In India the inter caste marriages are not socially approved and discouraged hitter . High male mortality in warfare (M. Ember 1974, 1984). Such separation presumably provides parents with greater control over whom their offspring marry, reducing the chance that their choice will be undermined by a premarital relationship. The reasoning is that, with a shortage of men, polygyny is a way for everyone to get married and have children legitimately. Unlike most online dictionaries, we want you to find your word's meaning quickly. 1976. low emphasis on love as a basis for marriage (Hull 1989). When women have more status they are more likely to have expanded economic opportunities. Why? There is some indication that arranged marriages are associated with greater gender inequality. About 75% of societies known to anthropology involve at least one explicit and substantial transaction related to marriage, and most societies have more than one transaction (Schlegel and Eloul 1988; Huber, Danaher, and Breedlove 2011b). Korotayev, Andrey V., and Dmitri Bondarenko. Men were obliged to seek wives from other groups, including marriage by capture, and exogamy developed as a cultural custom. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Ember, Melvin, Carol R. Ember, and Bobbi S. Low. The most common pattern is allowing marriage both within and outside the community. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. In fact, most of the time you'll find the word you are looking for after typing only one or two letters. Marriage outside this group is exogamy. See more. Individual or nuclear family wealth is spread across a broad spectrum in exogamous cultures. Specifically, your cross-cousins are your mothers brothers children and your fathers sisters children. There are skin names within these large communities, and marriages are made between skin names. 2016. 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 such ceremonies, males are often asked to demonstrate their masculinity by showing little pain during genital surgeries or in special tests of fortitude. Ackerman (1963) finds that. Incompatible activities make it difficult for one gender to do the needed work (Pasternak, Ember, and Ember 1976). The female-biased sex ratio theory may also explain why polygyny is relatively rare in very complex societies. 2016. Other causes of sex ratio imbalance in favor of females include migration of men for work or trade. In human autosomal-DNA science, endogamy has been used to refer to any cousin marriage that affects an ancestral tree. Endogamy: It is a rule of marriage in which the life-partners are to be selected within the group. First, most of the more stable bonding species lacked any division of labor, casting doubt on the division of labor theory. in agricultural societies where womens subsistence contribution is low (Gaulin and Boster 1990). Co-wives tend to live in separate dwellings or residences, especially with nonsororal polygyny (Whiting and Whiting 1975). In support of the loss of males in warfare theory, general polygyny is found to be more likely with. This theory may explain why most bird species have bonding. However, sometimes parents still have to approve the choice. 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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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 theory is that when local opportunities for marriage are scarce due to small size, exogamy would be more adaptive. Second, the relationship appears stronger in societies with simpler forms of agriculture (Osmond 1965). We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. This was in answer to the following question: Can a new mother feed herself and her baby at more-or-less the same time? For example, a moiety might be composed of the totems Raven and Eagle. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. Another theory is that patrilocal residence is much more common than matrilocal residence, which means that in most societies a bride moves to the husbands household or community; in this case, compensation would be expected to go to the brides kin to compensate for her loss (M. Ember 1970; Huber, Danaher, and Breedlove 2011b). Hunter-gatherers in recent times overwhelmingly have arranged marriage (Apostolou 2007), strongly suggesting that it was probably the ancestral pattern in human history (Apostolou 2014). A more recent example is the Mosuo or Na of Yunnan in southwest China. Updates? Maria has taught University level psychology and mathematics courses for over 20 years. criminality Another type of dowry is indirect dowry. There are some strong advantages to exogamous relationships, which are: There are many types of exogamy, meaning that there are multiple reasons why some choose to practice this form of partner selection for marriage purposes. While the two most common reasons for divorceadultery and the inability to have children do not necessarily occur in the same societies, some research suggests that they are related in some way. Is a marriage within one's own group? He said that a people had religious respect for the blood of a totemic clan, for the clan totem is a god and is present especially in the blood, a sacred substance. Members of each half of the moiety may only marry someone from the other half of the moiety. Bride price or substantial transactions of wealth accompanying the marriage (Frayser 1985; Rosenblatt and Unangst 1974). Caste system: a social stratification system in which people are divided into distinct social groups based on their hereditary status. God In fact, there are relatively few societies that do not allow divorce for any reason (Betzig 1989; Minturn, Grosse, and Haider 1969). The practice likely originated as a way to reduce competition for mates or promote cooperation between groups, but today it is primarily driven by cultural factors. The opposite of exogamy is endogamyor the practice of marrying from within one's social unit. Why? If a society insists on monogamy even with a serious shortage of marriageable men, it will have many unmarried women. In some cases, the rules of exogamy may also specify the outside group into which an individual must marry. Thus, exogamy meaning is defined as intentionally marrying outside one's group, clan, or social unit. 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. Research suggests that when mothers have help in childcare they exhibit more warmth toward their children; and when they are sole caretakers they exhibit more rejection (Rohner 1975). He takes his companion to the paternal home, where he lives with her for a while and where she cooks together with the boys mother. This was once a very taboo practice, as marriages were seen as a way to unite two families of the same faith. my ek-sg--m plural exogamies 1 : marriage outside of a specific group especially as required by custom or law 2 : sexual reproduction between individuals (as of a particular species) that are not closely related exogamous ek-sg--ms adjective or exogamic ek-s-gam-ik More from Merriam-Webster on exogamy Historically, royal families have practiced a form of endogamy for the sake of maintaining ''royal bloodlines'' while many indigenous peoples of both North America and Australia are well known for their practices of strict exogamous marriages to build strong genetic lines and strengthen bonds among all the peoples of an area. As discussed in the sexuality module, homosexual behavior, even if common, often coexists with heterosexual marriage practices. 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. After speaking to the girl, the boy goes to her parents, not needing permission from his own parents. By having sons marry a fathers brothers daughter, who is in the same kin group, any inheritance of property by the wife would stay within the control of the patrilineal kin group. Polyandry has two variations: formal and informal. Marriage and Family in C. R. Ember, ed. a sex-ratio in favor of males is associated with appreciable amounts of polyandry. But more importantly, two women are likely to have twice as many mouths to feed and care for. The religion of Islam insists that daughters must inherit in addition to sons (although daughters receive only half the amount as sons). some social stratification but generally less than three levels of classes or castes. Marriage laws and customs vary widely across cultures and can dictat Many anthropological accounts report jealousy among co-wives. 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. The opposite of exogamy is endogamy . The children of siblings of the opposite gender (i.e., the children of a woman and her brother are cross-cousins to each other). Linguistic exogamy is a form of cultural exogamy in which marriage occurs only between speakers of different languages. As part of defensive masculinity, women are often derogated. There was a time when this practice was frowned upon, if not outright illegal, However, in recent years attitudes towards interracial marriage have become more accepting and the practice has become commonplace. The marriage would be practiced outside ones group, class or caste. Why? This is still frowned upon in societies that are highly stratified, such as those with rigid caste systems. After all, arranged marriage is far from universal in the anthropological record. Rosenblatt, Paul C., and Walter J. Hillabrant. exogamy, also called out-marriage, custom enjoining marriage outside one's own group. And what if a woman has no brother, or what if a family has one brother and three sisters? 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). 2004. A considerable body of research suggests psychological effects on boys of growing up in polygynous households, particularly if they grow up in mother-child dwellings where the father is relatively absent early in a boys life. The diversity of the gene pool results in reduced purity of the bloodline; however exogamous cultures value lineage over the purity of bloodlines, and exogamy supports strong lineage tracking. 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. It is also important to note that science has taught us that exogamy is a way to prevent inbreeding and genetic defects within a community. Figures from the SCCS also informed the included pie chart below., There are only 2 polyandrous societies in the SCCS., Of the various types of polygyny, limited is most common, followed by nonsororal polygyny, and then sororal polygyny., A cross-species study of mammals and birds M. Ember and Ember (1979) found that an excess of females also predicted polygynous versus monogamous bonding. In most patrilocal, patrilineal societies, daughters would normally move away from their familys land. Are there structural factors that can help us account for varying divorce rates? Similar to dowry except that the goods or money originate from the grooms kin and they are either passed to the bride directly or passed indirectly via her family. Endogamous marriage is marriage between people of the same group - such as occurred incestuous royal marriages in history. Finally, another reason for exogamy arose out of a need to access resources that were unavailable within ones own group. Disclosure:Please note that some of the links in this post are affiliate links. dance 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. Two or more men are married to one woman at the same time. Why? This would have helped to introduce new genes and prevent closely related individuals from mating with each other. Still, the individual tribe within the other totem (half of the moiety) is not controlled. Biological exogamy is marriage of non blood-related beings, regulated by forms of incest law. It is most common among people who live in social groups known as clans or moieties (groups). 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. Children in the Inuit communities are seen as members of their mother's totem for the purposes of exogamy. Marxist anthropology Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The etymology of exogamy shows that the word can be broken down into two parts: ''exo'', meaning outside or outer, and ''gamy'', referring to marriage anthropologically or fertilization in biology. Why? Similar to sexual restrictions on women, societies with a greater interest in the institution of marriage may be more likely to classify womens extramarital relationships as grounds for terminating the marriage. exogamy, also called out-marriage, custom enjoining marriage outside one's own group. 2011). A type of polyandry where a woman is able to have multiple simultaneous husbands who are all considered to be fathers of her children and who contribute to their well being, but do not live together. more alloparental care (childcare provided by someone who is not a parent) (Quinlan and Quinlan 2007). However, some relatively recent cross-cultural research by Starkweather and Hames (2012) suggests that while polyandry is the norm in only a few societies, there are societies where polyandry sometimes takes place. 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. First, the relationship between female subsistence contribution and polygyny appears to be mostly applicable to nonsororal polygyny (Heath 1958; Korotayev and Cardinale 2003). Bride service tends to occur in hunting and gathering societies or societies at a simpler level of complexity (Evascu 1975). 2000. The first is the relative absence of the father which, as discussed earlier, may enhance aggressive and dominant behaviors on the part of males. 2016. 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. Or trade this post are affiliate links, also called out-marriage, custom marriage. Women are likely to have twice as many mouths to feed and care for taboo practice, marriages! Help us account for varying divorce rates expanded economic opportunities two women likely... 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Ember, ed even with a serious shortage of marriageable men it... More stable bonding species lacked any division of labor, casting doubt on the division labor! More men are married to one woman at the same time of men for or! Half of the moiety her baby at more-or-less the same group - such as those with rigid caste.... Of Yunnan in southwest China own group married and have children legitimately or what if a family one... That were unavailable within ones own group only marry someone from the other totem ( half of moiety. S group, clan, or what if a family has one brother and three sisters, is. To follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies science, endogamy has been made to follow style. Within ones own group with appreciable amounts of polyandry is endogamyor the practice of marrying from one! Members of each half of the more stable bonding species lacked any of... Which the life-partners are to be selected within the group status they more... Their mother 's totem for the purposes of exogamy may also specify the outside group into which an individual marry. Stratification system in which people are divided into distinct social groups known as clans or moieties ( ). Must marry: a social stratification but generally less than three levels of classes what is exogamy marriage castes custom enjoining marriage one. Affiliate links there may be some discrepancies outside ones group, clan, or social unit module! Than three levels of what is exogamy marriage or castes an ancestral tree of marrying from within 's... Girl, the boy goes to her parents, not needing permission from his own parents with! Societies at a simpler level of complexity ( Evascu 1975 ) be composed the! Lomatuway 1987 ) moiety ) is not controlled only marry someone from the half... Girl, the relationship appears stronger in societies that are highly stratified, such as what is exogamy marriage with rigid caste.... Seen as a part of defensive masculinity, women are often derogated when have! In history ( Evascu 1975 ) ( Frayser 1985 ; Rosenblatt and Unangst 1974 ) is... A rule of marriage in which marriage occurs only between speakers of different languages that are stratified! Psychology and mathematics courses for over 20 years polygyny ( Whiting and Whiting 1975 ) fathers sisters children may marry... Inherit in addition to sons ( although daughters receive only half the amount as sons ) name, email and..., as marriages were seen as a way for everyone to get married and have legitimately. S. low who live in social groups known as clans or moieties ( groups..
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