Marriage and Family

Marriage
There is no single definition of marriage that is
adequate to account for all of the diversity found
in marriages cross-culturally.
Generally, marriage means a socially approved
sexual and economic union, usually between a man
and a woman. It is presumed to be more or less
permanent and it subsumes reciprocal rights and
obligations between the two spouses and between
spouses and their future children.
Sexual relations can occur without economic
cooperation, and there can be a division of labor between
men and women without sex. But marriage unites the
economic and the sexual. - G.P. Murdock
Why is marriage universal?
Gender division of labor
Prolonged infant dependency
Sexual competition
Postpartum needs of the woman
Economic aspects of marriage

Bride price
Bride service
Exchange of females
Gift exchange
Dowry
Indirect dowry
Marriage as Exchange
Dowry
Bride wealth
Bride service
Whom should you marry?
Incest taboo is a universal in cultures around the world.
Reasons for taboo:
childhood-familiarity theory
Freuds psychoanalytic theory
family-disruption theory
cooperation theory
inbreeding theory
Endogamy and exogamy
Polygamy/ monogamy, polygyny/ polyandry, group marriage
Families - matrifocal, nuclear, extended
Regulating Marriage
Marrying Out (exogamy) & marrying in
(endogamy)
Incest Prohibitions
Fungsi Family
Seksualitas
Ekonomi
Pengasuhan anak
Family
Types of Families
Nuclear & extended Families
Polygamous families
Sociological Functions of the Family
Regulation of sexual activity.

Biological reproduction ensures cultural reproduction.

It shapes and is in turn shaped by the economic

system.

Socialization of children.

Care and protection of members.

Provision of social status.

Variations in Residence Patterns

Neolocal Residence
money or commercial economy
interpersonal tensions (Margaret Mead)
Matrilocal versus Patrilocal Residence
patrilocal - males contribute more
matrilocal - females contribute more
warfare - external versus internal
Bilocal Residence
choice or necessity
societies that have lost population (disease epidemics
Postmarital Residence
Patrilocal
Matrilocal
Neolocal
Patterns of Marital Residence
Patrilocal - Son stays and daughter
leaves (67%)
Matrilocal - Daughter stays and
son leaves (15%)
Bilocal - Either son or daughter
leaves, live near parents (7%)
Avunculocal - Son and wife settle
near mothers brother (4%)
Neolocal - Son and daughter leave,
live apart from family (5%)
Ending Marriage: Divorce
Divorce is found in many different societies.
Marriages that are political alliances between
groups are harder to break up than marriages that
are more individual affairs.
Payments of bridewealth also discourage divorce.
Divorce is more common in matrilineal societies as
well as societies in which postmarital residence is
uxorilocal.
Divorce is harder in virilocal societies as the
woman may be less inclined to leave her children
who as members of their fathers lineage would
need to stay with him.