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Marriage and Sex as a Social Practice in the Human Culture: Introduction to the Problem

Marriage and Sex as a Social Practice in the Human Culture: Introduction to the Problem. References: Haviland W. et al. 2005 Nikolova L., Anthropology of Everydayness (in preparation for print) and references cited there. Lolita Nikolova. Marriage.

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Marriage and Sex as a Social Practice in the Human Culture: Introduction to the Problem

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  1. Marriage and Sex as a Social Practice in the Human Culture: Introduction to the Problem References: Haviland W. et al. 2005 Nikolova L., Anthropology of Everydayness (in preparation for print) and references cited there Lolita Nikolova

  2. Marriage • Marriage is backed by social, legal, and economic forces. • Monogamy is the most common form of marriage, primarily for economic reasons. • In most of the world, marriage is not based on romantic love, but on economic considerations.

  3. Sexual Relations • Every society has rules that govern sexual access. • Among primates, the human female is unusual in her ability to engage in sexual activity whether she is fertile or not. • In the human culture the sex is not a biological but a cultural phenomenon (it is an element of the complex relationships between humans and have positive and negative aspects) • Sexual relationships depend on: age, sex, social status, religious beliefs, enculturation, human psyche, etc.

  4. Marriage • RULES • Endogamy is marriage within a group of individuals. • Exogamy is marriage outside the group. • FORMS • Monogamy • Polygyny • Polyandry • Group marriage

  5. Marriage, complexity and rites of passage • COMPLEXITY • Differentiation • Integration • Specialization • RITES OF PASSAGE • Separation • Initiation (Transition) • Integration MARRIAGE SOCIAL COMPLEXITY RITES OF PASSAGE

  6. Marriage and cultural process Successful (biological and social reproduction) Unsuccessful (separation, divorce, re-marriage) • Social agents (actors) • Marriage function: Specialization opposition A B Two agent model A A B B D C C three-agent model four-agent model

  7. Ethnography: Marriage Exchanges • Bride-price - payment of money from the groom’s to the bride’s kin. • Bride service - the groom is expected to work for a period for the bride’s family. • Dowry - payment of a woman’s inheritance at the time of marriage to her or her husband.

  8. Serial Monogamy • A form of marriage in which a man or woman marries a series of partners. • Increasingly common among middle-class North Americans as individuals divorce and remarry.

  9. Divorce Factors contributing to divorce: • Many marriages are based on ideals of romantic love or the idealization of youth. • Establishing an intimate bond in a society in which people are taught to seek individual gratification is difficult.

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