Exam 20: Marriage

Polygynous marriages often serve important economic and political functions,with the number of wives a man has serving as an indicator of his wealth,prestige,and status.

Polygyny,although formally outlawed,has survived in Turkey since the Ottoman period,when having several wives was viewed as a symbol of power,wealth,and sexual prowess.Unlike in the past,when the practice was customary and not illegal,polygyny can put contemporary women at risk.How?

What is the term that anthropologists use to refer to the biological father of a child?

Which of the following marital customs functions to maintain distinctions between groups?

Which of the following best defines polygyny?

Which of the following is ego's cross cousin?

Native American berdaches were permitted to marry men.

In tribal societies,unlike industrial ones,marriage entails only an agreement between the people getting married; descent groups play only a minor role.

A new view of early human origins suggests that the emergence of a pair bond between male and female would have allowed humans to recognize their relatives.

Homogamy is the practice of marrying within a culturally prescribed group to which one does not belong.

A Nuer woman married to a woman can be the pater of a child she did not father.Native American berdaches,biological men who represent a third gender,sometimes assume the role of a wife when married to a man with whom they share the products of their labor.Cross-cultural examples such as these illustrate

What are some of the differences between endogamy and exogamy,and how absolute is the distinction implied by these terms? Use examples to illustrate your argument.

To understand royal endogamy,it is useful to distinguish between the manifest and latent functions of customs and behavior.The manifest function of a custom refers to the reasons people in a society give for it.Its latent function is

Cultures have different definitions and expectations of relationships that are biologically or genetically equivalent.In other words,kinship is socially constructed.

"A person can have multiple spouses without ever getting divorced." Using the concepts you have learned in this chapter,explain this seemingly contradictory statement.

Although the incest taboo is a cultural universal,cultures define incest differently.For example,in many cultures it is incestuous to marry parallel cousins but not cross cousins.What is the difference?

In a study among the Hopi of northeastern Arizona,more than a third of the women of the community had been divorced at least once,which correlates with the fact that these women were socially and economically insecure.

One theory regarding the universality of the incest taboo argues that by forcing people to marry outside their immediate kin group,peaceful alliances between people would extend to include a greater number of individuals.

Which of the following is NOT true of the role of the Internet in marriage in contemporary societies?

How would you explain the near universality of the incest taboo? You may draw on one or more explanations.