Exogamy
Exogamy refers to the practice of marrying or mating outside one's social, cultural, or familial group. This concept is nearly universal, with most societies establishing rules that define acceptable boundaries for mate selection. For example, prohibitions against incest, such as marrying close relatives like parents or siblings, highlight a common form of exogamy. Various cultures may have different criteria for defining these groups, leading to unique exogamous practices; some may prohibit marriage within the same clan or even village, while others may have specific rules about cousin relationships.
The origins of exogamy are thought to stem from practical needs, such as strengthening social ties between different groups or reducing the likelihood of genetic disorders in offspring. While exogamy has social benefits, such as fostering alliances and enhancing community cohesion, it can also create emotional challenges for those who fall in love with individuals from prohibited groups. Historically, there have been notable exceptions to exogamy, such as in ancient royal families, where marrying close relatives was common to preserve political power. Today, societal norms generally discourage incestuous relationships, reflecting a significant taboo in many cultures.
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Exogamy
Exogamy is the sociological concept of marrying or mating outside the group of people to which one belongs. Nearly every society has rules defining the parameters of the culturally acceptable group from which a person can or cannot choose a mate. For instance, the prohibition against marrying a parent, sister, or brother is nearly universal; this is an example of exogamy. The multiple types of exogamy are based on how culturally acceptable groups are defined. The practice of exogamy provides a number of advantages. These include encouraging mating pairs that strengthen social and political relationships and limiting pairs that increase the likelihood of offspring with genetic diseases and disabilities.
Background
The word exogamy is from the Latin words exo, meaning "outside," and gamy, meaning "marriage." Most experts agree that nineteenth-century Scottish anthropologist John Ferguson McLennan coined the term. McLennan lived during the time when scientists determined that human ancestors had lived far longer than the approximately six thousand years many had previously believed. In 1865, McLennan published Primitive Marriage: An Enquiry into the Origin of the Form of Capture in Marriage Ceremonies, which outlined his theories on how humans chose their mates and first used the word exogamy to describe the practice of rival groups trading or stealing brides.
A number of others advanced various theories to explain why people developed the practice of not marrying within a family, clan, tribe, or other group of close relatives. English anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor, whom many consider the father of anthropology, developed the theory that a number of common human practices originated in ancient superstitions or from practical concerns. He proposed that ancient people favored marriages between neighboring groups of people as a way to solidify relationships between two groups. In this situation, it was desirable to prevent mating among people within the same group, and eventually, this became the norm. Other theories for the origin of exogamy and the accompanying prohibitions against marrying within a family or clan include a desire for greater variety and a lack of romantic feelings for people with whom one is very familiar.
Overview
Exogamy is sometimes viewed in the context of "kin marriage," or marriage to family. Nearly every culture has prohibitions against close blood relatives—parents, children, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and usually cousins—marrying or having any sort of intimate sexual relationship. The practice is called incest, and in the twenty-first century, it is nearly universally condemned socially and often is illegal.
However, not all cultures use blood relations to define the group outside which one must marry. For instance, some Australian groups prohibit marriage of any two members of the clan, regardless of whether they are related by blood. In some places, people who are from the same village cannot marry each other. Some cultures prohibit people from the same ancestry from marrying, even though many generations may separate them from the ancestors who were related. If people in the contemporary United States followed this form of exogamy, for instance, two people who could trace their ancestry to the same Founding Father would not be able to marry.
The reason for the various forms of exogamy rests in how different cultures define brother and sister. Instead of defining siblings as blood children of the same parents, some communities establish a cultural definition of a brother or sister that includes all the people from a clan, village, or ancestral lineage. The prohibition against marrying within the family group remains the same, but the cultural definition of that group changes.
In some groups, the definition of the group within which one may not marry is differentiated by the family relationship. In some cases, marriage between cross-cousins is permitted. A person's cross-cousins are the children of the mother's brother or the father's sister; the children of the mother's sister or father's brother are one's parallel cousins. Some cultures consider parallel cousins the same as siblings and, therefore, prohibit marriage between them but consider cross-cousins distant relatives who are allowed to marry. This was particularly prevalent in some royal families in the past.
In contemporary times, American and European countries generally apply the most basic form of exogamy, which prohibits marriage between relatives who are known to be related by blood. This includes parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. Sometimes, this is a social prohibition, but many places have rules that make such relationships illegal. Although the prohibitions do not technically apply to situations such as a parent with a stepchild or an adopted child—wherein the relationship is not based on genetics—strong social objections make these relationships uncommon.
The taboo, or strong prohibition, against incest is common today, but this was not always the case in all cultures. The most notable instance is, perhaps, Ancient Egypt. It has been determined through genetic testing that many of the pharaohs and members of the ruling class of Egypt were the products of marriage between close blood relatives. For example, King Tutankhamun (King Tut) reportedly was the child of parents who were either siblings or cousins. Cleopatra, the last ruler of Egypt from the Ptolemaic kingdom, was married to one of her brothers for a time. In these cases, such marriages were viewed as a way to conserve political power within a family. Similarly, but not to the same extreme, the European royal families of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, often married their cousins, inadvertently passing on the gene for hemophilia in the process. This situation greatly affected European politics.
The main disadvantage of exogamy is the emotional stress one may feel if they fall in love with a person from a culturally inappropriate group. The likelihood of social and legal consequences exists for two people who choose to ignore the norms imposed by exogamy. Some people suffer strong criticism and other consequences for giving even the appearance of an intimate relationship involving a prohibited group, such as dating a stepsibling.
The advantages of exogamy include a tendency to foster relationships between two groups who gain something in common when their members marry. Having family members become part of neighboring groups or communities can help keep peace between groups; warriors who have sisters in the neighboring community are less likely to want to attack it, for instance. In addition, the practice of avoiding marriage to close relatives diminishes the possibility of creating offspring with genetic disorders, whereas marriages between close relatives increase the likelihood of passing genes for these conditions to offspring.
Bibliography
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