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