lower rates of premarital sex (Apostolou 2017). In addition, an excess of women can also be achieved by capturing women in warfare (White and Burton 1988). It does not create economic inequality between families. PLoS ONE., Parallel-Cousin (FBD) Marriage, Islamization, and Arabization., Polygyny and Democracy: A Cross-Cultural Comparison., Status of Women, Female Contribution to Subsistence, and Monopolization of Information: Further Cross-Cultural Comparisons., The Structural Implications of Matrilateral Cross-Cousin Marriage., Mate-Selection Systems and Criteria: Variation according to Family Structure., Marriage Systems and Pathogen Stress in Human Societies., Explaining marriage patterns in a globally representative sample through socio-ecology and population history: A Bayesian phylogenetic analysis using a new supertree., Cultural Patterning of Sexual Beliefs and Behavior., WifeHusband Intimacy and Female Status in Cross-Cultural Perspective., Romantic Love and Family Organization: A Case for Romantic Love as a Biosocial Universal., Ethnographic Atlas, Installments i-Xxvii., Toward Monogamy: A Cross-Cultural Study of Correlates of Type of Marriage., On the Conditions Favoring Extended Family Households., Evolutionary ecology of human pair-bonds : Cross-cultural tests of alternative hypotheses., Divorce for childlessness and the regulation of adultery., Correction to: Greater wealth inequality, less polygyny: rethinking the polygyny threshold model., Marriage Transactions: Labor, Property, Status., Extracted-food resource-defense polygyny in native western north American Societies at contact., Evolutionary History of Hunter-Gatherer Marriage Practices., Causes of Polygyny: Ecology, Economy, Kinship, and Warfare., Effects of climate on certain cultural practices., Aloofness and Intimacy of Husbands and Wives: A Cross-Cultural Study., Customs Regarding Whom One Can or Cannot Marry. At no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission, which helps us run this blog and keep our in-depth content free of charge for all our readers. The first, double tomb AY80 is an impressive stone cist containing a male with a copper halberd and a dagger, who was buried after a female. She was State Archaeologist of Iowa from 2002 to 2006. 2007. It is a common practice in many societies around the world, and has been for centuries. patrilocal Of the 148 societies in the Standard Cross Cultural Sample which Broude and Green coded 31.1% have full individual choice, 17.6% have individual choice that requires parental approval, 3.4% have individual choice that also require parental arrangement, 18.2% have either individual choice or arranged marriage, 16.9% have arranged marriage, but individuals have the ability to object, and 12.8% have fully arranged marriage., The figures in this paragraph and in the Figure are based on data from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (Murdock and White 1969); these data on polygyny were retrieved from D-PLACE variable SCCS211. For example, there may be six skin names in a given indigenous language group (native groups are defined by language). The rule that specifies marriage to a person from outside ones own group (kin, caste, or community). If the complexity of marriage ceremonies indicates the level of social interest in marriage, then it may relate to how strongly a society will restrict womens sexual relationships outside of marriage, further establishing marriage as an institution for reproduction. The most common pattern is allowing marriage both within and outside the . Why? Love as a basis of marriage is antithetical to arranged marriage (Hull 1989). Marxist anthropology Ember suggests that a delayed age of marriage is also likely a product of warfare, especially internal war. Societies with male-biased inheritance or more male control over resources are more likely to have polygyny (Hartung 1982; Cowlishaw and Mace 1996; Sellen and Hruschka 2004). In some cases, the rules of exogamy may also specify the outside group into which an individual must marry. She coedited. What accounts for the allowance of first cousin marriage? A socially approved sexual and economic union, presumed to be more or less permanent, entailing rights and obligations between the married couple and any children they might have. Even though there are many people within each totem and many different individual family groups due to the different tribes within each totem, it is required that members of each totem marry from the other totem. Being able to engage in sex prior to marriage combined with the ability to choose a partner presumably enhances the likelihood that marriage partners will be compatible and ultimately happier together. What predicts variation in family household form? Asymmetrical cross-cousin marriage with preferred or prescribed matrilateral cross-cousin marriage is more likely in patrilineal societies, those societies that are not bilateral, and in those societies with strong economic marriage transactions (Textor 1967; Coult 1965). It is likely that originally exogamy evolved as a way to reduce competition among members of the same social group for mates and ensured that individuals had a larger pool of potential mates to choose from. Endogamy has the organizational benefit of bringing few outsiders into the community, so inheritance and property are not diffused among too many people. None of these traits are conducive to reasoned discussion, peaceful settlements of disputes, and agreement to disagree, which are critical to democracy. There is relatively little research on why societies have rules about marriage within or outside the local community. Increase in lineage as family names can be transferred from smaller to larger clans. To be an extended family household, members need not live in the same dwelling. This is a common practice in countries with large immigrant populations, where individuals may marry someone of a different ethnicity as they become accultured to the mainstream, majority culture. (iii) Village Exogamy: Among many Indian tribes there is the practice to marry outside the village. 1969. 6) Divorce is easier to accomplish STRUCTURAL. The female-biased sex ratio theory may also explain why polygyny is relatively rare in very complex societies. Additionally, as humans began to rely more on hunting, baby-tending and subsistence became increasingly incompatible. This might be engendered by the fact that human females can have sexual relations throughout the year, in contrast to most non-human primate females who have breeding seasons. If marriage is a socially-accepted union, societies need a way of recognizing that union. Men were obliged to seek wives from other groups, including marriage by capture, and exogamy developed as a cultural custom. Khel is the name given to residents of a particular place and the people of one khel cannot inter-marry. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. the higher the status of females in society (Pearson and Hendrix 1979). One example of exogamy can be found in the Hindu caste system in India. This has made it easier for individuals to meet and marry someone from a different culture or social group. Exogamy is a social rule that requires marriage to be between individuals who are not closely related by blood or ancestry. University of Manitoba - Faculty of Arts - Exogamy and Incest Prohibitions. We concentrate here on economic theories suggesting conditions that might make polygyny attractive for men and evolutionary theories that postulate advantages for both men and women. A greater importance placed on inheritable property (Rosenblatt and Unangst 1974). This type of dowry differs in that it originates from the grooms family; goods or money is given to the bride directly or to the brides family who then give it to the bride. a sex-ratio in favor of males is associated with appreciable amounts of polyandry. For example, an incompatible activity arises if a mother needs to work on her agricultural fields for much of the day, but her children need to be cared for at home. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. In addition, if women have very low status (and men have high status), adult women may have few alternatives to marriage. Obviously, we cannot talk about marriage in other species, but we can look at species with some stability in male-female mating and compare them with species lacking any stability. Note which cousins are parallel and cross-cousins for the male listed as ego.. Ember, Carol R., Benjamin Gonzalez, and Daniel McCloskey. Endogamous marriage is that which is controlled by the some group. Their main findings are. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. anthropology dictionary While almost all cultures we know of have had the custom of marriage and all have families, there is tremendous cross-cultural variability in customs surrounding these aspects of social and cultural life. The Komachi, pastoral nomads of southern Iran, preferred marriage with kin who were no more distant than second cousins and about 70% were with first cousins (Bradburd 1990, 115). 2018. Edvard Westermarck said an aversion to marriage between blood relatives or near kin emerged with a parental deterrence of incest. He tells us, When I asked more specifically whether the children of first cousins were allowed to marry, people gave me a decided no and added in an indignant tone: Do not ask further; blood relatives may not be united! (Gusinde 1931, 48889). Huber, Brad R., William F. Danaher, and William L. Breedlove. But recognition does not necessarily mean an elaborate ceremony. So, what is exogamy? 1979. Sex ratios favoring females (M. Ember 1974; Barber 2008). Marriage outside this group is exogamy. more alloparental care (childcare provided by someone who is not a parent) (Quinlan and Quinlan 2007). Ross, Cody T., Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, Seung-Yun Oh, Samuel Bowles, Bret Beheim, John Bunce, Mark Caudell, et al. Two or more men are married to one woman at the same time. Because of the complexity of that literature we will not discuss it here, but there are some general trends we can point to in the minority of societies that allow cousin marriage: In societies that allow cousin marriage, the vast majority only allow cross-cousin marriage; parallel cousin marriage is relatively rare (Korotayev 2000). They call these instances non-classical polyandry. In India, for example, people looking for a partner are pressured to towards endogamous marriage, to someone from within the same caste. The presence of extended families may also affect the marital relationship. Is a marriage within one's own group? The Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS) is a sample of 185 societies. 1962. The theory is based on two principles: 1) some individuals will make higher quality mates because they are more resistant to pathogens; and 2) with a high pathogen load, it is advantageous that a parent have offspring with more genetic variability because it increases the chances of having some offspring who can successfully withstand pathogens. Outbreeding favours the condition of heterozygosity, that is having two nonidentical copies of a given gene. When one marries outside of a social group, it is called exogamy. Religious exogamy is when individuals marry outside of their own religion. Among the societies with more elaborate ceremonies are the Hopi, of the U.S. Southwest, who practice a wedding ceremony that lasts four days. Exogamy is also practiced for practical reasons. Polygynous societies appear to have responded to jealousy with certain common customs and rules that include: having separate quarters and kitchens for nonsororal co-wives, having rules about husbands sharing resources equitably, and having rules for sleeping with co-wives in rotation (C. R. Ember, Ember, and Peregrine 2019, 245). Research conducted by M. Ember, Ember, and Low (2007) attempted to compare the sex ratio theory predictions with the pathogen stress theory. Nimkoff and Middleton (1960) acknowledged that their sample, focusing on nonindustrial societies, did not include the most complex societies, and therefore they suggested that the relationship with complexity was probably curvilinear, with the least and most complex societies being less likely to have extended family households. Simple exogamy is in practice in the Indian tribes and North American. Related findings are that a combination of patrilocality and patrilineality predicts more compensation to the brides family or the bride (Huber, Danaher, and Breedlove 2011b) and that bride price is more likely in patrilineal societies (Goody 1973). This has made exogamy more common than ever before. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,100],'anthropologyreview_org-leader-4','ezslot_9',146,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-anthropologyreview_org-leader-4-0');Ethnic exogamy is when individuals marry outside of their own ethnic group. The figures come from the Ethnographic Atlas Murdock (19621971) as retrieved from in D-PLACE.org (Kirby et al. If societies with more complex marriage celebrations are more invested in marriage, it stands to reason that they may be more likely to incorporate economic transactions into the union. 2019. Some studies have not found support for the sex ratio theory, but measures of polygyny were different (Hooper 2006; Quinlan and Quinlan 2007) or variable was imputed (Minocher, Duda, and Jaeggi 2019).. 2016), These figures are based on data from the Standard Cross Cultural Sample which were coded by Broude and Greene (1985); these data on marriage were retrieved from D-PLACE variable SCCS739. residence What might explain why matrilocal societies generally lack substantial transactions to the grooms kin in contrast to considerable transactions to the wifes kin with patrilocality? A more recent example is the Mosuo or Na of Yunnan in southwest China. An example is the recessive alpha-thalessemia allele which helps individuals escape the more serious effects of malaria. One exception from the past is the Nayar of the 19th century. Women feel unhappy because of no prior understanding with the members of that family. Exogamy is the practice of marrying someone from outside one's own community. 2021. God As we have discussed, most societies forbid any cousin marriage, but a great deal of anthropological theorizing involves explanations of the different types of allowed, preferred, or prescribed cousin marriage (Levi-Strauss 1949; Homans and Schneider 1962; Leach 1951; see discussion in Berting and Philipsen 1960). In fact, in many parts of the world, there are strong social norms against marrying within ones own family or social group. One important predictor is whether or not women engage in craft specialization or work outside the householdwhen they do so, there is a lower likelihood of arranged marriage (Hull 1989). Tropical environments with room for expansion, particularly for general polygyny (Low 1990; White and Burton 1988). Elaborate marriage ceremonies typically involve a large number of people from the community, potentially increasing social interest in the marriage. Exogamy can be divided into 'exo,' meaning outer or outside (like exoskeleton), and 'gamy,' meaning relationship or marriage (like in monogamy or polygamy). As discussed in the sexuality module, homosexual behavior, even if common, often coexists with heterosexual marriage practices. Interfaith marriage: a marriage between two people of different religions. In support of the loss of males in warfare theory, general polygyny is found to be more likely with. Small size communities and greater variation in rainfall (Dow, Reed, and Woodcock 2016). By requiring individuals to marry outside of their immediate family or social circle, exogamy ensures that any children born of these unions will have a more diverse gene pool to draw from. In fact, in a survey of societies in eHRAF World Cultures, they found 53 societies outside of the classic polyandry areas (northern India, Nepal, Tibet and the Marquesas) that appear to practice either informal polyandry or formal polyandry. 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California in 1973: Summary & Decision, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): History, Mission & Lawsuits, Democratic-Republican Party: Definition & History, What is the Tea Party Movement? Unhappy because of no prior understanding with the members of that family that a delayed of! Have any questions practice of marrying someone from outside ones own group marriage Hull! The Standard Cross-Cultural Sample ( SCCS ) is a social rule that marriage. Interest in the same dwelling around the world, there may be a unique identifier in. ( 19621971 ) as retrieved from in D-PLACE.org ( Kirby et al this browser for the next time comment. Why polygyny is found to be an extended family household, members need not in... ( iii ) Village exogamy: among many Indian tribes there is the name given to residents of a group. Deterrence of Incest the practice to marry outside the ; s own community sources if you have any questions may. 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