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Chapter 9
Marriage and the Family
Chapter Outline
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Marriage and the Family
Marriage and the Family: Functions
Mate Selection: Who Is Out of Bounds?
Mate Selection: Whom Should You Marry?
Number of Spouses
Economic Considerations of Marriage
Divorce
Residence Patterns: Where Do Wives and Husbands
Live?
Family Structure
Definition of Family
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Social unit characterized by:
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economic cooperation
management of reproduction
child rearing
common residence.
Includes male and female adults who maintain
a socially approved sexual relationship.
Marriage Defined
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Customs formalizing the relationship between
male and female adults within the family.
Regulates the sexual and economic rights and
obligations between a married couple.
Usually involves an explicit contract or
understanding and is entered into with the
assumption that it will be permanent.
Social Functions of Marriage
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Creates relationships between men and
women that regulate mating and reproduction.
Provides a mechanism for regulating the
sexual division of labor.
Creates a set of family relationships that
provides for the material, educational, and
emotional needs of children.
Incest Taboos: Theories
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Natural Aversion Theory - there is a natural
aversion to sexual intercourse among those
who have grown up together.
Inbreeding Theory - mating between close kin
produces a higher incidence of genetic defects.
Incest Taboos: Theories
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Family Disruption Theory – mating between
family members would create intense
jealousies and the family would not be able to
function.
Theory of Expanding Social Alliances marrying outside the immediate family creates
a wider network of interfamily alliances.
Restrictions on Marriage Partners
Cultures restrict choice of marriage partners
through:
 Exogamy
 Endogamy
 Arranged marriages
 Preferential cousin marriage
 Levirate and sororate
Number of Spouses
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Monogamy
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Polygyny
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Marriage of one man to one woman.
Marriage of a man to two or more women.
Polyandry
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Marriage of a woman to two or more men.
Marriage: Transfer of Rights
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Marriage often includes the transfer of certain
rights between the marrying parties:
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Rights of sexual access.
Legal rights to children.
Rights of spouses to each other’s economic goods
and services.
Economic Transactions of Marriage
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Bridewealth
Bride service
Dowry
Woman exchange
Reciprocal exchange
Bridewealth
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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
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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.
Dowry
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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.
Divorce Across Cultures
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Divorce arrangements found in the many
cultures of the world vary widely.
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Organizations such as the Roman Catholic Church
prohibit divorce outright.
A Hopi woman from Arizona could divorce her
husband easily by simply putting his belongings
outside the door.
Factors in Rising U.S. Divorce Rate
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Industrialization and urbanization have undermined
traditional functions of the family.
Less time spent with family members and less
willingness to make sacrifices for the good of the
family.
Western culture emphasizes romantic love as the basis
for marriage.
Less stigma attached to divorce than in the past.
Marriage Residence Patterns
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Patrilocal: Couple lives with or near relatives
of the husband’s father (69%).
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Matrilocal: Couple lives with or near the
relatives of the wife (13%).
Marriage Residence Patterns
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Avunculocal: Couple lives with or near the
husband’s mother’s brother (4%).
Ambilocal: Couple has a choice of living with
relatives of the wife or the husband (9%).
Neolocal: Couple forms independent
residence away from relatives (5%).
Family Structures
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Nuclear family – Comprises wife, husband,
and children.
Extended family – A larger social unit,
comprising relatives from three or more
generations.