marriage Exchanges Bride-price - payment of money from the groom’s to the bride’s kin. Bride service - the groom is expected to work for a period for the bride’s family. Dowry - payment of a woman’s inheritance at the time of marriage to her or her husband.

Serial Monogamy A form of marriage in which a man or woman marries a series of partners. Increasingly common among middle-class North Americans as individuals divorce and remarry.

Divorce Factors contributing to divorce: Many marriages are based on ideals of romantic love or the idealization of youth. Establishing an intimate bond in a society in which people are taught to seek individual gratification is difficult.