Page 382 - Sociology and You

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Unit 4 Social Institutions
acceptable in the United States and in most Western societies. Some often- married people practice serial monogamy—having several husbands or wives, but being married to only one at a time.
In contrast to monogamy, polygamy involves the marriage of a male or female to more than one person at a time. It takes two forms: polygyny and polyandry.
Polygyny is the marriage of one man to two or more women at the same time. An obvious example of polygyny is found in the Old Testament. King Solomon is reported to have had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. Although common in earlier societies and still legal in India, parts of Africa, and much of the Middle East, polygyny is not practiced widely in any society today. However, in 1999 the Muslim Russian republic of Ingushetia legalized the practice of polygyny.
Polyandry—the marriage of one woman to two or more men at the same time—is an even rarer form of marriage. It is known to have been common in only three societies: in Tibet, in parts of Polynesia, and among the Todas and other hill peoples of India (Queen et al., 1985). Where polyandry has ex- isted, it usually has consisted of several brothers sharing a wife.
You have been introduced to a lot of new terms that relate to family struc- ture and marriage arrangements. Figure 11.1 illustrates several of the charac- teristics of these family and marriage forms to help you understand and remember them.
polygamy
the marriage of a male or female to more than one person at a time
polygyny
the marriage of one man to two or more women at the same time
polyandry
the marriage of one woman to two or more men at the same time
Figure 11.1 Families/Marriages
This chart summarizes possible variations in family and marriage forms. Describe the general nature of the
American family using terms from this table.
Nuclear Family parents and children Composition
Extended Family Composition
Inheritance Authority
Marriage Composition
parents, children, and other relatives
patrilineal (inherit through the father) or matrilineal (inherit through the mother) or bilateral (inherit through both)
patriarchal (father rules the family) or matriarchal (mother rules the family) or equalitarian (parents share authority)
polygyny (one husband, many wives) or polyandry (one wife, many husbands) or monogamy (one husband, one wife)
Residence
patrilocal (couple lives with or near husband’s parents) or matrilocal (couple lives with or near wife’s parents) or neolocal (couple lives apart from both sets of parents)