Marriage
No single definition
Large cross cultural variations
Leach: several rights allocated by marriage
can establish legal father and mother
can give sexual monopoly
can give right to labor of spouse
can give rights over spouse’s property and establish funds for children
can establish social ties with affinal kin
Same-sex marriage
Kottak argues that it can accommodate all rights discussed by Leach
Illegal in the United States except for Vermont
Occurs in other cultures
Nuer women can marry another women to obtain heirs for the patrilineage
Azande male warriors had younger male brides
Igbo market women can take a wife to strenghten social status
Cheyenne could marry berdaches
Marriage
Marriage is considered a cultural universal
Possible exception is the Moso (also called Na) in China
matrilineal, matrilocal societies
men and women set up assignments
occasionally cohabits
children brought up in mother’s household
Marriage patterns
Exogamy- marrying outside one’s group
creates and maintains a wide social network
Endogamy- marrying within one’s group
functions to express and maintain social differences
Homogamy- marrying someone of similar background and/or interests
may reinforce social stratification
Incest
Sexual relations with a close relative
The incest taboo is a cultural universal
Large differences between cultures in what is considered an incestuous union
What constitutes incest
Unilineal descent systems with exogamy
cross cousins often preferred marriage partners because they can never belong to the same descent group
parallel cousins are named brother or sister and falls under the incest taboo
parallel cousins belong to the same descent group as ego
Yanomami in Venezuela/Brazil
cross cousins are preferred marriage partners, called "wife" and "husband"
sex with parallel cousins is incest
Lakher in India/Myanmar
son can marry mother’s daughter with second husband but not father’s daughter with other wife
patrilineal so mother belongs to a different descent group
Why incest taboo?
Instinctive horror?
theory that argues that homo sapiens are genetically programmed to avoid incest
does not explain why people can marry cross cousins but not parallel cousins
Family disruption?
theory that argues that sexual competition among family members would cause disruption
but brother-sister marriages not likely to be disruptive
Biological degeneration?
theory that argues that the harmful effects of inbreeding caused the taboo
there is a decline in fertility and survival with inbreeding
some societies give this explanation for the taboo
does not explain cross cousin marriages
Childhood familiarity?
theory that argues that people who grow up together are less likely to be attracted to each other
support from studies about people growing up in the same kibbutz and promised brides growing up in future husband’s home (Taiwan)
not supported by studies of cultures where first cousins are married
Marry out or die out?
theory that argues that the taboo originated to ensure exogamy
ensures that people create and maintain wide social networks
seen as an adaptive cultural construct ensuring alliances
but communities that are exogamous do not have more peaceful relations
Royal incest
Brother-sister marriages occurred in ancient Egypt, Inca Peru and the Hawaiian kingdom
rulers seen as divine with large powers (called mana in Hawaii) and their closest relatives also had power
brother-sister marriage ensured that the offspring was the most divine
it reduced claims to the throne and consolidated wealth
Marriage gifts
Bridewealth (progeny price)
goods given by groom and/or his kin group to the family of the bride
compensates the bride’s family for the loss of her labor and fertility
reinforces alliance and protects against divorce
Bride service
groom works for bride’s family
Both common in patrilineal societies
Gift exchange
gifts of equal value exchanged between groom’s and bride’s family
reinforces alliances between families of the same social status
Dowry
gifts of goods or money from the bride’s family to the groom’s
common in Europe and Asia
correlates with patriarchy and low status for women
Marriage alliances
Brother-sister exchange
a brother and a sister arrange to marry a sister and a brother from another lineage
Sororate
widower marries one his deceased wife’s sisters
Levirate
widow marries her deceased husband’s brother
Maintains alliance between groups
Divorce
Less common when the marriage is a political alliance between groups
Less common when substantial bridewealth is paid
Tend to be more common among matrilineal societies than patrilineal
The United States has one of the world’s highest divorce rates
Plural marriages
Polygamy illegal in North America and Western Europe but serial monogamy occurs
Polygyny
a man has more than one wife
Polyandry
a woman has more than one husband
Polygyny
Common cross culturally
In societies that have polygyny most marriages are monogamous
In societies with bridewealth only wealthy individuals can have more than one wife
More common in societies where the work of women is important
Polyandry
Rare cross culturally, most cases in the Himalayas
Fraternal polyandry
a woman marries brothers
among the Paharis shortage of females
among Tibetans in Nepal lack of farmland and polyandry ensures that it doesn’t get divided