Marriage, Family and Domestic Groups

Chapter Questions
What are some of the universal functions of marriage and the family?  What are some of the rule that regulate marriage in different societies?  How can these rules be explained?


Chapter Questions


How do arranged marriage and romantic love relate to the values of marriage and family in different societies? What kinds of changes are taking place in the family in the United States? How does a societys subsistence strategy influence the shape of the family and the household?

Household Forms
 

Single-person Nuclear


dominant in foraging and industrial cultures dominant in horticultural, pastoral societies household may contain 50 members will decline with industrialization?

Polygamous and Extended

  

Nuclear Family
A

husband, a wife, and their children.  High rates of divorce and remarriage create complicated kinship networks.

Composite Family
 Aggregates

of nuclear families linked by a common spouse.  Example: Polygynous household consisting of one man with several wives.

Extended Family
Blood relations extending over three or more generations.  Economic advantages: keeps land intact and provides security in times of crisis.  Provides a sense of participation and dignity for the older family members.


Households as Social Units



Spouse/Partner relationships


studies suggest marital satisfaction is strongly correlated to sexual activity

Sibling relationships  Domestic violence



Males as perpetrators, women as victims is found in all cultures  More common where men control wealth


Households in Social Change



International immigration


challenges for parents and siblings

Shrinking households in the US  Increasing move away from nuclear households in industrialized cultures


Definitions of Marriage
Customs and obligations for the relationship between a sexually cohabiting adult male and female, between them and children they produce, and between their kin groups.

OR


A socially sanctioned form of heterosexual mating and co-residence establishing duties and obligations with respect to sex and reproduction; variant forms are homosexual mating and childless marriages.

Marriage Rules: Number of Spouses

 All

societies have rules about how many spouses a person can have at one time.  Monogamy is the norm only in Europe and north America.  75% of the worlds societies prefer plural marriage.

Basic Forms of Marriage



MONOGAMY: Marriage with one spouse exclusively and for life. SERIAL MONOGAMY: Marriage with one spouse at a time but with remarriage after death or divorce. POLYGAMY: Marriage with more than one spouse at a time.

Forms of Polygamy


Polygyny A rule permitting a man to have more than one wife at a time.


Sororal polygyny A form of polygyny in which a man marries sisters

Polyandry A rule permitting a woman to have more than one husband at a time.


Fraternal polyandry A custom whereby a woman marries a man and his brothers.

Functions of Marriage
Regulates sexual access.  Creates a family.  Expands social group.


Marriage
Customs, rules, and obligations for relationships between:  A sexually cohabiting man and woman  Parents and children  Families of the bride and groom

Marriage Regulates Sexual Access

Reasons:  Limits sexual competition.  Provides stability for children.  Allows for stable economic exchange.

Marriage Establishes Family Structures

Marriage provides a stable structure:  The male can provide food and protection.  The female can nurse and nurture the children.

Marriage Expands Social Groups

Links different families and kin groups.  Leads to cooperation beyond the primary husband-wife pair.  Allows people to share resources.  Benefits the survival of the species.


A marriage is everyones business



 

Arranged marriage The process by which senior family members exercise a great deal of control over the choice of their childrens spouses. The obligations of a marriage encompass everyone in the extended family These binding social and economic alliances are seldom left to chance, or to unmarried young people.

Marriage is the Economic and Political Union of Two Families



Bride service Work that the groom performs for his brides family for a variable length of time either before or after the marriage. Bridewealth Goods presented by the grooms kin to the brides kin to legitimize a marriage. Dowry Presentation of goods by the brides kin to the family of the groom or to the couple.

Marriage Rules: Exogamy

Rules specifying that a person must marry outside a particular group.  Almost universal within the primary family group.  Leads to alliances between different families and groups.


Marriage Rules: Endogamy



Rules that marriage must be within a particular group.  In India, the caste is an endogamous group.  In the U.S., social classes tend to be endogamous.

Marriage Rules: Incest Taboos

Prohibit sexual relations between relatives.  Universal to most cultures.  Exceptions :  Brother-sister marriages among royalty in ancient Egypt  Traditional Hawaiian society


Reasons for Incest Taboos

Avoids inbreeding.  Prevents disruption in the nuclear family.  Directs sexual desires outside the family.  Forces people to marry outside the family and create a larger social community.


Preferential Marriage Rules



Rules about the preferred categories of relatives for marriage partners:



Levirate The custom whereby a man marries the widow of a deceased brother. Sororate When a mans wife dies, her sister is given to him as a wife.

Primary Marriage Rights

Sexual access of husband and wife to each other.  Obligations by one or both parents to care for children born to the union.  Rights of husband and wife to the economic services of the other.


Divorce
Research suggests divorce rate is lower in unilineal descent cultures Bilineal descent cultures have a more fluid system of joining and breaking up In multi-spouse marriages, two wives are more stable than three or more

Gender affects ability to divorce

Widowhood and Remarriage



In some cultures, womens position as a widow is often marked symbolically

  

modest clothes asexual little food intake

Remarriage is dependent on economic factors and gender expectations

Chapter 9, Marriage, Family and Domestic Groups

Key Terms

Exogamy A rule specifying that a person must marry outside a particular group. Endogamy A rule prescribing that marriage must be within a particular group.

Cross cousins The children of a parents siblings of the opposite sex. (mothers brothers, fathers sisters) Parallel cousins The children of a parent's same-sex siblings. (mothers sisters, fathers brothers)

Unilineal descent A rule specifying that membership in a descent group is based on links through either the maternal or the paternal line; but not both. Levirate The custom whereby a man marries the widow of a deceased brother.

Sororate The custom whereby, when a mans wife dies, her sister is given to him as a wife. Monogamy A rule that permits a person to be married to only one spouse at a time.

Polygamy A rule allowing more than one spouse. Polygyny A rule permitting a man to have more than one wife at a time.

Polyandry A rule permitting a woman to have more than one husband at a time. Soroal polygyny A form of polygyny in which a man marries sisters.

Fraternal polyandry A custom whereby a woman marries a man and his brothers. Arranged marriage The process by which senior family members exercise a great deal of control over the choice of their childrens spouses.

Bride service Work that the groom performs for his brides family for a variable length of time either before or after the marriage. Bridewealth Goods presented by the grooms kin to the brides kin to legitimize a marriage.

Dowry Presentation of goods by the brides kin to the family of the groom or to the couple. Nuclear family The family organized around the relationship between husband and wife. A nuclear family consists of a husband, a wife, and their children.

Conjugal tie The relationship between a husband and wife formed by marriage. Extended family Family based on blood relations extending over three or more generations.

Consanguineal Related by birth. Domestic group A household unit, that usually, but not always, consists of members of a family.

Neolocal residence System under which a couple establishes an independent household after marriage. Composite (compound) family An aggregate of nuclear families linked by a common spouse.

Patrilocal residence System under which a bride lives with her husbands family after marriage. Patrilineage A lineage formed by descent in the male line.

Matrilineage A lineage formed by descent in the female line. Matrilocal residence System under which a husband lives with this wife's family after marriage.

Avunculocal residence System under which a married couple lives with husband's mothers brother. Bilocal residence System under which the married couple has the choice of living with the husband's or wifes family.