Create an account to start this course today. The hypothesis is not only strongly predictive, but also predicts well in both agricultural and non-agricultural societies. Note that bride price transfers wealth horizontally within the parental generation. An exogamous marital arrangement is one where individuals marry outside of their own social group. Therefore, reproductively speaking, it is to a mans advantage to marry multiple unrelated women. Murdock, George Peter, and Douglas R. White. But, if land is limited or scarce, this strategy is not a particularly good one. Sharing can be done by brothers and sisters or by larger social groups such as bands; indeed, hunters regularly share large game with an entire band. What is exogamy? Societal complexity is mid-range (Blumberg and Winch 1972). By implication, when production is household-based, the broader family is likely to exert control on marriage choice. We don't care how many ads you see or how many pages you view. 1980. Affiliations: Structural Determinants of Differential Divorce Rates., Sexual Selection Under Parental Choice: The Role of Parents in the Evolution of Human Mating., Sexual Selection Under Parental Choice: A Revision to the Model., Individual Mate Choice in an Arranged Marriage Context: Evidence from the Standard Cross-cultural Sample., Bride Theft and Raiding for Wives in Cross-Cultural Perspective., Explaining Cross-National Differences in Polygyny Intensity., Solidarity, Stratification and Sentiment: The Unilateral Cross-Cousin Marriage According to the Theories of Levi-Strauss, Leach, and Homans and Schneider., Causes of Conjugal Dissolution: A Cross-cultural Study., Societal Complexity and Familial Complexity: Evidence for the Curvilinear Hypothesis., Nuclear Vs. Extended Family, Monogamy Vs. Polygyny: Democracy Vs. Non-Democracy? This distinction mostly matters in societies with patrilineal or matrilineal descent because in such societies one set of parallel cousins is in your own kin group, while cross-cousins are generally not. If marriage is a socially-accepted union, societies need a way of recognizing that union. Gaulin, Steven J. C., and James S. Boster. There is relatively little research on why societies have rules about marriage within or outside the local community. Why? Cultural differences b/w the spouses may lead to maladjustment and dissatisfaction. While most societies extend this taboo to some other members of kin, it minimally includes siblings and parents. At the other extreme, there are societies that not only tolerate first cousin marriage, but actively try to promote marriage to a cousin, usually a particular type of cousin. 5) Divorce is more socially acceptable CULTURAL. But why polygyny? 4) Stress of marriage. Second, other sexual rules could be invented, such as rules regulating rotation of partners. She was State Archaeologist of Iowa from 2002 to 2006. Why? Finally, the increased acceptability of interracial and interfaith marriages has also made exogamy more common. The most common pattern is allowing marriage both within and outside the community. When you use one ofthese affiliate links,the company compensates us. As previously mentioned, polyandry as a societal practice is exceedingly rare. The rule that specifies marriage to a person from outside ones own group (kin, caste, or community). It is important to note that the inability to have a child is often a function of a particular couples inability to have a child as a couple, not necessarily the inherent inability of a particular spouse to have a child. Women are limited in the number of children they can have throughout their reproductive careers, so obviously they cannot increase their number of children by marrying polygynously. Exogamy is also practiced for practical reasons. Strengthening of the genetic pool, thus reducing birth defects. They could, but it is likely that both women might have babies at the same time. Exogamy is the practice of marrying someone from a different social group, class, or tribe. In other words, a marriage outside the lineage group is . M. Ember (1984) notes that both a high male mortality in warfare combined with a discrepancy in age of marriage predict general polygyny more strongly than either condition alone. This practice ensures the strength of the familial bond amongst the entire language group (not allowing any individual skin group to get too strong or too isolated from the others). Cultural exogamy is marrying outside a specific cultural group; the opposite being endogamy, marriage within a social group. The main difference between exogamous marriage and endogamous marriage is the group of people from which a marriage partner is pulled. Societies with more complex celebrations tend to have. Whiting, John W. M., and Beatrice B. Whiting. ethnography Since the family is the major context in which children learn and grow, it would not be surprising if the type and form of family did not have important impacts on human development. Thus, persons may be expected to marry outside their totem clan(s) or other groups, in addition to outside closer blood relatives. Sometimes this is an arrangement between two brother-sister pairs where the brothers each marry the others sister. 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. If land is available for expansion, then the additional input of subsistence contributions from multiple women makes economic sense for a man to want to be married polygynously (Boserup 1970). 2012. Another type of dowry is indirect dowry. Preference for fathers brothers daughter marriage (patrilateral parallel cousin marriage) preference is more likely in patrilocal societies (Flinn and Low 1987). However, in modern times it has become more common for people of different religions to marry one another. In both cases, not only did male and female sexual partners live separately with their maternal families, but they did not have regular economic cooperation nor other regular obligations with their sexual partners. 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. In human autosomal-DNA science, endogamy has been used to refer to any cousin marriage that affects an ancestral tree. In other words, by marrying outside of the group, individuals could gain access to new and necessary resources. Inbreeding: the practice of breeding between individuals who are closely related. Exogamy is a widely practiced marriage custom whereby individuals marry outside of their social group. Nimkoff, M. F., and Russell Middleton. Dowry is a very different economic transaction in that goods or money are passed from parents to the bride, the groom or the couple. Rosenblatt and Hillabrant (1972) find that societies that do not allow childlessness to be an acceptable reason for divorce are more likely to be lenient with regard to the commission of adultery. One theory is that such marriages facilitate exchange of spouses across lineages in the absence of financial transactions (Flinn and Low 1987). Trust: Trust is the foundation of any healthy relationship. The Nayar were a subcaste in India. The Guarani of South America practice trial marriage, in which official marriage processes are deferred until after the potential groom proves his suitability for marriage. Why? Dow, Gregory K., Clyde G. Reed, and Simon Woodcock. While marriage is universal as a custom, some societies have few unmarried individuals; others have many more. These are most often the locus of exogamy; marrying a member of ones own clan or moiety typically constitutes a form of incest. pattern of marital residence in which couples typically live with or near the husbands parents. Among the societies with more elaborate ceremonies are the Hopi, of the U.S. Southwest, who practice a wedding ceremony that lasts four days. During this time she mainly grinds corn, signifying a symbolic payment of service to the grooms mother for her son. Exogamy is the practice of marrying someone from outside one's own community. Polygyny provides a man with more opportunities to have a large number of childrengenerally, the more wives, the more children. Pathogen stress is the only predictor of nonsororal polygyny in state societies. Exogamous marriage or exogamy is the custom of marrying outside a specified group of people to which a person belongs. Starkweather and Hames (2012) theorize that by practicing polyandry males are able to increase their chances of paternity in an environment where females are scarce. In tribal societies, the dual exogamy union lasted for many generations, ultimately uniting the groups initially unrelated by blood or language into a single tribe or nation. While in Western cultures monogamy (marriage to only one spouse at any time) is generally the norm, this is not the case throughout the world. The Embers did put forward a new theory which did predict male-female bonding well. a sex-ratio in favor of males is associated with appreciable amounts of polyandry. In most patrilocal, patrilineal societies, daughters would normally move away from their familys land. Relatively small societies that have recently experienced severe loss of population due to introduced disease and that are also relatively small (more than 1,000 but less than 25,000 in the society) are more likely to allow first cousin marriage (M. Ember 1975). Divorce, or the severing of marital ties, is found in the vast majority of societies in the anthropological record. Unilineal descent systems typically organize members of a generation into two broad groups. 2021. Their main findings are. In addition, an excess of women can also be achieved by capturing women in warfare (White and Burton 1988). Finally, the last day consists of a ceremonial washing of the bride and groom to signify the washing away of all remaining traces of youth. The washing is followed by the couples hair being tied into a single knot (Geertz and Lomatuway 1987). Dr. Alston has taught intro psychology, child psychology, and developmental psychology at 2-year and 4-year schools. Societies with the highest degree of social stratification have less polygyny (Minocher, Duda, and Jaeggi 2019), which is contrary to the idea that male inequality generally will favor polygyny. However, this overall finding comes with some qualifications. 2016. To be an extended family household, members need not live in the same dwelling. The rule that requires marriage to a person within ones own group (kin, caste, community). 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. 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. In a comparative study of 40 mammal and bird species (M. Ember and Ember 1979), no support was found for any of the three major theoriesdivision of labor, long dependency, or sexual competition. Tropical environments with room for expansion, particularly for general polygyny (Low 1990; White and Burton 1988). The Selknam, on the Life and Thought of a Hunting People of the Great Island of Tierra Del Fuego., Sexual Division of Labor and Cross-Cultural Research., Factors Influencing the Allowance of Cousin Marriages in the Standard Cross Cultural Sample., Marriage, Authority, and Final Causes: A Study of Unilateral Cross-Cousin Marriage., Explaining Monogamy and Polygyny Among Foragers and Horticulturalists., Material Resource Investments at Marriage: Evolutionary, Social, and Ecological Perspectives., New Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Marriage Transactions., The Economics of Misbehavior, Love and Marriage Contract Enforcement., D-PLACE: A Global Database of Cultural, Linguistic and Environmental Diversity. Why? Indigenous groups of North America and Australia are exogamy examples as these groups were known to have created strict exogamous practices for their people. Continue with Recommended Cookies. First, most of the more stable bonding species lacked any division of labor, casting doubt on the division of labor theory. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. It is one of the most common marriage practices in the world, and it has been observed in societies all over the globe Minturn, Leigh, Martin Grosse, and Santoah Haider. Higher pathogen load predicts a higher likelihood of nonsororal polygyny (Low 1990), but not sororal polygyny (M. Ember, Ember, and Low 2007). Here are some of the main findings. The exchange of men or women served as a uniting force between groups. Blumberg and Winch found support for the curvilinear hypothesis both with data from a nonindustrial sample and then also with data from a country sample. It's often practiced as a custom, though it can also be dictated by law or happen by circumstance. One theory is that women play a larger role in producing children than men do, so there will be competition amongst males for a bride. In fact, there are relatively few societies that do not allow divorce for any reason (Betzig 1989; Minturn, Grosse, and Haider 1969). An increase in kinship relationships (the bond of being related). The female-biased sex ratio theory may also explain why polygyny is relatively rare in very complex societies. Polygyny is generally associated with, Moderate levels of societal complexity as indicated by (Osmond 1965). Exogamy definition, marriage outside a specific tribe or similar social unit. Two families that are connected by at least one blood tie that form a single social and/or economic unit. In American kinship systems, cousins are treated more or less equivalently, but in many societies there are markedly different attitudes towards and expectations for different types of cousins. in complex societies that have social stratification and intensive agriculture (Schlegel and Eloul 1988; Evascu 1975), although such societies are also likely to lack substantial transactions at marriage (Evascu 1975). What predicts variation in family household form? It does not maintain the purity of blood and separation of groups. Symmetrical cross-cousin marriage is somewhat more likely when economic transactions at marriage (such as bride price or dowry) are absent. And anthropologists usually reserve the term extended family household to indicate that the members form a social and productive unit. Why? Research conducted by M. 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