CHAPTER OUTLINE
INCEST AND EXOGAMY
EXPLAINING THE
TABOO
 Although Tabooed, Incest Does
Happen
 Instinctive Horror
 Biological Degeneration
 Attempt and Contempt
 Marry Out or Die Out
ENDOGAMY


Caste
Royal Endogamy
MARITAL RIGHTS AND SAME-SEX
MARRIAGE
MARRIAGE AS GROUP ALLIANCE
 Bridewealth and Dowry
 Durable Alliances
DIVORCE
PLURAL MARRIAGES
Polygyny
Polyandry
What is marriage?
Marriage is an institution with
significant roles an functions in
additions to reproductions.
No definitions of marriage is
broad enough to apply easily to
all societies and situations
Endogamy
Endogamy: marriage of people from the same group
Most societies are endogamous units, although they usually do not need a formal rule
requiring people to marry someone from their own society.
Caste:
 Extreme example of endogamy
 Stratified groups in which membership is ascribed at birth and is life long.
Indian Caste:
 Five major categories (Verna) ranked relative to the other four
 Each Verna includes a number of sub castes
Royal Endogamy:
Based on a few societies on brother-sister marriage is similar to caste endogamy
Exogamy: marriage outside a given group
In many nonindustrial societies, a person’s social world
includes of two main categories: kin and strangers. Marriage is
one of the primary ways of converting strangers into kin, of
creating and maintaining personal and political alliances,
relationships of affinity.
Genitor: a child’s biological father
Pater: one’s socially recognized father: not necessarily the
genitor
Exogamy pushes social organizations outward, establishing
and preserving alliances among groups. The practice of seeking
a husband/wife outside one’s own group, has adaptive value
because it links people into a wider social network that nurtures
and protects them in times of need.
Incest: forbidden sexual relations with a close relative
Parallel Cousins: children of two brothers/two sisters
Cross Cousins: children of a brother and a sister
Incest refers to sexual relations with someone
considered to be a close relative.
All cultures have taboos against it.
However, although the taboo is a
cultural universal, cultures define
incest differently.
Incest
No accepted explanation as to why all cultures ban incest.
Argued: Humans have a genetically programmed disgust towards incest.
If people really did have an instinctive horror of incest, a formal taboo
would be unnecessary.
Biological Degeneration (theory)
Early Homo noticed that abnormal offspring were born from incestuous
unions. To prevent this, our ancestors banned it.
Attempt and Contempt
Sigmund Freud: Children have sexual feelings towards their parents, which is
eventually repressed or resolved.
Bronislaw Malinowski: Incest taboo originated to direct sexual feeling outside –
to avoid disruption of – existing family structure and relations
Opposite theory: children are not likely to be sexually attracted to whom
they’ve grown up with. This is related to instinctive horror,
But without assuming a biological basis.
Marital Rights
Depending on society, several different kinds of rights are
allocated by marriage.
Edmund Leach (British anthropologist)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Establish the legal father/mother of the man’s/woman’s child
Give either/both spouses a monopoly on the sexuality of the other
Give either/both spouses rights to the labor of the other
Give either/both spouses rights over the other’s property
Establish a joint fund of property for benefit of the children
Establish a socially significant “relationship of affinity” between
spouse and their relatives
Same-Sex Marriage
Discussion of same sex marriage
The same martial rights
belonging to heterosexual
couples could be applied to
same sex couples
EX: Children
• If a different sex couple can
adopt a child who becomes
their through the social and
legal construction of kinship,
the same logic could be
applied to a gay or lesbian
couple
Marriage as Group Alliance
Bride wealth: Marital gift by husband’s group to wife’s group.
Progeny price: marital gift by husband’s group to wife’s; legitimizes their
children.
Dowry: Substantial gifts to husband’s family from wife’s group
Outside industrial societies, marriages is often more a relationship
between groups than one between individuals. Although bride and
groom usually seek their parents’ approval, the final choice lies with
the couple. The idea of romantic love symbolizes this relationship.
Mass media and migration increasingly spread Western ideas about
the importance of love to other societies.
Marriage as Group Alliance
Bridewealth and Dowry
In societies with decent groups, people enter marriage not
alone but with the help of decent group.
Bridewealth compensated the bride’s group for the loss of
her companionship and labor. More important, it makes the
children born to the woman full members of her husband’s
decent group
Plural Marriages
Polyandry is practiced in only few cultures groups in Tibet,
Nepal, and India. Polygyny is much more common.
Many cultures approve of a man having more than one
wife. However, where polygyny is encouraged, most men
are monogamous, and polygyny characterizes only a
fraction of the marriages.
Divorce
Ease of divorce varies across cultures
Tends to be more common in matrilineal than in patrilineal
societies
When residence in a matrilocal, the wife may simply send
of a with whom she’s incompatible.
Divorce is harder in a patrilineal society, especially when
substantial brideworth would have to be reassembled and
repaid if the marriage failed.