marriage

Ray McGovern-CIA Analyst: 

Ray McGovern-CIA Analyst Today Monday 10/22 2:00-3:20 Room 806

Slide2: 

Marriage, Family and Domestic Groups

Objectives: 

Objectives 1. Define marriage and family 2. Identify the common societal functions of marriage and family. 3. Define the rules that regulate marriage in different societies.

Marriage: 

Marriage A union between a man and a woman such that the children born to the woman are recognized as legitimate offspring of both parents Royal Anthropological Institute 1951 This is only part of the story…

Marriage: 

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

Why do people get Married?: 

Why do people get Married? Do all cultures have Marriage?

Functions of Marriage: 

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

Regulate Sexual Access: 

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

Family Structure: 

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

Expands Social Groups: 

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.

The Weeks Ahead: 

The Weeks Ahead This week: Marriage and Family Next Week: Kinship Systems

Extra Credit: 

Extra Credit Neanderthals May Have Had Gene for Speech

Campus Events: 

Campus Events Blood Drive Today 9-3:00 Student center Planned Parenthood Express Clinic for women & men in Health Services Room 2020, Student Health Services Today 1-4:00 A Midsummer Night’s Dream Oct 25, 26, 27 7:30 Campus Theatre

Marriage: 

Marriage An agreement, either written or verbal.  Most often, this includes four categories of privileges, rights, and obligations of the marrying couple: 1)  agreeing to exclusive sexual access 2) agreeing to extend kinship bonds to your spouse's relatives sometimes includes 3) accepting a sexual division of labor 4) having and caring for children (not always)

How do you know who is “The One” ?: 

How do you know who is “The One” ?

In All societies there are some rules: 

In All societies there are some rules In most societies, marriage is important because it links kin groups of the married couple. This accounts for the practice of arranged marriages. In the United States, marriage is primarily an affair of individuals, and the married couple tends to make a new home apart from the parents.

Two Basic Rules: 

Two Basic Rules Endogamy - indicates who you should marry Exogamy – indicates who you cannot marry

Endogamy: 

Endogamy Rules that marriage must be within a particular group. In India, the caste is an endogamous group.

In the U.S.: 

In the U.S. The endogamous group generally includes members of an individual's ethnic/racial, religious, socio-economic and/or age groups In U.S. these are largely unspoken rules implicit social pressure by friends and relatives.  These rules may remain unstated below the surface until an individual tries to deviate from them

Exogamy: 

Exogamy Rules specifying that a person must marry outside a defined social group. Leads to alliances between different families and groups.

North America: 

North America In North America: exogamous group includes an individual's siblings, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and sometimes cousins Almost universal within the primary family group.

Incest Taboos: 

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

Reasons for Incest Taboo: 

Reasons for Incest Taboo 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: 

Preferential Marriage Rules Rules about the preferred categories of relatives for marriage partners: About 30% of all cultures define some cousins as preferred mates Cross cousins The children of a parent’s siblings of the opposite sex (mother’s brothers, father’s sisters). parallel cousins The children of a parent’s same-sex siblings (mother’s sisters, father’s brothers).

Diagram: Cross Cousins and Parallel Cousins: 

Diagram: Cross Cousins and Parallel Cousins

Preferential Marriage Rules: 

Preferential Marriage Rules Levirate - A man marries widow of a deceased brother. Sororate - When a man’s wife dies, her sister is given to him as a wife.

Number of Spouses: 

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 world’s societies prefer plural marriage.

Slide35: 

Monogamy Marriage of one person to another person Bigamy Two simultaneous monogamous marriages

Polygamy: 

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.

Exchange of Goods in Marriage: 

Exchange of Goods in Marriage Three kinds of exchanges made in connection with marriage are: Bride service Bridewealth Dowry

Exchanging Bridewealth in Papua New Guinea: 

Exchanging Bridewealth in Papua New Guinea

Bridewealth: 

Bridewealth The most common form of marriage exchange. Bridewealth paid at marriage is returned if a marriage is terminated. A person can claim compensation for a violation of conjugal rights only if the bridewealth has been paid.

Bridewealth: 

Bridewealth Compensation given upon marriage by the family of the groom to the family of the bride. Approximately 46% of all societies give substantial bridewealth payment as part of the marriage process. Bridewealth is most widely found in Africa, where it is estimated that 82% of societies require the payment of bridewealth.

Bride Service: 

Bride Service Men give labor to the bride’s family in exchange for a wife. He often moves in with his bride’s family, works or hunts for them, and serves a probationary period of several weeks to several years. Found in approximately 14% of societies.

Bride Service: 

Bride Service Occurs mainly in foraging societies, where accumulating material goods for an exchange at marriage is difficult. Among the Ju/’hoansi a man may work for his wife’s family for as long as 15 years or until the birth of the third child.

Dowry: 

Dowry Transfer of goods or money from bride’s family to the groom or the groom’s family. Practiced in less than 3% of societies. If the marriage ended in divorce, the woman was entitled to take the dowry with her.

Slide46: 

low female contribution to agriculture •high dependence of women and children on male economic support •women are likely to be sole wives (monogamy)

Marriage: Reciprocal exchange: 

Marriage: Reciprocal exchange Woman exchange: two families exchange males or females in marriage Reciprocal gift exchange: general gift giving

Types of Families: 

Types of Families Anthropologists identify two basic types of families: Nuclear families are organized around the conjugal tie, the relationship between husband and wife The extended family is based on consanguineal, or blood, relations extending over three or more generations.

Neolocal Residence: 

Neolocal Residence System under which a couple establishes an independent household after marriage. Only 5% of the world’s societies are neolocal.

What is a Family?: 

What is a Family? Basic unit of Human Social Organization Group of people related by blood or marriage Based on: economic cooperation (remember economic systems) management of reproduction child rearing common residence (sometimes)

Slide54: 

There are many ways to organize families and households

Family : 

Family (Extended) family includes those who are related by blood (consanguines) and/or by marriage (affines) - Family also refers to the conjugal pair and their children, as in nuclear family

Households: 

Households A domestic group, or household, is not the same as a family. Households may also include people who aren’t related.

Household: 

Household Family members that live in the same house or share the same hearth Nuclear family household (conjugal pair and kids) Extended family household

Types of Families: 

Types of Families Anthropologists identify two basic types of families: Nuclear families are organized around the conjugal tie, the relationship between husband and wife The extended family is based on consanguineal, or blood, relations extending over three or more generations.

Neolocal Residence: 

Neolocal Residence System under which a couple establishes an independent household after marriage. Only 5% of the world’s societies are neolocal.

Changing American Family: Blended Families: 

Changing American Family: Blended Families Blended families include previously divorced spouses and their new partners, children from previous marriages, and multiple sets of grandparents and other similar relations. Almost half of the children of divorced parents have not seen their biological fathers for more than a year. 10 years later more than 2/3 have lost contact with him.

Changes in Marriage and Family: 

Changes in Marriage and Family 1970 Married couple households with children - 40% Single mother households - 12% Single father households - 1% 2000 Married couple households with children - 24% Single mother households - 26% Single father households - 5%

Changing American Family: Single-Parent Families: 

Changing American Family: Single-Parent Families Single-mother families now account for almost 22% of all households with children - more than double the proportion of a generation ago. About half the children in the U.S. will spend some of their childhood in a single-parent family. Single-father families now make up almost 6% of all households with children and approximately 20% percent of all single parent households.

Single-mothers and Single-fathers: 

Single-mothers and Single-fathers A 2000 census study found single fathers were 72% more likely to have a woman residing with them than a single mother was to have a man residing with her. The median income for custodial fathers is approximately $35,000. The median income for single mothers is $21,000 annually, which includes child support payments.

Composite Family: 

Composite Family Aggregates of nuclear families linked by a common spouse. Example: Polygynous household consisting of one man with several wives. Most composite families are patrilocal, a system under which a bride lives with her husband’s family after marriage.

Extended Family: 

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.

Extended Family: 

Extended Family Extended families may be patrilineal or matrilineal. A patrilineal extended family is organized around a man, his sons, and the sons’ wives and children. A matrilineal family is organized around a woman and her daughters and the daughters’ husbands and children.

Rules of Residence: 

Rules of Residence Patrilocal residence - a woman lives with her husband’s family after marriage. Matrilocal residence - a man lives in the household of his wife’s family. Avunculocal residence - a married couple is expected to live with the husband’s mother’s brother. If a couple can choose between living with either the wife’s or the husband’s family, the pattern is called bilocal residence.

Quick Quiz: 

Quick Quiz

Slide72: 

1. Explanations regarding the function of familial incest taboos include all except which of the following: This restriction forces people to make alliances with other families, expanding societal links. Freud's idea was that such a taboo prevents disruption and conflict within the family. Taboos prohibiting mating between closely-related individuals arose because of the higher incidence of deleterious traits. Incest taboos restrict the known damaging consequences of inbreeding between parent and offspring and between siblings.

Answer: c: 

Answer: c Explanations regarding the function of familial incest taboos don’t include the following: Taboos prohibiting mating between closely-related individuals arose because of the higher incidence of deleterious traits.

Slide74: 

2. Hypothetical case example: A young husband had an unfortunate encounter with a crocodile as he was herding his cows along the banks of the Nile River. As custom dictated, his brother subsequently married the bereaved widow, adding her to his polygynous household. This would be an example of the sororate. the practice of bride-service. the levirate. an arranged marriage. sororal polygyny.

Answer: c: 

Answer: c Hypothetical case example: A young husband had an unfortunate encounter with a crocodile as he was herding his cows along the banks of the Nile River. As custom dictated, his brother subsequently married the bereaved widow, adding her to his polygynous household. This would be an example of the levirate.

Slide76: 

3. Which of the following does not describe contemporary patterns and/or ideals regarding the American family? a high divorce rate and the associated pattern social scientists call "serial monogamy" changing household composition, from a nuclear family to more single-parent households emphasis on romantic love as the basis for the emotional bond between husband and wife during the past two decades, a significant decline in households headed by single parents, who are usually women an ideal shared by most Americans is that of a nuclear family with a neolocal residence pattern

Answer: d: 

Answer: d The following does not describe contemporary patterns and/or ideals regarding the American family: during the past two decades, a significant decline in households headed by single parents, who are usually women.

Slide78: 

4. Persons related by "blood" as opposed to marriage are known as one's siblings. parallel cousins. consanguines. affines. domestic group.

Answer: c : 

Answer: c Persons related by "blood" as opposed to marriage are known as one's consanguines.