Marriage
and
Family
Unit Learning Objectives

Identify Leach’s argument for what marriage can, but does not
always, accomplish.

Describe incest and exogamy.

Differentiate between parallel and cross cousins, and how this
distinction relates to exogamy in groups with Unilineal descent
patterns.

Identity endogamy and its role in socially stratified societies.

Analyze how marriage functions as a form of group alliance and
identity the role of dowries and lobola.

Identity types of plural marriages and the conditions that they
favor.
What is Marriage?

No definition is broad enough to apply
(easily) to all societies and situations

Variation in who marriage unites

Besides the notion of ‘love’, what
aspects of culture is marriage
associated with?
What is Marriage?

Universal form or type of marriage does not
exist

Primary functions are observed in all culture
 _______________________________

Evolved various systems to perform these
functions
What is Marriage?
Functions of Marriage

1. Marriage forms: _________________
 Provide
for the material needs, social
support, and enculturation of children
 _____________________
What is Marriage?
Functions of Marriage

2. Marriage defines the _____________
___________________________________
 Regulation
of
_____________________between the
married couple and __________________
 Allocation
of _________________________
What is Marriage?
Functions of Marriage
 3.
Marriage creates ___________________
 Incest
taboo
 Establishment
of trade relationships or
political alliances
Marriage: Comparative Perspective

Exogamy
 1.
 2.

Incest:
 _________________________________________
 How
is ‘close relative’ defined? Is this socially
constructed?
Marriage: Comparative Perspective
Focus: Cousins

Cross & Parallel Cousins
 Cross:
______________
Opposite
 Parallel:
Ego’s
of______
______________
_____________
Sexual relations
with ‘cousins’
influenced by
unilineal
descent
Example:
________________
Marriage: Comparative Perspective

Incest Avoidance
 Besides
the biological component
 Gene
flow – exchange of genes between
population boundaries, increases genetic
diversity
 What
1.
2.
are the cultural factors?
‘Appreciating Anthropology’:
‘Come Join My Band, Baby’
 What
are the cultural factors?
1.
2.
p258:
“Recognition of
_______________cooperation between
neighboring bands.”
Marriage: Comparative Perspective

Endogamy
 Rules
requiring individuals to marry some
member of their own social group or
category
 _______________________________
 Example:
_________________________
Marriage: Comparative Perspective

Endogamy: Maintained in two main
ways
 1.
_______________________________
Affinal
relationships kept within
Reinforcing
ties within groups while
decreasing interactions between the
groups
Marriage: Comparative Perspective

Endogamy: Maintained in two main
ways
 2.
______________________________
Symbolically
expresses and strengthens
the exclusiveness of group
Example:
___________________________
Marriage: Comparative Perspective

Marriage alliances :

Marriage establishes lasting social
relationships and bonds
 Beyond
the married couple:
 ______________________________________
Marriage: Comparative Perspective
 1.
Arranged marriages
 ______________________________________
 Importance
of advantageous relationships
 Remember:
Nanda’s article on an arranged
marriage in India
Marriage: Comparative Perspective
 2.
Levirate:
 Usually
a __________of deceased husband
 Relations
between the intermarried kin
groups are __________________
Marriage: Comparative Perspective

3. Sororate :
 Her
kin group is _______________________with
another woman, for which no additional
________________________
 Example
- __________
Marriage Exchanges
 Dowry
 Share
:
of a woman’s inheritance that she
takes into her marriage
Marriage Exchanges

Lobola:
 Seen
in patrilineal societies
 Importance:
How Many Spouses?

Cultures vary on the number of
spouses an individual is allowed to
have at a time

Four possibilities
 Monogamy
 Polygyny
 Polyandry
 Group
Marriage
Variations of
polygamy
(i.e. plural spouses)
Polygyny
 Form
of marriage in which a man may
have more than one wife

Benefits
 1.
 2.
Polygyny

No single explanation for polygyny
 1.
 2.
 3.
 4.
Polyandry

Form of marriage in which a woman may have
more than one husband

Documented in only about a dozen societies
 1.
 2.
Polyandry

Mostly observed in South Asia
peoples
 1.
 2.
Required Reading: When Brothers
Share a Wife