Marriage

- Merely means a socially approved sexual and economic union between a

woman and a man.
- A socially approved sexual union in that a married couple does not have to
hide the sexual nature of their relationship
- entails both a sexual and an economic relationship:
Sexual unions without economic co-operation are common, and there
are relationships between men and women involving a division of labor
without sexual gratification, e.g., between brother and sister, master and
maidservant, or employer and secretary, but marriage exists only when
the economic and the sexual are united in one relationship, and this
combination occurs only in marriage.
The Nayar Exception
- Nayar a caste group in southern India that treats sex and economic
relations between men and women as things separate from marriage.
Rare Types of Marriage
Same-sex marriage
- Male-male
- Female-female
Why is marriage universal?
- Division of Labor by Sex
- Prolonged Infant Dependency
- Sexual Competition
- Other Mammals and Birds: Postpartum Requirements
How does one marry?
- Marking the onset of marriage
- Economic aspects of marriage:
o Bride Price
o Bride Service
o Exchange of Females
o Gift Exchange
o Dowry
Restrictions on Marriage: The Universal Incest Taboo
Incest Taboo
- Prohibition of sexual intercourse between mother and son, father and
daughter, and brother and sister
Why is the incest taboo universal?
- Childhood-Familiarity Theory
- Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory
- Family-Disruption Theory
- Cooperation Theory

Inbreeding Theory

Whom should one marry?

- Arranged Marriages
- Exogamy and Endogamy
o Rule of Exogamy marriage partners must be chosen from outside
ones own kin group or community
o Rule of Endogamy obliges a person to marry within some group
- Cousin Marriages
o Cross-cousins children of siblings of the opposite-sex (Ex. Fathers
brothers children, mothers sisters children)
o Parallel cousins children of siblings of the same sex
- Levirate and Sororate
o Levirate a custom whereby a man is obliged to marry his brothers
widow
o Sororate obliges a woman to marry her deceased sisters husband
How many does one marry?
- Monogamy
o a form of relationship in which an individual has only one partner
during his or her lifetime or at any one time
- Polygamy
o Polygyny (gyny -> gyne = woman)
a form of plural marriage in which a man is allowed more
than one wife
Sororal and Nonsororal Polygyny
o Polyandry (andry -> anr = man)
the practice of one woman taking two or more husbands
Fraternal and Nonfraternal
Group Marriage one man is married to more than one woman at the same
time
Form of Marriage
Monogamy
Polygyny
Polyga
my

Polyandry

Group Marriage
= - marriage

Males (X)
X
X
X+X+
X+X+

Females
(O)
=O
= O + O +

=O
= O + O +