ANT 2410 Chapter 11

Which statement best describes how the incest taboo can be defined differently in different societies?

Although sex and marriage are forbidden between close relatives in all societies, the definition of close relative varies cross-culturally.

Which of the following statements about romantic love and its roles in marriage are true?

Cross-culturally, romantic love is a common reason for marriage. Western societies believe marriage is a matter of individuals rather than groups.

In general, what happens as the value of lobola increases?

Divorce becomes less frequent.

Which of the following statements about polygyny are true?

Even in cultures where polygyny is encouraged, most men are monogamous. The custom of men marrying later than women promotes polygyny.

Which explanation for rules of exogamy and incest taboos is widely accepted by cultural anthropologists?

Rules forcing people to mate and marry outside their kin groups creates new social and political alliances and keeps a group from being too isolated.

Which of the following is the definition of marriage as defined in Notes and Queries on Anthropology?

a union between a man and a woman in which children born to the woman belong to both marriage partners

The levirate is a marriage custom in which

a widow is expected to marry the brother or another close relative of her dead husband.

The property or savings that a woman brings to a marriage is referred to as _______. Such marital gifts from the bride's family may function like a trust fund to support her, or they may function to build alliances between families.

dowry

A transfer of family wealth, usually from parents to their daughter, at the time of her marriage, is called a

dowry.

In the U.S. people are often encouraged to marry someone from their own religious group. With such warnings as "She's a gold-digger," men are also encouraged to marry someone of their same social class. These practices are called

endogamy.

The traditional caste system in India included a belief that sexual or marital unions between people of different castes would lead to ritual impurity. In particular, a woman who had sex with a man of a lower caste would be forever defiled, and she and her future children would be impure. This belief is an extreme examples of the rule of

endogamy.

The incest taboo and forbidding sex and marriage between close relatives are example of _________ rules.

exogamy

Marriage patterns that required individuals to find spouses outside the boundaries of their own group are called rules of

exogamy.

In an ethnography you read about a young Tibetan monk who must return home after his monastery is attached by the Chinese. He lives with his older brother, who is married. The younger brother (the former monk) is well-liked, does his share of the work, and begins to think about setting up his own tent, and taking his share of the yak and fields of grass. One night his brother's wife gives him her bracelet. He knows that this signifies that she is inviting him to become her second husband. If he accepts, he and his brother will share the same wife, the kind of marriage known as

fraternal polyandry.

One of the functions of marriage, according to British anthropologist, Edmund Leach, that can be applied cross-culturally is that marriage can, but does not always,

give either or both spouses rights to the labor of the other.

Endogamy means marrying

inside a certain group.

There are some effects of marriage customs on societies that are not recognized or mentioned by members of that society. In Europe, for example, if kings married someone outside the royal family, any resulting ale heirs could challenge the royal family for political power. Rules forbidding European royalty to marry outside the royal family effectively limited the number of people with claims to rule. This effect has been called the

latent political function of royal endogamy.

Symbolically important goods transferred from the family of the groom to the family of the bride in exchange for the bride's labor and childbearing capacity are called _________ and is a common practice in patrilineal societies.

lobola

Hawaiians and other Polynesians believed that their kings and queens had a concentrated sacred energy called mana, which common people could not share. To maintain this sacred energy, the rule for a king was that his most appropriate wife was his sister. This set of cultural beliefs illustrates the

manifest function of royal endogamy.

The term used to describe the kinship relationship between the children of two brothers or the children of two sisters is ________, and marriage rules in some non-Western societies, such as the Yanomami, designate them as ________ sexual or marriage partners.

parallel cousins; incestuous

Which types of marriage practices in non-Western societies present problems for the Western definition of marriage?

plural marriages and same sex marriages

The type of marriage called ________ is rare and is mainly restricted to Tibet, Nepal, India, and Sri Lanka in areas where men are required to travel often for commercial trade and military activities. This type of marriage ensures there will be at least one husband at home to do what is considered "men's work."

polyandry

In the past, one form of marriage found among the Navajo and in many other Native American societies was described as follows: "A man would marry a woman, then work hard for his family. If she had a sister who was not married, and if the man proved to be caring, a good provider, and a good husband, he would be gifted with his wife's sister, marrying her as well." What is the general anthropological term for this type of marriage?

polygyny

Instead of attempting to provide a definition of marriage that applies to all societies, British anthropologist Edmund Leach described a list that included such marriage characteristics establishing the legal father of a woman's children and the legal mother of a man's and it gives spouses a monopoly on the sexuality of the other. Leach established a list of different kinds of marital

rights.

Among ancient Inca rulers in Peru, brother-sister marriage was required. This practice is referred to as

royal endogamy.

Polygyny

serves a political purpose in some cultures.

The rights attached to marriage that are problematic for same-sex marriage in contemporary North America include establishing

the legal rights of both parents, alliances with relatives, and inheritance and property rights.

The sororate is a marriage custom in which a

widower is expected to marry the sister or another close relative of his dead wife.

Which of the following best describes the factors in the United States related to its high divorce rate?

women's economic independence; less stringent religious disapproval of divorce

Your cross cousins are ______, and among the South American Indian group, the Yanomami, cross cousins are ______.

your mother's brother's children or your father's sister's children; preferred marriage partners