Seven Steps of Marketing Research

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Marriage
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WHAT IS MARRIAGE?
Common Law Definition "lawful union of one man
and one woman."
Common Law Definition (Bill C38) "lawful union of
two persons to the exclusion of all others"
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Anthropological definitions
A series of customs formalizing the relationship
between male and female adults within the family.
Marriage is a socially approved union between a
man and a woman that regulates the sexual and
economic rights and obligations between them.
Marriage usually involves an explicit contract or
understanding and is entered into with the
assumption that it will be permanent. Ferraro
2005
Tahitian couple
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Characteristics of Marriage

• socially approved or sanctioned?
• sexual union
• between a man and a woman?
• between adults?
• Political / religious / economic union
• a bundle of rights, expectations, and
  obligations
• assumption of relative permanence
• legal (a contract)
• between individuals?
• part of a social process

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1. Socially Approved
Is it OK for unmarried couples to cohabit?

• Prior to 1960 unmarried couples in the US were
  legally prevented from registering in hotels or
  obtain a home mortgage.
• In Canada, the number of common-law
  relationships more than doubled between 1981 and
  2001 (14 2001)
• Women in the 90s were more likely than women in
  the 80s to cohabit rather than marry in response
  to pregnancy.
• Suggests that cohabitation is becoming more a
  substitute for marriage, rather than a form of
  engagement that culminates in marriage

Living in Sin?
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Even older people, when a marriage breaks up are
now more likely to first enter a common law
relationship before re-marrying
Stats Canada
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Who Should one Marry/Not Marry
Rules of Exogamy (out marriage) and Endogamy
(in-marriage)
It was only after a U.S. Supreme Court decision
in 1967 that mixed race couples could marry
anywhere in the U.S
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Cross Cousin and Parallel Cousin Marriages
Ego's cross cousins (yellow) are the children of
opposite sexed parental siblings Ego's parallel
cousins (green) are the children of same sexed
parental siblings
In some societies the ideal is to marry ones
cross cousin, as he/she will belong to a
different lineage (for alliance purposes), or
parallel cousin, as he/she will be in the same
lineage (inheritance purposes).
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Incest Taboo

• Holds for parents and siblings in all current
  societies
• Only exceptions in pastBrother-Sister mating
  among royalty in ancient Egypt, Hawaii, Inca

• Cleopatra, the Last Pharaoh (B.C. 69-30)
• reigned as Queen Philopator and Pharaoh between
  51 and 30 BC
• Married brother Ptolemy XIII
• After Ptolemy XIIIs death, married brother
  Ptolemy XIV

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Prohibitions on Cousin Marriages in the USA
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Explanations for incest taboo

• Biological
• Inbreeding results in Deleterious genetic defects
• Psychological
• Familiarity breads contempt
• Sociological
• Increases network of cooperation, prevents
  fighting
• Minimizing sexual competition within family
• Avoids role disruption within family

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Many, many years ago when I was just
twenty-three, I was married to a widow, she was
pretty as could be. This widow had a grown-up
daughter who had hair of red And my father fell
in Love with her. Soon they too were wed.   This
made my dad my son-in-law--changed my very
life! My daughter was my mother because she was
my father's wife! To complicate the matter even
though it brought me joy, I soon became the
father of a bouncing baby boy.   My little baby
he then became a brother-in-law to Dad. Well,
that made him my uncle--made me very sad! Because
if he was my uncle then he also was a brother To
the widow's grown-up daughter, who, of course,
was my stepmother. My father's wife then had a
son who kept them on the run. And, of course, he
became my grandchild because he was my daughter's
son. My wife is now my mother's mother and this
makes me blue Because although she is my wife,
she's my grandmother too! Now if my wife is my
grandmother, well, then I am her grandchild, And
every time that I think about this, it nearly
drives me wild! Because now I have become the
strangest case that you ever saw As husband of my
grandmother, Im my own grandpa!
Im My Own Grandpa
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2. Sexual Union?
Marriages of Convenience Nayar Exception
Nayar Girls, Upper Class. Photo by Nicholas Co.
ca. 1913
Is exclusivity in a relationship necessary?
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3. Between a Man and a Woman?
Cheyenne
Are same sex marriages, an affront to a divinely
ordained order ?
The Nandi- Kenya
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Same Sex Marriages

• 1961 Illinois is the first state in the U.S. to
  decriminalize homosexuality. Others follow in
  1960s and 1970s
• 1967 Britain decriminalizes homosexuality
• 1969 homosexuality decriminalized in Canada
• 1989 Denmark becomes the first country to
  legally recognize same-sex partnerships,
  essentially sanctioning gay marriages
• 2000Vermont is the first state in the U.S. to
  provide same-sex couples with rights, benefits
  and responsibilities similar to those of
  heterosexual couples
• 2001 The Netherlands allows same-sex couples to
  marry and gives them the same rights as
  heterosexuals when it comes to adopting
• 2003 June 10, Ontario widens marriage definition
  allowing same-sex couples to obtain marriage
  licenses. Other provinces follow
• 2005 (July 20) Bill C-38 becomes law redefining
  marriage as a lawful union of two persons
  permitting same sex marriage

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4. Between Adults?
Mina, 8, with Sukhram, 22, right, and his family
members, after their marriage (Rajasthan N.
India 1998)
Each year thousands of girls, some as young as 6
months, are married to older boys in weddings
across the Rajasthan as part of the annual Akhai
Teej, festival considered an auspicious day for
marriage.
Berber Child Bride, Morocco (12 yrs old)
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Human rights activists have demanded action over
the marriage of Ana-Maria Cioaba to a 15-year-old
bridegroom. Ana-Maria is reported to be either
12 or 14 years old Family members say she had
been promised in marriage to 15-year-old Birita
Mihai when she was just seven, for the price of
500 gold coins. The girl's father, Florin Cioaba,
told critics to keep out of his business. "As a
father I know what is good for my kids. We Roma
have a tradition to marry our children when
minors," he said. The minimum age for legal
weddings in Romania is 16, but the practice of
school-age marriages remains common in the Roma
community, and the Romanian authorities normally
turn a blind eye.
Friends say she was forced to consummate the
marriage. "Legally it was rape," one friend said.
The wedding was an "exceptionally grave breach
of children's rights", said Romanian Deputy
Prime Minister Serban Mihailescu.
National Post
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5. Political, Religious, Economic Union?
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Bridewealth or bride-price

• A gift of money or goods given to the brides
  kin by the groom or his kin.
• most common in pastoral communities where the
  traditional currency is livestock, especially
  cattle, horses, camels and, increasingly, money.
• in order to marry, young men must subordinate
  themselves, and become obligated to their elders
  (and provide labour, political support, bear arms
  etc.)
• senior men also therefore command the allocation
  of womens labour power.
• some men use this power to obtain several wives
  for themselves

Dani Chief with Bride Price Stone
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Bridewealth

• payments may be concluded at the time of
  marriage or may continue for years.
• Bridewealth provides for a continuing relation
  between groups since in many societies a mans
  kin are expected to contribute to the bridewealth
  needed for this marriage.

• Represents a tangible public statement of the
  marriage transaction -- as if they went through a
  church wedding
• Some dramatic changes in bridewealth have
  occurred with the introduction of education. An
  educated women is worth far more than an
  uneducated one.

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Bridewealth is most common in patrilineal descent
systems For the Nuer and Dinka, the transfer of
cattle in marriage has a symbolically and
politically central place in the affairs of
descent groups.

• rights transferred to the grooms group in
  exchange for
• rights over a womans fertility
• labour
• future members
• characteristically seen as compensation to her
  kin group for the loss of her work services and
  presence as well as her fertility.

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Bridewealth

• Legalizes marriage and legitimizes offspring
• In patrilineal system, gives father the right to
  have the children belong to his group
• Compensates brides family for loss of her
  services and allows them to replace her with
  daughter-in-law
• Serves to ally families, those who receive share
  of payment are witnesses to marriage
• Status symbol for both families
• Guarantee of husbands good behavior

• Bride service groom works for brides family

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Dowry
A transfer of goods or money from the brides
family to bridegroom, or the grooms family.

• a dowry is a womans share of parental property
  which instead of passing to her upon her parents
  death is distributed to her at the time of her
  marriage
• which does not mean that she controls it
• under traditional European law, for example a
  womans property falls exclusively under the
  control of her husband.
• Also provides a mechanism for forming alliances
  between families
• characteristic of societies with fixed plot
  agriculture
• common among European peasants and widespread in
  Asia, especially India

A Kazak woman opening a young bride's dowry.  The
dowry includes rugs, handsewn mattresses,
dresses, and dishes.
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Bollywood spoof posters
Dowry is still an essential part of marriage
negotiations in India. But nearly 5000 women a
year are killed because they did not bring a big
enough dowry ("bride burning" or "dowry deaths")
Anti-Dowry DemonstrationDelhi, 1980
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6. A Bundle of Rights and Obligations

• Traditionally, in most societies, marriage was
  primarily an alliance between kin groups rather
  than between individuals.

• marriage involves a transfer or flow of rights
  from a wifes group to husbands (or vice versa)
• rights to labour of men and women (economic)
• rights to property (economic)
• rights to the priority of sexual access (sexual)
• rights over fertility - children i.e. belong to
  mans or womans lineage (patrilineal/matrilineal)
  (social)

Gabonaise Woman Michael Brugger
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7. Assumption of Relative Permanence
Austria DenmarkSlovakia Bulgaria Israel
KyrgyzstanRomania Portugal Poland Armenia
GreeceSpain AzerbaijanCroatiaCyprus Georgia
Italy UzbekistanAlbania TurkeyMacedonia
3835342826252421191818171515131212
12765
BelarusRussiaSwedenLatviaUkraineCzech
Rep.BelgiumFinlandLithuaniaU. K.
MoldovaU.S.HungaryCanada Norway
FranceGermanyNetherlandsSwitzerland Iceland
Kazakhstan
6865646363615656555352494645 43434
1414039 39
Percentage of Divorces (as of marriages) in
Selected Countries
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Divorce in non-Western societies

• often involves a contract between corporate
  groups and is more difficult than in West
• where bridewealth is high marriage is stable,
  where low divorce common
• what happens to the bridewealth?
• sometimes all or part returned
• may depend on the cause of divorce, or any
  children
• what happens to the contract between kin groups
  in terms of rights over the children.
• The relationship contractually established may
  endure despite the death of one of the partners

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8. A legal contract
What happens when the contract is broken?
Levirate
Deuteronomy 255-6 If brothers are living
together and one of them dies without a son, his
widow must not marry outside the family. Her
husbands brother shall take her and marry her
and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her
The first son she bears shall carry on the name
of the dead brother so that his name will not be
blotted out from Israel.
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Sororate If a wife dies her lineage may be
contractually obliged to provide a replacement
I.e. her sister, or brothers daughter, or some
other close relative
1. a widower is entitled to a replacement bride
from the same lineage or family. 2. obliges a
woman to marry her deceased sisters husband. 3.
The longer the period of first marriage and the
more children the less the claim. 4. levirate and
sororate demonstrate that marriage is a union not
simply between individuals but between the
representatives of groups and that it is a
contractual relationship
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Nuer Ghost Marriage

• A Nuer woman whose husband has died remains
  subject to a legal contract through which rights
  to her children were transferred to her husband's
  group. 
• Ideally, she should remarry her deceased
  husband's brother.
• Alternatively she may simply take lovers
• Any children she then bears are socially defined
  as the offspring of her dead first husband.
• Occasionally an unwed woman may marry the ghost
  of a dead man

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9. Between individuals?
How Many Should one Marry?
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• 
  Polygamy
• one man and two or more women. (70 of societies)
• Polygamy has been the cultural ideal in most
  societies.
• But monogamy is the statistical reality in all
  societies.
• most common where women are important
  contributors to the economy e.g. agricultural
  societies
• Polygyny often practised by men of wealth or
  high rank
• Commonly associated with an age asymmetry, were
  prominent men have gained power and wealth later
  in life and can afford another wife
• This causes a shortage of young women, and an
  excess of young unmarried men
• men marry at an older age than women.

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Polygyny

• Advantages for man

• Many children
• Prestige
• Wealth produced by wives and children
• Sex partners -- often many taboos
• Political alliances with in-laws

Tom Green and Family Salt Lake City Utah
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Polygyny
Advantages for woman
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• Polygyny
• Prestige and wealth of household
• Share housework and childcare
• Less child bearing
• Greater freedom and autonomy
• Companionship
• Can get married easily

Advantages for woman
Conflicts

• Conflicting interest in children inheritance
• jealousy

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• Polyandry
• two or more men share married to one woman
• quite rare
• common form is where a group of brothers marry
  one woman - called fraternal polyandry

• E.g. In Himalayas with land shortage its an
  effective way of limiting the population while
  ensuring their perpetuation.
• The marriage of brothers to a single woman
  averted the danger of constantly subdividing
  farmlands among all the sons of any one landowner.

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10. Marriage as a process

• process through which families and kinship groups
  are formed
• process whereby descent groups are interlinked
• process of achieving reproduction of society,
  both socially and biologically.

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Functions of Marriage

• Regulates mating, reproduction and child rearing
  in a socially approved way.
• Provides a mechanism for regulating the sexual
  division of labor domestic relationships that
  facilitate the exchange of goods and services.
• Creates a set of family relationships that can
  provide for the material, educational and
  emotional needs of children.
• Legitimizes children
• provides for the woman in many technologically
  simply societies there is no means whereby an
  unmarried woman can support herself
• defines social position of individuals e.g.
  adulthood
• establishes legal rights and interests e.g. over
  property, children etc.
• Serves as an instrument of political relations
  between individuals and groups

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Why do People Get Married

• Defines relations of pair to each other, their
  kin, future offspring and society
• Traditional reasons for marriage
• Gain adult status
• Sexual division of labor
• To have legitimate children
• Economic and political considerations
• Love

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History of Passionate Love

• 1500 west diverges from rest of world -
  emergence of the self
• the rise of individualism, democracy reinforces
  romantic love
• West 500 yrs to make transition
• Rest of world - 50 yrs
• love marriage sweeps the world

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Rules of Residence

• Patrilocal Wife joins husbands family
• Matrilocal Husband joins wifes family
• Neolocal Couple form new residence