Exogamy is a type of marriage

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Exogamy is a ban on consanguineous marriages. In the primitive communal system, hereditary endogamy, observed on a matrilineal or patrilineal kinship account, was a popular model. However, in the process of evolution, it was noticed that racial mixing gives a better generation, therefore, restrictions on sexual relations between relatives gradually began to be introduced. To determine the uniform canons of marriage was hampered by arguments that during endogamy property remained within the community, the secrets of craftsmanship were preserved. The deplorable cases of the consequences of endogamy - the birth of underdeveloped people - greatly influenced the consciousness, and more and more often began to apply the taboo on the love of relatives.

What do scientists say?

Since the 19th century, sociologists have come to grips with the institution of marriage. One of the first was McLennan. In the 19th century, he presented a version of the division of all primitive communities into exogamous and endogamous tribes. He explained the genesis of the appearance of external marriages by the tradition of peoples to kill girls who burdened the struggle for survival. There was a need for the abduction of women - a practice that has become a religious and social norm. However, the peoples who lived in isolation from the warringneighbors, did not support this rite and retained endogamy. The imperfection of this concept can be traced in the identity of endogamy and exogamy of groups, while there were no clear definitions of existing phenomena.

The next scientist to tackle the problem was the American Lewis Henry Morgan. He found out the true essence of the legal provisions, proving that there are no sharp distinctions between the two postulates. These are just two sides of the same phenomenon. The study of tribal communities confirmed that it is the clan that is exogamous, and other clans of the tribe have the right to internal marriage. The lack of similarity of opinions about the formation of exogamy is based on the fact that the authors of the proposed theories do not reveal the objective logic of the process.

How it all began

Primitive people had a harem family in which the leader controlled the process of reproduction. Relations were chaotic, children were brought up by all members of society. There was a constant struggle among men for their women. This hindered the rise of labor productivity and the management of the economy. To eliminate strife, a common will is created, the former relations between the sexes are transferred to the status of endogamous.

Union within the group, caused by the desire to preserve property within the clan, leads to incest and degeneration. Later, sex was allowed by the authorities only after hunting and was equated with holidays. The custom continued until the 19th century. Relations have taken a different form of marriage: thus, we come to the conclusion that exogamy is a veto on the merger of relatives, the search for partners inforeign tribes.

Who is more important - dad or mom?

There is a concept that the first type of exogamy arose during the period of matriarchy, when the mother was considered the head of the clan, and the blood ties were counted along the maternal branch. This was in the days when a woman obtained food by picking fruits, berries, insects and small animals.

Matriarchy is divided into three types:

• matrilocal - the husband lives on the territory of his wife;
• dislocal - the newlyweds continue to live each in their own tribe;
• neo-local - newlyweds live independently, outside their communities.

The second form of exogamy was the era of patriarchal matrimony (patrilineality), where the degree of kinship was carried out through the male line, and the wife lived with her husband.

Reforms

Improving social conditions has led to the need to survive in small cells, not clans. Paired families began to be born, which independently led a household farmstead and raised children. The development of exogamy was complicated by the appearance of such conditions as the abduction of wives, the introduction of kalym, first to the clan, then to the parents of the betrothed. The woman was powerless. It was sold as a thing to husbands. This position was enshrined in religious canons. They also provided for the transfer of inheritance to eldest sons.

Historical background of reforms

There are three most common hypotheses for the causes of exogamy:

• avoid the sad results of consanguinity;
• expansion of contacts, cooperation with other phratries;
• preservation of social peace infamily.

Traditions

To understand how marriage occurs during exogamy, let's turn to history. The main requirement: the spouses should not be members of the same community. This rule increases the chances of choosing the second half, integration opens the borders between racial clans. Difficulties are associated with adaptation to new values, rituals that regulate life functions.

Preceding confrontation and prejudice complicate the processes of intercultural tolerance. The opposite has also been proven: a society with developed migrations is more tolerant. Marriages are made without magnificent ceremonies, engagement among the tribes of the lowest level of development does not occur. Wedding celebrations include the transfer of ransom and gifts, imaginary fights are played out, stepping over fire, tying the hands of the bride and groom. Some peoples consider the conclusion of the sacrament complete if all the ceremonies are observed, others recognize it as legal only after the birth of the child.

Forms of exogamy

One of the traditional models is dual exogamy - the basis of a tribal society. The tribe was divided into equal compositions, spouses were selected from opposite halves. The people in the community were in gender and age groups: men, women, children. The transition to the adult composition was called initiation. The meaning of the ceremony was to introduce the youths to housekeeping and social and ideological life. Initiates were first sent for training, then initiated by starvation and beating. After the ritual death, a return followed in a new status, allowing entry into married life. Dual exogamyassumed the intermarriage of the phratries. Totem affiliation regulated marital orientation, had socio-economic significance.

Evolution

Dual organization is the name of the system of the early tribal collective, formed as a result of the emergence of the tribal system. It was determined by the union of two exogamous clans and the birth of an endogamous tribe. In the course of the development and segmentation of the primary clans, the dual association was reincarnated into the structure of two exogamous phratries, uniting groups of daughter clans even in number.

To put it simply, dual exogamy is marriage only with representatives of a certain kind in order to avoid internecine conflicts. The reasons for the innovations were the fear of defloration blood, the hunting lifestyle, the dislike for incest, the prevention of internal disagreements.

How did it happen?

The algorithm of dual exogamy is quite simple: a contract was concluded with mutual rights and obligations. It was forbidden not only to have intimate relations with members of one's own group, but also had the obligation to look for a partner without fail in the allied clan. The essence of the new interpretation of group marriage was that it was not a union of individuals, but the union of entire groups as an integral entity.

Conclusion

Family is an institution that is characterized by marriage, parenthood, kinship. Questions of the emergence and change of family and marriage relations have occupied the minds of mankind for centuries. Still leftmany contentious issues. In the course of development, the norms for regulating relations between the sexes improved. Socio-economic reforms are changing the functions of the family, but the main mission - procreation - is also relevant for the current generation. And exogamy is one of the most adapted models of marriage bonds and promising forms for the continuation of the human race.