Marriage, Family, and Domestic Groups: Functions, Rules, and Changes in Different Societies

1. Chapter 9 Marriage, Family and Domestic Groups

2. Chapter Questions • What are some of the universal functions of marriage and the family? • What are some of the rule that regulate marriage in different societies? • How can these rules be explained?

3. Chapter Questions • How do arranged marriage and romantic love relate to the values of marriage and family in different societies? • What kinds of changes are taking place in the family in the United States? • How does a society’s subsistence strategy influence the shape of the family and the household?

4. Functions of Marriage • Regulates sexual access. • Creates a family. • Expands social group.

5. Marriage Customs, rules, and obligations for relationships between: • A sexually cohabiting man and woman • Parents and children • Families of the bride and groom

6. Regulate Sexual Access Reasons: • Limits sexual competition. • Provides stability for children. • Allows for stable economic exchange.

7. Incest Taboos • Prohibit sexual relations between relatives. • Universal to most cultures. • Exceptions : • Brother-sister marriages among royalty in ancient Egypt • Traditional Hawaiian society

8. Reasons for Incest Taboo • Avoids inbreeding. • Prevents disruption in the nuclear family. • Directs sexual desires outside the family. • Forces people to marry outside the family and create a larger social community.

9. Family Structure Marriage provides a stable structure: • The male can provide food and protection. • The female can nurse and nurture the children.

10. Expands Social Groups • Links different families and kin groups. • Leads to cooperation beyond the primary husband-wife pair. • Allows people to share resources. • Benefits the survival of the species.

11. Exogamy • Rules specifying that a person must marry outside a particular group. • Almost universal within the primary family group. • Leads to alliances between different families and groups.

12. Endogamy • Rules that marriage must be within a particular group. • In India, the caste is an endogamous group. • In the U.S., social classes tend to be endogamous.

13. Preferential Marriage Rules • Rules about the preferred categories of relatives for marriage partners: • Levirate - A man marries widow of a deceased brother. • Sororate - When a man’s wife dies, her sister is given to him as a wife.

14. Number of Spouses • All societies have rules about how many spouses a person can have at one time. • Monogamy is the norm only in Europe and north America. • 75% of the world’s societies prefer plural marriage.

15. Primary Marriage Rights • Sexual access of husband and wife to each other. • Obligations by one or both parents to care for children born to the union. • Rights of husband and wife to the economic services of the other.

16. Nuclear Family • A husband, a wife, and their children. • High rates of divorce and remarriage create complicated kinship networks.

17. Composite Family • Aggregates of nuclear families linked by a common spouse. • Example: Polygynous household consisting of one man with several wives.

18. Extended Family • Blood relations extending over three or more generations. • Economic advantages: keeps land intact and provides security in times of crisis. • Provides a sense of participation and dignity for the older family members.