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2 C H A P T E R MARRIAGE 20-2
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MARRIAGE What Is Marriage? Incest and Exogamy Incest and Its Avoidance
Endogamy Marital Rights and Same-Sex Marriage Marriage as Group Alliance Divorce Plural Marriages 3
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MARRIAGE How is marriage defined and regulated, and what rights does it convey? What role does marriage play in creating and maintaining group alliances? What forms of marriage exist cross-culturally, and what are their social correlates?
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Marriage
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WHAT IS MARRIAGE? No definition of marriage is broad enough to apply easily to all societies and situations Establishes legal parentage of children Gives spouses rights Genitor: biological father of a child Pater: socially recognized Best definition (NOT universally valid) is the union between a man and woman such that children born are recognized as legitimate offspring of both partners
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What is Marriage? Different cultures have different rules about identity and number of marriage partners Plural marriage – unites more than two spouses Cross culturally, different emphasis is placed on the genitor and the pater Nuer women – daughter may be asked to stand in as a son
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INCEST AND EXOGAMY Marriage is one primary way of converting strangers into friends, of creating and maintaining personal and political alliances, and creating relationships of affinity Exogamy: practice of seeking a spouse outside one’s own group Creates wider social network Incest restrictions reinforce exogamy
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INCEST AND EXOGAMY Incest: forbidden sexual relations with a close relative; found in most societies; socially constructed What constitutes incest varies widely from culture to culture; various cultures define their kin differently Parallel cousins: children of two brothers or two sisters Cross-cousins: children of a brother and a sister Matrilineal, patrilineal, or unilineal societies
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Matrilineal Descent or Patrilineal Descent
Sexual relations with a parallel cousin are incestuous, because they belong to the same group or moiety. Sexual relations with a cross-cousin are not incestuous, because they belong to the opposite group or moiety. In societies with strict unilineal descent systems, the parent who belongs to a different descent group is not considered a relative.
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Figure 20.1: Parallel and Cross Cousins and Patrilineal Moiety Organization
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Figure 20.2: Matrilineal Moiety Organization
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Yanomami Venezuela and Brazil
boys anticipate eventual marriage to a cross cousin by calling her “wife” Boys call their male cross cousins “brother-in-law” Girls call their male cross cousins “husband” and their female cross cousins “sister-in-law” Sex with cross cousins is proper but sex with parallel cousins is incestuous
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Figure 20.3: Location of the Lakher
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The Lakher of Southeast Asia
Patrilineal Ego – father is relative, mother is not Children belong to father’s group Could be viewed as incestuous relationships Sex between ego and maternal half-sister would be non-incestuous because she belongs to a different descent group Demonstrated how definition of relatives, and thus incest, vary from culture to culture
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Figure 20.4: Patrilineal Descent-Group Identity and Incest Among the Lakher
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INCEST AND ITS AVOIDANCE
Human behavior with respect to mating with close relatives may express generalized primate tendency with urges and avoidance Cross-cultural findings show incest and its avoidance shaped by kinship structures Cross cultural study of 87 societies revealed incest did occur in several of them. However, Kottack questions whether the study controlled for the social construction of kin and incest. Williams and Finkelhor– determined Father-daughter incest least likely when there was substantial paternal parenting of daughters Meigs and Barlow - found incest is more common with stepfathers than biological fathers Avoidance is not biological
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INCEST AND ITS AVOIDANCE
Why do societies discourage incest? Fear of biological degeneration is unable to explain incest avoidance (cross cousins versus parallel cousins) Most societies, people avoid incest by following rules of exogamy Creates new social ties and alliances; prevents isolation and extinction Specific kin types included within the incest taboo have a cultural rather than biological basis Human marriage patterns based on specific cultural beliefs rather than universal concerns about biological degeneration
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Endogamy Catholic Wedding Jewish Wedding
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ENDOGAMY Endogamy: marriage of people from the same group
In U.S., classes and ethnic groups are quasi- endogamous groups Homogamy means to marry someone similar (background, socioeconomics, interests, goals) Social level, ethnic or religious groups Contrast increasing between richest and poorest of America
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CASTE India’s caste system is extreme endogamy
Five major categories, or varna Castes – stratified groups in which membership is ascribed at birth and is lifelong Occupational specialization often sets off one caste from another Although Indian castes are endogamous groups, many of them are internally subdivided into exogamous lineages Untouchables and intercaste sexual unions
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Caste
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Royal Endogamy Osiris and Isis
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ROYAL ENDOGAMY Royal endogamy is similar to caste endogamy
Inca Peru, ancient Egypt, and traditional Hawaii allowed royal brother-sister marriages Manifest function: reason given for a custom by its natives Latent function: effects custom has that are not explicitly recognized by the natives Hawaiians and Polynesians - mana
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ROYAL ENDOGAMY In ancient Hawaii, brother-sister marriage was part of that culture’s beliefs about mana and sacredness Polynesian royal incest – maintained ruling ideology, limiting conflicts about succession With European royalty, the practice of endogamy was based on cousin marriage Royal endogamy also had latent economic functions Political repercussions Economic functions
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MARITAL RIGHTS AND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
Leach argued that the rights allocated by marriage include: Establishing a legal father and mother Giving a monopoly in sexuality of the other Giving rights to the labor of the other Giving rights over the other’s property Establishing a joint fund of property Establishing a socially significant “relationship of affinity”
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MARITAL RIGHTS AND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
Kottak – same sex marriages are legitimate unions When same-sex marriages are legal, social construction of kinship easily makes both partners parents SINCE JUNE 2015, SAME SEX MARRIAGE HAS BEEN LEGAL IN THE U.S. WHEN THE SUPREME COURT DECLARED STATE LAWS BANNING SAME SEX MARRIAGE ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
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SAME SEX MARRIAGE There are many examples of societies in which same-sex marriages are culturally sanctioned, as among: the Nuer, Azande, Igbo, Lovedu, and—in the case of berdaches or two-spirits—among certain Native American groups.
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MARRIAGE AS GROUP ALLIANCE
Outside industrial societies, marriage often more relationship between groups than one between individuals Diffusion of Western ideas about importance of love for marriage affects marital decisions in other cultures People assume obligations to a group of in-laws when they marry
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GIFTS AT MARRIAGE Lobola or Bride Wealth (bride price): substantial marital gift from husband and his kin to the wife and her kin for the loss of companionship and labor; widespread in patrilineal societies; often a gift of cattle; agreement between descent groups Dowry: marital exchange in which wife’s group provides substantial gifts to husband’s family; women perceived as burdens; compensation for added responsibility of wife; common in India although it is illegal; can lead to abuse, widow burning, or murder
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GIFTS AT MARRIAGE Most nonindustrial food-producing societies, unlike most foraging societies and industrial nations, allow plural marriages Plural marriage: being married to more than two spouses simultaneously (polygamy) Polygyny: a man has more than one wife; the more common form Polyandry: a woman has more than one husband; rare
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DURABLE ALLIANCES Group-alliance nature of marriage seen in practice of continuation of marital alliances when one spouse dies Sororate: husband may marry the wife’s sister if the wife dies Levirate: right to marry husband’s brother if husband dies
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Figure 20.5: Sororate and Levirate
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DIVORCE Divorce tends to be more common in matrilineal and matrilocal groups than in patrilineal societies Cross-culturally, high divorce rates correlated with a secure female economic position Political and economic factors complicate the divorce process Lobola or bride wealth discourages divorce Divorce is harder in patrilocal societies; don’t want to leave their children Foraging societies – various forces act to both promote and discourage divorce
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DIVORCE The United States has one of the world’s highest divorce rates
Very large percentage of gainfully employed women Outside work gives cash for independence (don’t have to rely on a husband) Americans value independence May place strains on marriage and social life Protestantism is less strict about divorce than Catholicism
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Table 20.1: Changing Divorce Rates (Number per Year) in the United States, 1940–2008
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Polygamy
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PLURAL MARRIAGES: POLYGAMY
Polygamy – marriage to more than one spouse at the same time (POLYGYNY AND POLYANDRY) Even when polygyny (more than one wife) is encouraged, most men remain monogamous Polygyny is associated with wealth and prestige Unequal sex ratios tend to have more women than men The custom of men marrying later than women promotes polygyny There needs to be some agreement among existing spouses when another one is added No single explanation for polygyny Outlawed but still practiced; secondary wives are at much greater risk because polygyny has lost legal status
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PLURAL MARRIAGES: POLYANDRY
Quite rare and practiced under specific conditions Most polyandrous peoples live in South Asia Cultural adaptation to mobility associated with male travel for trade, commerce, and military operations Polyandry ensures there will be at least one man at home to accomplish male activities within a gender-based division of labor Fraternal polyandry – effective when resources are scarce
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Online Marriage Market
Oxford Study found online dating has become significant part of marriage market Role is complementary rather than a substitution The more exposed, the more one approves Older people were more likely than younger ones to use online dating Opportunity to meet new people and reconnect with friends but can often cause jealousy and ill feelings
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