Texts for defining marriage:
- Imagery; Bible; Constitution
- Religious/ civil marriage/ common
law; title change (Miss. Ms. Dr.)
- Bible- no premarital sex;
Sacrament; bond; Qu’ran (Koran)
- Constitution: Man and woman;
right of inheritance; common
property; discourses on
unity/equality
Marriage theories/ “purpose” of
marriage:
- Tyler: fruitless to try and define
- Gough: legitimize children;
- Claude Levi-Strauss: maintain
durable alliances between groups,
not individuals. (“The Raw and the
Cooked”)
o “structural-functionalism”
 Functionalists- Cultural
practices/behaviors/beliefs
serve a function
 Structuralists – Assign
importance to structure in
defining the boundaries of
action
Evidence for durable alliance theories:
 Levirate marriage- husband
dies; marry brother; next
available male kinman
 Sororate marriage- wife dies;
marry sister; next avail.
Kinswoman
Forms of Marital Exchange:
Brideservice/bridewealth/brideprice
- involves the bride and/or her family
- matrifocal/patrifocal
o residence patterns
 neolocality = “new place”
 is it gender distinct?
(breadwinner hypothesis,
individualism)
 family of orientation and
family of procreation
- matriarchal (Jamaica) / patriarchal
- matrilineal/patrilineal (kinship;
family line)
- In patrifocal societies, the rate of
divorce is very low.
- In matrifocal societies, the rate of
divorce is very high.
- High divorce links to dowry
o Dowry correlates to low female
status
o Suicide/murder seen as alternative
to increased dowry; decreased
stigma of family
- Low divorce links to bridewealth/
“progeny price”
o Bridewealth correlates to higher
female status