Exogamy is the cultural expectation to select a marriage partner within ones own social group

There are two universal categories of marriage partner selection restrictions.  They are referred to by anthropologists as exogamy

endogamy

rules

Social distance is the key factor in this determination.  Incest taboos exclude close relatives (the exogamous

Traditional wedding in Punjab, India

In North America, the exogamous group includes an individual's siblings, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and sometimes cousins.  There often are explicit incest laws prohibiting marriage or mating with these relatives.  The endogamous group generally consists of the members of an individual's ethnic/racial, religious, socio-economic and/or age groups.  The North American endogamy rules, which encourage marriage within these groups, are usually in the form of implicit social pressure by friends and relatives.  These rules may remain unstated below the surface until an individual tries to deviate from them.

About 30% of all cultures define some cousins as preferred mates.  In other words, the endogamous group includes relatives outside of the nuclear family but not more distant than cousins.  In the rural areas of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, it is not unusual to find that a third of marriages are with first cousins.  The rate is even higher in some Middle Eastern nations.  Roughly half of the marriages are with first cousins in much of the Arabian Peninsula, especially in the south.  Among the Bedouin Arabs

Due to Yanomam� intermarriages in previous generations, ego's wife is not only his father's sister's daughter but also is likely to be his mother's brother's daughter.  Study the diagram above to assure yourself that this could be the case.  Since one's spouse is often related on both sides of the family, it is essentially a bilateral cross cousin

Number of Spouses Permitted

How many spouses an individual is allowed to have varies from culture to culture.  The rule that is familiar to North Americans and Europeans is monogamy--that is, one man married to one woman.  While this is now by far the most common form of marriage around the world, it is, in a sense, the least preferred.  In a sample of 850 societies, less than 20% preferred monogamy over other marriage patterns. 

A Greek coffee house (traditional male bastion in conservative villages)

In North America and most other large-scale industrial societies where remarriage is permitted after divorce or death of a spouse, there often is serial monogamy--that is, marriage to multiple spouses, but only one at a time.   However, in Greek villages, women traditionally have been socially prohibited from marrying again after the death of their husbands.  On becoming widows, they are thought to rapidly go through menopause making them less desirable as potential wives for most men.  Widows take on a somewhat sexually neutral status and, therefore, are free for the first time in their lives to go into male places, such as coffee houses.  However, they must wear black clothes to indicate their widow status for the rest of their lives.  Greek men who become widowers are not similarly restricted and stigmatized as being gender neutral.

Polygamy

Polygynous family in Nigeria

Polygyny is most common today in Moslem nations, among cattle herding societies of East Africa, and in the remnants of the old kingdoms of West Africa.  The rationale for a man to have more than one wife is usually a combination of more sexual partners, more children, and, above all, increased social prestige.   However, the European belief that polygyny is nothing more than the exploitation of women and that wives in a polygynous

Among the Turkana

Polyandry is found in some isolated rural regions of India, Sri Lanka, and especially Nepal, and Tibet.  Usually, it is fraternal polyandry

Polyandry has distinct economic advantages for these small-scale agricultural societies.  It keeps the family farm in one piece.  It allows one of the husbands to be away from the farm working for months to years at a time without disrupting the family.  It also provides economic security for the wife when one of her husbands dies.  However, it places an increased domestic work load on her.  In recent years, the introduction of the notion of romantic love has begun to be disruptive in polyandrous marriages due to growing demands for exclusive bonds with the wife by each husband.  However, occasional female infanticide resulting from the high priority placed on having a male child very likely will make polyandry a practical solution for the near future.

Is the cultural expectation that a person marry within his or her own social group in terms of race religion and social class?

What is exogamy quizlet?

Which of these is an example of an exogamous marriage?

Which of the following is an example of exogamy?