Marriage
ANTH 321: Kinship and Social Organization
Kimberly Porter Martin, PH.D.
What Is a Family?
A family is a group of people
who are connected to one
another by consanguineal,
affinal or fictive kin ties.
Types of Kin Ties
 Consanguineal ties = ties
established by birth/descent
from a common ancestor
 Affinal
ties = ties established
by marriage
 Fictive
kin ties = ties that
mimic consanguineal or affinal
ties where no such tie exists
Aspects of Marriage
 Who
chooses marriage partners?
 What is the basis for selecting
partners?
 What kind of contract exists between
families?
 How many spouses are involved in
given family?
 Where does a couple usually go to
live after marriage?
 What kind of household form is the
norm?
Who Chooses Marriage Partners?
 Fathers
 Males
in the family
 Parents
 Family members including siblings
 Personal choice
Sometimes with rights of refusal for bride and/or groom
Marriage Contract
Bride Price/Wealth – groom’s family gives
goods/animals to bride’s family to show his ability to
provide and to compensate them for the loss of their
daughter’s labor
 Suitor Service – groom works for the brides family
(usually hunting in a foraging society) to demonstrate
his ability to provide and to compensate for the loss of
the daughter’s labor
 Dowry – bride’s family offers goods that come with
the bride into the marriage to make her more desirable
as a marriage partner. Sometimes bride controls the
goods, sometimes they become the property of the
groom.

Types of Marriage Contracts

Female Husbands http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0DIL6DkZE

Masai Tribal Customs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq_cptHufTQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqGA0xjOms4

Brideprice in Uganda (What Price Brideprice?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gmp4ogS1UH8

Dowry in Greece

Dowry in India
What Is Exogamy?
Exogamy is marriage outside a defined
group of people.
The most common form of exogamy is the
universal incest taboo, that requires
people to marry outside their nuclear
family.
There are also a variety of ways of
extending the universal incest taboo,
including
 lineage/clan exogamy,
 village/band exogamy
What Is Endogamy?
Endogamy is marriage within a
defined group of people.
Requirements to marry someone of
the same ethnic group, religion,
educational level or
socioeconomic status are
examples of endogamy
Incest

Limitations on whom
one can marry and with
whom one can have sex.

The limitations vary
from one culture to
another.

Limitations frequently
contradict one another
from one society to
another.

Universal
incest taboo =
prohibitions on sex and
marriage with nuclear
family members.
Explanations for the
Universality of the Universal
Incest Taboo

Biological Explanations



Genetic inbreeding
Psychological Explanations

Freudian Oedipal Avoidance

Westermarck Effect = Avoidance
on the part of individuals reared
together
Sociocultural Explanations

Sexual Conflict Reduction

Role Theory

Alliance Theory
Genetic Inbreeding Avoidance

The “Gene” is a culture bound concept.

Dominant mutations will show up regardless of mating patterns;
only recessive mutations will be affected by mating.

Depends on the belief that both parents contribute to the
conception process.

Mutations occur at a rate of about 1 mil to 1, and therefore
deleterious genes will be VERY rare.

Most mutations will be lethal and a lethal mutation will result
in a miscarriage.

World view/cosmology beliefs will provide alternative
explanations for why an infant has a birth defect.
Freud and the Oedipal Complex
Boys are sexually attracted to their mothers.
Boys resent and are jealous of their father’s
sexual access to their mothers.
Boys also love their fathers and need their fathers
love, creating a love/hate relationship.
Boys dream about conflict with their fathers,
including murdering their fathers to gain sexual
access to their mothers.
Normal, healthy development demands that boys
resolve their jealousy and aggressive feelings
toward their fathers, and give up sexual
fantasies about their mothers.
Malinowski’s Challenge
Who: Bronislaw Malinowski
Where: The Trobriand Islands
What: A natural experiment
Concepts:
Patrilineality vs Matrilineality
Fathers vs Maternal Uncles
Sexuality vs Authority
Evidence vs Interpretation
The Trobriand Islands
Malinowski’s Findings
1.

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





From Sex and Repression in Savage Society
Trobrianders are well-adjusted and lacking in obvious
“perversions and neuroses.”
Boys reported no sexual dreams about mothers.
Boys reported some sexual dreams about sisters.
There are no Oedipal legends in Trobriand folklore.
Brother-sister incest is a recurring theme in Trobriand
folklore.
There is no reported mother-son incest.
Some brother-sister cases of incest are reported.
Boys reported no negative feelings toward fathers or
dreams about conflict with fathers; they reported warm,
loving relationships.
Boys reported hostility and hostile dreams involving
their maternal uncles.
Malinowski’s Conclusions
This society shows no evidence that would support the presence of the
Oedipal Complex.
The absence of evidence for the Oedipal Complex in Trobriand society means
that it cannot be a universal part of human male development.
The Westermarck Effect

Individuals will not be sexually attracted to those with
whom they are raised as children.

Examples:

Kibbutzim in Israel


Anthropologist Melford Spiro found that of 3,000 marriages
within the kibbutz system, only about 15 weddings involved
people who were raised in the same group of children and
none of these pairs had been raised with their partners before
the age of six.
Chinese Shim –Pua Marriage
Sociocultural Explanations
 Sexual
Conflict Reduction
 If
fathers and sons or brothers fight
over sexual rights to mothers and
sisters, the family support system
would be disrupted.
 Role
Theory
 Incest
would confuse the roles people
play – father would be brother-in-law,
etc.
 Alliance
 The
Theory
benefit of alliances with other
families and groups creates a safety net
that would not be there if incest were
practiced.
Cousin Marriage

Patrilateral cross-cousin marriage

Matrilateral cross-cousin marriage

Patrilateral parallel- cousin
marriage

There is no instance of matrilateral
parallel-cousin marriage in the
ethnographic record.
Cross-Cousin Marriage

Patrilateral cross-cousin marriage would require/prefer
that Ego marry number 16.

Matrilateral cross-cousin marriage would require/prefer
that Ego marry number 24.

Bilateral cross-cousin marriage would require/prefer
that Ego marry either number 16 or number 24
Parallel Cousin Marriage

Patrilateral parallel cousin marriage would require/prefer
that Ego marries number 18.

In no society do we see a requirement/preference that Ego
marry his mother’s sister’s daughter (22).
Cousin Marriage and Lineage
Type
Cousin Marriage and Kinship
Terminology
Cousin Marriage and Iroquois
Terminology
WITH POLYGYNY
Cousin Marriage and Crow
and Omaha Terminology
Cousin Marriage and Sudanese
Terminology
Yanomamo Marriage

Lineage Exogamy

Bilateral Cross-Cousin Marriage
Village Endogamy
Yanomamo frequently marry from within their
village, with rates of up to 85% endogamy in a
given village.
Sororal Polygyny
Numbers of Spouses in a
Family

Monogamy = the marriage of one woman to one man
 Polygamy = the marriage of multiple wives OR
husbands to a member of the opposite sex (a general
term). There are three (3) types:
Polygyny = the marriage of one man to
multiple wives
Polyandry = the marriage of one woman
to multiple husbands
Group Marriage = the marriage of
multiple women to multiple men
Example of Polygynous
Marriage
This is “Sororal Polygyny”
Example of Polyandrous
Marriage
Household Form




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Nuclear Family = a monogamously married couple and
their offspring living together in a household.
Centralized Polygynous Family = a man and his
multiple wives living together in a family.
Satellite Polygynous Family = Multiple wives of a
single man who maintain separate houses for
themselves and their children, but work together in
domestic tasks
Extended Family = a domestic group consisting of
three or more generations of consanguineally and
affinally related people.
Group Marriage Family = a domestic unit composed
of all of the spouses and offspring of a group marriage.
Nuclear Families in a Standard
Kinship Diagram?
In the diagram below, all the different nuclear families are
shown indifferent colors. Notice that the adults in EGO’s
parent’s generation are members of two different nuclear
families.
Patrilocal Extended
Family
Matrilocal Extended
Family
OR