Chapter 9
Marriage and the Family
What We Will Learn
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Is the family found in all cultures?
What functions do family and marriage
systems perform?
Why do all societies have incest
taboos?
What economic considerations are
associated with marriage in the world’s
contemporary societies?
Definition of Family
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Social unit characterized by:
• economic cooperation
• management of reproduction
• child rearing
• common residence.
• a male and female adult who maintain
a socially approved sexual relationship
Marriage Defined
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Customs formalizing the relationship
between male and female adults within
the family.
Regulates the sexual and economic rights
and obligations between a married
couple.
Usually involves an explicit contract or
understanding and is entered into with the
assumption that it will be permanent.
Same Sex Marriage
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The legality of same
sex marriage remains
a contentious issue in
the United States.
Social Functions of Marriage
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Creates relationships between men and
women that regulate mating and
reproduction.
Provides a mechanism for regulating the
sexual division of labor.
Creates a set of family relationships that
provides for the material, educational, and
emotional needs of children.
Question
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________ is a socially approved union
between a man and woman that
regulates the sexual and economic
rights and obligations between them.
a) Reciprocity
b) Pair bonding
c) Marriage
d) Mating
Answer: c
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Marriage is a socially approved union
between a man and woman that regulates
the sexual and economic rights and
obligations between them.
The Family
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The family, such as this one in Japan, provides
a structured environment that supports and
meets the needs of children.
Postpartum Sex Taboo
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A husband and wife abstaining from any
sexual activity for a period of time after
the birth of a child.
Incest Taboos: Theories
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Natural Aversion - there is a natural
aversion to sexual intercourse among
those who have grown up together.
Inbreeding - mating between close kin
produces a higher incidence of genetic
defects.
Incest Taboos: Theories
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Family Disruption– mating between
family members would create intense
jealousies.
Expanding Social Alliances - marrying
outside the family creates a wider network
of interfamily alliances.
Restrictions on Marriage
Partners
Cultures restrict choice of marriage partners
through:
• Exogamy
• Endogamy
• Arranged marriages
• Preferential cousin marriage
• Levirate and sororate
Restrictions on Marriage
Partners
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Exogamy
• A rule requiring marriage outside of
one’s own social or kinship group.
Endogamy
• A rule requiring marriage within a
specified social or kinship group.
Marrying Cousins
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Charles Darwin
(1809–1882), the
author of Origin of
Species, had ten
children with his wife,
who was also his first
cousin.
Interracial Marriage
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At one time in the United
States, interracial
marriage was against the
law.
Although these laws no
longer exist, the majority
of Blacks and Whites in
the United States
continue to practice
racial endogamy.
Arranged Marriage
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Any marriage in which the selection of the
spouse is outside the control of the bride
and groom.
Preferential Cousin Marriage
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A preferred form of marriage between
either parallel or cross cousins.
Cross cousins
• Children of one’s mother’s brother or
father’s sister.
Parallel cousins
• Children of one’s mother’s sister or
father’s brother.
Question
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The ________ addresses the prohibition
on mating with certain categories of
relatives.
a) postpartum sex taboo
b) ingestion taboo
c) marriage laws
d) incest taboo
Answer: d
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The incest taboo addresses the
prohibition on mating with certain
categories of relatives.
Levirate and Sororate
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Levirate
• The practice of a man marrying the
widow of a deceased brother.
Sororate
• The practice of a woman marrying the
husband of her deceased sister.
Number of Spouses
Monogamy
Marriage of one man to one
woman.
Polygyny
Marriage of a man to two or
more women.
Polyandry
Marriage of a woman to two or
more men.
Polygyny
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A man from the
Rashaida Tribe in
Eritrea travels by
camel while his three
wives walk.
Polygyny
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Tom Green, a 21st century polygynist from
Utah, posing with his five wives and some of his
twenty-nine children.
Marriage: Transfer of Rights
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Marriage often includes the transfer of
certain rights between the marrying
parties:
• Rights of sexual access.
• Legal rights to children.
• Rights of spouses to each other’s
economic goods and services.
Economic Transactions of
Marriage
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Bridewealth
Bride service
Dowry
Reciprocal exchange
Bridewealth
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Compensation given upon marriage by the
family of the groom to the family of the bride.
Approximately 46% of all societies give
substantial bridewealth payment as part of the
marriage process.
Bridewealth is most widely found in Africa,
where it is estimated that 82% of societies
require the payment of bridewealth.
Marriage Transactions
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Among the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania,
cows are used as the medium of exchange in
marriage transactions.
Bride Service
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Men give labor to the bride’s family in
exchange for a wife.
He often moves in with his bride’s family,
works or hunts for them, and serves a
probationary period of several weeks to
several years.
Found in approximately 14% of societies.
Dowry
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Transfer of goods or money from bride’s
family to the groom or the groom’s family.
Practiced in less than 3% of societies.
If the marriage ended in divorce, the
woman was entitled to take the dowry
with her.
Dowry
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Family members of a
Kazakh bride-to-be
carry her dowry on
camels in Xinjiang,
China.
Reciprocal Exchange
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Involves the roughly equal exchange of
gifts between the families of both the
bride and the groom.
Found in approximately 6% of the
societies listed in Murdock’s Ethnographic
Atlas, most prominently in the Pacific
region and among traditional Native
Americans.
Question
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4. Unlike societies with considerable
material wealth, small-scale societies
are more likely to offer ________ to the
woman's family.
a) bride service
b) reciprocal exchange
c) Brideprice
d) a dowry
Answer: a
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Unlike societies with considerable
material wealth, small-scale societies are
more likely to offer bride service to the
woman's family.
Divorce
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Like approximately
half of all marriages
in the United States,
the marriage of Brad
Pitt and Jennifer
Aniston ended in
divorce.
Divorce Across Cultures
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Divorce arrangements found in the many
cultures of the world vary widely.
• Organizations such as the Roman
Catholic Church prohibit divorce
outright.
• A Hopi woman from Arizona could
divorce her husband easily by simply
putting his belongings outside the door.
Divorce Rates in the United
States, 1950 to 2000
Year
Divorce Rate/1000
Population
1950
2.6
1960
2.2
1970
3.5
1980
5.2
1990
4.7
2000
4.2
Factors in the Rising U.S.
Divorce Rate
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Industrialization and urbanization have
undermined traditional functions of the family.
Less time spent with family members and less
willingness to make sacrifices for the good of
the family.
Western culture emphasizes romantic love as
the basis for marriage.
Less stigma attached to divorce than in the
past.
Marriage Residence Patterns
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Patrilocal (69%)
• Couple lives with or near relatives of
the husband’s father.
Matrilocal (13%)
• Couple lives with or near the relatives
of the wife.
Marriage Residence Patterns
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Avunculocal (4%)
• Couple lives with or near the husband’s
mother’s brother.
Ambilocal (9%)
• Couple has a choice of living with relatives of
the wife or the husband.
Neolocal (5%)
• Couple forms independent residence away
from relatives.
Family Structures
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Nuclear family – Comprises wife,
husband, and children
Extended family – A larger social unit,
comprising relatives from three or more
generations.
Nuclear Family
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What type of
residence pattern is
followed by this North
American nuclear
family?
Extended Family
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An extended family gathering in Henan
Province, China.
Marital Status of U.S.
Population: 1980 –1999
Never
Married
Married
Widowed
Divorced
1980
1990
1995
1999
20.3
22.2
22.9
23.9
65.5
8.0
6.2
61.9
7.6
8.3
60.9
7.0
9.2
59.5
6.7
9.9