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 Caste exogamy is when individuals marry outside of their own caste. Updates? Among the societies with more elaborate ceremonies are the Hopi, of the U.S. Southwest, who practice a wedding ceremony that lasts four days. Exogamy often results in two individuals that are not closely genetically related marrying each other; that is, outbreeding as opposed to inbreeding. type of marriage limited to only one spouse at any given time. From a genetic point of view, aversion to breeding with close relatives results in fewer congenital diseases. (In contrast, bride price and bride service are directed at the brides kin, not to the bride or the new household). necropolis Before turning to tests of theories about why societies have polygyny rather than monogamy, lets look at some conditions that are generally associated with polygyny. When you use one ofthese affiliate links,the company compensates us. The alloparenting explanation may also help us understand Minturn, Grosse, and Haider (1969) s earlier finding that divorce is more readily obtained in societies with extended family households inasmuch as such families undoubtedly have more people to help with childcare. Outbreeding favours the condition of heterozygosity, that is having two nonidentical copies of a given gene. This restriction is prevalent in the Munda and other tribes of Chhota Nagpur of Madhya Pradesh. Cultural exogamy is marrying outside a specific cultural group; the opposite being endogamy, marriage within a social group. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. Why? Why? Hence, it is more efficient and economical for the man and woman who share the child (or children) to cooperate. However,. 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. M. Ember (1984) notes that both a high male mortality in warfare combined with a discrepancy in age of marriage predict general polygyny more strongly than either condition alone. To understand what a cross-cousin is versus a parallel cousin, it helps to think of the term cross as meaning related to you by crossing gender in the parental generation. Rainfall variability is likely to produce uneven productivity between communities and exogamy provides more opportunities for movement to even out resources. Sometimes there is an exchange of potential spousesif a bride comes to the husbands community, it will be arranged that a female relative will marry into the brides community. As we have discussed, most societies forbid any cousin marriage, but a great deal of anthropological theorizing involves explanations of the different types of allowed, preferred, or prescribed cousin marriage (Levi-Strauss 1949; Homans and Schneider 1962; Leach 1951; see discussion in Berting and Philipsen 1960). According to a survey 83% people practice exogamy in these tribes. Human Relations Area Files, Inc. (HRAF) is an internationally recognized organization in the field of cultural anthropology. She coedited. marriage And, in both cases, males were frequently absent. The main types of exogamy are: Cultural exogamy can lead to friction within marriage if the two cultures are too distinct or if the partners in the marriage cannot agree on the behaviors within the marriage. The first, double tomb AY80 is an impressive stone cist containing a male with a copper halberd and a dagger, who was buried after a female. 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California in 1973: Summary & Decision, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): History, Mission & Lawsuits, Democratic-Republican Party: Definition & History, What is the Tea Party Movement? Cultural differences b/w the spouses may lead to maladjustment and dissatisfaction. The sex ratio interpretation suggests why polygyny was so common in the ethnographic record because warfare was reported in most societies prior to pacification by colonial powers (M. Ember 1974). Some examples of endogamy include marrying within the family, clan, tribe, and casteor the same social, cultural, religious, or ethnic group. Almost all societies also have the custom of marriage, so a marriage partner is usually part of the basic family unit. 1988. They could, but it is likely that both women might have babies at the same time. 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. 1969. Blumberg and Winch found support for the curvilinear hypothesis both with data from a nonindustrial sample and then also with data from a country sample. Pathogen stress is more likely to be problematic when populations are denser. 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. But as already discussed, sharing can be accomplished in other ways. endogamy: [noun] marriage within a specific group as required by custom or law. Cultural exogamy is marrying outside a specific cultural group; the opposite being endogamy, marriage within a social group. Two or more men are married to one woman at the same time. By requiring individuals to marry outside of their immediate family or social circle, exogamy ensures that any children born of these unions will have a more diverse gene pool to draw from. We don't care how many ads you see or how many pages you view. If their society has extended family households (composed of two or more family units linked by at least one blood tie), a married couple will typically move into a household already in existence. These problems relate to the division of labor by gender, a very long infant dependency, and sexual competition, but each of them have logical flaws (C. R. Ember, Ember, and Peregrine 2019). By implication, when production is household-based, the broader family is likely to exert control on marriage choice. It can be matrilineal or patrilineal. Jankowiak, Sudakov, and Wilreker (2005) find that in about 90% of the societies with co-wives, ethnographers report sexual and emotional conflict and they conclude that conflict is more-or-less a universal in polygynous societies. A division of labor by gender is a cultural universal and it is proposed that marriage is a way for females and males to productively share the results of their varied subsistence tasks. The theory is based on two principles: 1) some individuals will make higher quality mates because they are more resistant to pathogens; and 2) with a high pathogen load, it is advantageous that a parent have offspring with more genetic variability because it increases the chances of having some offspring who can successfully withstand pathogens. Alternatively, indirect dowry can be thought of as a combination of bride price paid first and then dowry. The severity of enforcement of exogamous restrictions varies greatly across cultures and may range from death to mild disapproval. 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. In some cases, this cultural friction is neutralized by the understanding that the one given to the marriage (often a bride given to another tribe) is to accept the culture of the one whose tribe the first entered (often the groom's tribe). To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. Ember, Carol R., Benjamin Gonzalez, and Daniel McCloskey. [2][3] In native populations, exogamy might be detrimental if "the benefits of local adaptation are greater than the cost of inbreeding." Some men will be unmarried, some men will only have one wife, and some will be currently monogamous but marry polygynously later. Second, the relationship appears stronger in societies with simpler forms of agriculture (Osmond 1965). Thus, persons may be expected to marry outside their totem clan(s) or other groups, in addition to outside closer blood relatives. lower rates of premarital sex (Apostolou 2017). Other causes of sex ratio imbalance in favor of females include migration of men for work or trade. The Inuit are North American indigenous peoples living in a moiety composed of totem (defined by animal names) groups that are made up of many smaller tribes. I feel like its a lifeline. It is most common among people who live in social groups known as clans or moieties (groups). 2003. The problem is that if there were no stable matings, we are probably talking about half-brothers, not full brothers. The severity of enforcement of exogamous restrictions varies greatly across cultures and may range from death to mild disapproval. Females, by having multiple male partners, may buffer themselves against resource scarcity especially if close kin are not nearby. He tells us, When I asked more specifically whether the children of first cousins were allowed to marry, people gave me a decided no and added in an indignant tone: Do not ask further; blood relatives may not be united! (Gusinde 1931, 48889). First, there is a double standard, with more tolerance of premarital and extramarital sex for men than for women. dance This distinction mostly matters in societies with patrilineal or matrilineal descent because in such societies one set of parallel cousins is in your own kin group, while cross-cousins are generally not. Dr. Alston has taught intro psychology, child psychology, and developmental psychology at 2-year and 4-year schools. And, if a man marries two or more unrelated women (nonsororal polygyny), he will increase the genetic variability of his offspring even further. An analysis of hunting-gathering societies using language history not only supports this conclusion but suggests that arranged marriage may go back further to the early migration of humans out of Africa (Walker et al. For example, a moiety might be composed of the totems Raven and Eagle. Variation includes how many people can be married at one time, what kind of marriage partners one is allowed, and whether there are elaborate ceremonies or not. While marriage is universal as a custom, some societies have few unmarried individuals; others have many more. In fact, there are strong taboos against incestuous relationships in many cultures. Why? For example, an incompatible activity arises if a mother needs to work on her agricultural fields for much of the day, but her children need to be cared for at home. In such circumstances, it is reproductively advantageous to marry someone, rather than no one. Endogamy, exogamy. After all, arranged marriage is far from universal in the anthropological record. 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). Women feel unhappy because of no prior understanding with the members of that family. Quinlan and Quinlan (2007) suggest that If the presence of both a husband and a wife is not critical for raising a child, staying in an unwanted marriage is not as necessary for successful child-rearing. Indeed, there is tremendous variability in almost every aspect of marriage, from the rules surrounding whom one can and cannot marry, how marriage is arranged, how couples get married, how many people can be married at a time, how long marriages last, and what conditions allow a marriage to be dissolved. Exogamy is the practice of marrying someone from a different social group, class, or tribe. 4) Stress of marriage. 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. 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. Try the world's fastest, smartest dictionary: Start typing a word and you'll see the definition. The more likely that marital residence is with or near the husbands kin, the more likely there is compensation to the brides kin (M. Ember 1970). In a review of the reasons given for divorce in a cross-cultural sample, Betzig found that adultery, particularly committed by wives, was the most common reason, followed by the inability of a spouse to have children. Here are some of the main findings. White, Douglas R., and Michael L. Burton. Exogamy is a widely practiced marriage custom whereby individuals marry outside of their social group. It is likely that originally exogamy evolved as a way to reduce competition among members of the same social group for mates and ensured that individuals had a larger pool of potential mates to choose from. Ross, Cody T., Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, Seung-Yun Oh, Samuel Bowles, Bret Beheim, John Bunce, Mark Caudell, et al. 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. Marxist anthropology The most common pattern is allowing marriage both within and outside the . Some societies frown on cousin marriage so much that even distant cousins are forbidden. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,100],'anthropologyreview_org-leader-4','ezslot_9',146,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-anthropologyreview_org-leader-4-0');Ethnic exogamy is when individuals marry outside of their own ethnic group. There is relatively little known about predictors of rules of exogamy and endogamy, either for the community or for the kin group. Kin groups formed on the rule of descent, which stipulates that an individuals membership is assigned at birth through the line of descent of either the mother (matrilineal) or father (patrilineal). J. F. McLennan[8] holds that exogamy was due originally to a scarcity of women among small bands. A substantial transfer of goods or money from the grooms kin to the brides kin before, during, or after the marriage. During this time she mainly grinds corn, signifying a symbolic payment of service to the grooms mother for her son. The following findings support pathogen theory: Higher pathogen load predicts polygyny (Low 1990; Hooper 2006; Barber 2008; Minocher, Duda, and Jaeggi 2019). 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. Marriage is commonly defined as a socially approved sexual and economic union, presumed to be more or less permanent, and entails rights and obligations between the married couple and any children they might have (C. R. Ember, Ember, and Peregrine 2019). Ember, Carol R., Melvin Ember, and Peter N. Peregrine. 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. However, marriage is far from a necessary solution to the sharing problem. In gift exchange, the kin groups of the bride and groom give each other gifts of about equal value. A substantial transfer of goods or money from the brides family to the bride, the groom, or to the couple. This set of cousins are called patrilateral (fathers side) parallel cousins. Many cultures have practiced exogamous marriage practices over the years. In some cases, the rules of exogamy may also specify the outside group into which an individual must marry. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. Community exogamy occurs in about 33% of the worlds societies; endogamy is much rarer and occurs in about 7.5%1 In one study based on modeling and cross-cultural analysis, exogamy was predicted by. [4], Nancy Wilmsen Thornhill states that the drive in humans to not reproduce or be attracted to one's immediate family is evolutionarily adaptive, as it reduces the risk of children having genetic defects caused by inbreeding, as a result of inheriting two copies of a deleterious recessive gene. Endogamy: It is a rule of marriage in which the life-partners are to be selected within the group. Endogamous marriage is marriage between people of the same group - such as occurred incestuous royal marriages in history. Note that the economic contribution argument fails to explain any advantages for women to be in polygynous marriages, nor does it explain why the opposite form of marriagepolyandryis not generally found where men do most of the subsistence work. Why? Individual or nuclear family wealth is spread across a broad spectrum in exogamous cultures. Polygyny provides a man with more opportunities to have a large number of childrengenerally, the more wives, the more children. Create an account to start this course today. anthropology dictionary Such lineages may in turn be grouped into clans or moieties. Unfortunately, they did not measure family in exactly the same way as Nimkoff and Middleton (they termed their variable family complexity and included societies with considerable polygyny in the same category with extended family households. Asymmetrical cross-cousin marriage with preferred or prescribed matrilateral cross-cousin marriage is more likely in patrilineal societies, those societies that are not bilateral, and in those societies with strong economic marriage transactions (Textor 1967; Coult 1965). They should also show appreciation and kindness towards each other. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); Ancient Maya Using this line of reasoning, Boserup explains why societies with long-fallow agriculture, which involves rotating through relatively large tracts of land, is associated with polygyny compared with societies practicing plow agriculture on permanent plots of land. Such transactions, such as bride price or dowry, reflect higher involvement in the establishment of a marriage. Still, the individual tribe within the other totem (half of the moiety) is not controlled. 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. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. ; the opposite being endogamy what is exogamy marriage marriage within a social group of as a part of legitimate... 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