SEX, MARRIAGE AND FAMILYChapter 9

QUESTIONS…

What Is Marriage? What Is Family? What Is the Difference Between Family and

Household?

SEXUAL RELATIONS

Among primates, the human female is unusual in her ability to engage in sexual activity whether she is fertile or not.

Every society has rules that govern sexual access.

MARRIAGE

A relationship between one or more men (male or female) and one or more women (female or male) who are recognized by society as having a continuing claim to the right of sexual access to one another.

KIN RELATIONS

Consanguineal kin Relatives by birth; so-called “blood” relatives.

Affinal kin Relatives by marriage.

INCEST TABOO The prohibition of sexual relations between specified

individuals, usually parent-child and sibling relations at a minimum.

King Tutankhamun and other members of Egypt’s famous 18th dynasty (~1350-1300B.C.E.) genetically identified as a products of incest

ENDOGAMY AND EXOGAMY

Endogamy Marriage within a particular group or category of

individuals. Exogamy

Marriage outside the group.

REASONS FOR MARRIAGE

• Monogamy is the most common form of marriage, primarily for economic reasons.

• In most of the world, marriage is not based on romantic love, but on economic considerations.

Forms of marriage…

FORMS OF MARRIAGE

• Monogamy: Marriage in which both partners have just one spouse– “mono”=one, “gamy”=marriage

• Serial Monogamy: A marriage form in which an individual marries or lives with a series of partners in succession.

• Polygamy: One individual having multiple spouses at the same time– “poly” =many, “gamy”=marriage– Polygyny: Marriage of a man to two or more women at the same time;

a form of polygamy• “poly”=many, “gyny” =women

– Polyandry: Marriage of a woman to two or more men at one time• “poly” =many, “andry” (from andros) =men

• Group marriage: Marriage in which several men and women have sexual access to one another.

• Fictive Marriage: Marriage by proxy to the symbols of someone not physically present to establish the social status of a spouse and heirs.– Commonly involves citizens who are incarcerated, deployed in the military, residing in a foreign

country, or otherwise prevented from being physically present at the formal ceremony.

POLYGYNY Marriage of a man

to two or more women at the same time; a form of polygamy.Ex: Togo, West

Africa (Kotokoli tribe, practitioners of Islam): http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/culture-places/beliefs-and-traditions/togo_multiplemarriage.html

POLYANDRY Marriage of a

woman to two or more men at one time; a form of polygamy.Ex: Pahari

culture in the Himalayas (India) –woman married to 3 brothers: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/culture-places/beliefs-and-traditions/india_multiplehusbands.html

CHOICE OF SPOUSE

Sometimes choosing a spouse rests not with the individual but with parents and elders: Ex: Child marriage in India:

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/culture-places/beliefs-and-traditions/india_childmarriage.html

CHOICE OF SPOUSECOUSIN MARRIAGE In some societies, certain cousins are the preferred

marriage partners. Parallel cousin marriage

A parallel cousin is the child of a father’s brother or a mother’s sister.

In some societies, the preferred spouse for a man is his father’s brother’s daughter, known as patrilateral parallel-cousin marriage.

Cross-cousin marriage A cross cousin is a child of a mother’s brother or a

father’s sister Some societies favor matrilateral cross-cousin marriage

—marriage of a man to his mother’s brother’s daughter, or a woman to her father’s sister’s son.

KINSHIP DIAGRAM

Anthropologists use diagrams to illustrate kinship relationships.

DIVORCEA CONCEPT MANY OF US IN U.S. SOCIETY MAY BE FAMILIAR WITH…

How many of us come from a divorced household?

How many know of at least one couple that is divorced?

DIVORCEA CONCEPT MANY OF US IN U.S. SOCIETY MAY BE FAMILIAR WITH…

The Figures:In the U.S.: Some 50% of first marriages end in divorce –twice the 1960 divorce rate but slightly less than the high point in the early 1980s.

Factors contributing to divorce: Many marriages are based on ideals of romantic

love or the idealization of youth. Establishing an intimate bond in a society in

which people are taught to seek individual gratification is difficult (as is the case in our postindustrial society).

FAMILY Two or more people related by blood, marriage,

or adoption. The family may take many forms, ranging from a single

parent with one or more children, to a married couple or polygamous spouses with offspring, to several generations of parents and their children.

• Nuclear family – A group consisting of one or

more parents and dependent offspring, which may include a stepparent, stepsiblings, and adopted children.

• Extended family– A collection of nuclear families,

related by ties of blood, that live in one household.

HOUSEHOLD

Basic residential unit in which economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are organized and carried out. Non-family may live in a household together (i.e. a

ruler and his servants. Other examples?)

FOUR BASIC RESIDENCE PATTERNS

• Patrilocal: Married couple lives in the locality associated with the husband’s father’s relatives.

• Matrilocal: Married couple lives in the locality associated with the wife’s relatives.

• Ambilocal: Married couple may choose either matrilocal or patrilocal residence.

• Neolocal: Married couple may establish their household in a location apart from either the husband’s or the wife’s relatives.