2. Definitions
Marriage is an
economic and
sexual union,
usually between a
man and a woman
Sami couple with their daughter
3. Who is a Father?
• We know the biological mother, but the
father is sometimes unknown...
Establishes legal parentage of children
Genitor – biological father of a child
Pater – socially recognized father of a child
4. MARRIAGE Exceptions
The Nayar & The Na of SW China
Rare Types of Marriage
Berdaches
Christian Nuns
Male-Male/Female-Female
marriage
6. WHY IS MARRIAGE
UNIVERSAL?
GENDER DIVISION OF LABOR
PROLONGED INFANT DEPENDENCY
SEXUAL COMPETITION
POSTPARTUM PROBLEMS
7. Incest and Exogamy
• Exogamy – practice of seeking a
spouse outside one’s own group
Forcespeople to create and maintain a
wide social network
Incest – sexual relations with a close
relative
The incest taboo is a cultural universal
What constitutes incest varies widely from
culture to culture
8. Explaining the Taboo
No universally
accepted
explanation for fact
that all cultures ban
incest
–Cross cultural finding
show rules of incest
avoidance shaped by
kinship structures
9. RESTRICTIONS ON MARRIAGE,
Including incest Taboo
Instinctive Horror Theory
Childhood-Familiarity Theory
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Family-Disruption Theory
Cooperation Theory
Inbreeding Theory (Biological
Degeneration Theory)
10. Instinctive Horror Theory
Homo sapiens are genetically
programmed to avoid incest
–This theory has been refuted
•Specific kin types included within the
incest taboo have a cultural rather than a
biological basis
11. Biological Degeneration Theory
• Incest taboo developed in response to
abnormal offspring born from
incestuous unions
–Decline in fertility and survival accompanies
brother-sister mating across several
generations
–Human marriage patterns based on specific
cultural beliefs rather than universal concerns
about biological degeneration several
generations in the future
12. Attempt and Contempt
• Malinowski (and Freud) argued incest
taboo originated to direct sexual
feelings away from one’s family to
avoid disrupting the family structure
and relations
Opposite theory argues that people are
less likely to be sexually attracted to those
with whom they have grown up
13. Explaining the Taboo
• Marry Out or Die Out
More accepted argument is that taboo
originated to ensure exogamy
Incest taboos force people to create and
maintain wide social networks
Incest taboos are seen as an adaptively
advantageous cultural construct
14. Royal Incest
Royalfamilies in widely diverse cultures
engaged in what would be called incest,
even in their own cultures
–Manifest function – reason given for a
custom by its natives
–Latent function – effect custom was not
explicitly recognized by the natives
–Royal incest, generally, had latent
economic function
15. WHO ONE MARRIES
Arranged Marriages
vs. Love Marriages
Exogamy &
Endogamy
Cousin Marriages
Cross-cousins
Parallel cousins
Levirate & Sororate
18. Divorce
• Divorce found in many different
societies
Marriages that are political alliances
between groups harder to break up than
marriages that are more individual affairs
Bridewealth discourages divorce
Divorce is more common in matrilineal
societies as well as societies in which
postmarital residence is matrilocal
19. HOW DOES ONE MARRY?
Bridewealth (Bride
price, progeny
price)
Bride Service
Exchange of
Females
Gift Exchange
Dowry
Indirect Dowry
21. HOW MANY DOES
ONE MARRY?
MONOGAMY
POLYGYNY
Sororal
Nonsororal
POLYANDRY
Fraternal
Nonfraternal
Shah family (polygyny) - Photo
By J. Fortier
22.
23. Plural Marriages
• Polygyny
Even in cultures that approve of polygamy,
monogamy tends to be the norm
Polygyny more common than polyandry
because, where sex ratios are not equal,
there tend to be more women than men
Multiple wives tend to be associated with
wealth and prestige
24. Plural Marriages
• Polyandry
Polyandry rare, but practiced almost
exclusively in South Asia
Polyandry usually practiced in response to
specific circumstances, and in conjunction with
other marriage formats
Among Paharis of India, polyandry associated
with relatively low female population, due to
covert female infanticide
In other cultures, polyandry resulted from the
fact that men traveled a great deal
25. THE FAMILY
Variation in
Family Form
Matrifocal
Nuclear
Extended
Karki Family - Matrifocal
- Photo by J. Fortier