Anthropological definition of marriage?

Question

Anthropological definition of marriage?

Answer 1

There isn't really an "anthropological" defenition because what we consider marriage in our society doesn't exist in other cultures.

However, when putting together kinship charts, the term used is "union", which usually is to explain who the father and mother of specific children are.

Thats the closest thing, you cant even say that they alway live together, or always have a sexual relationship, always have a ceremony, always involved with religion. Because that can't be determined cross-culturally and/or throughout time.

Answer 2

Hi.  I couldn't find the answer online, but I did find it at the library in the International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences.  This is from the article "Marriage," pages 9528-9261 (it is a bit lengthy):

"1. The Definition of Marriage

Marriage has been a central area of study since the beginnings of anthropology, as a main factor in explaining the variety of kinship systems (Morgan 1870, Rivers 1914). The institution of marriage, however, has not been easy to define as an anthropological concept.

From a descriptive point of view it seems clear that when anthropologists refer to the institution of marriage, they designate a distinct class of phenomena. Yet it is extremely difficult to define marriage as a concept useful in accounting for all the ethnographic cases. Cohabitation, sexual access, affiliation of children, food sharing, and division of labor are very restricted criteria in accounting for the ethnographic spectrum. Let us examine, for example, the definition given in Notes and Queries (R. A. I. 1951, p. 110): ‘Marriage is a union between a man and a woman such that children born to the woman are recognised legitimate offspring of both parents.’ The first element (heterosexual union) does not conform to such ethnographic phenomena as the traditional woman-marriage among the Nuer (Evans-Pritchard 1951) or the homosexual marriages of postmodern societies (Weston 1991). Even if the second element (offspring legitimacy) apparently fits with the marriage customs of the matrilineal Nayar of South India, an anthropological test case for the definition of marriage (Gough 1959), it might be rejected for its vagueness and its limited range of ethnographic cases. As Bell (1997) notes, the statement that marriage is required to produce legitimate children is finalist and tautological. According to the ethnographic data, marriage is neither necessary nor sufficient to define the legitimacy of children and many societies recognize a sharp differentiation between social parenthood and marriage. Leach (1961), recognizing that marriage might be defined as ‘a bundle of rights,’ identified the following different rights: legal fatherhood, legal motherhood, monopoly of sexual access between married partners, right to domestic services and other forms of labor, right over property accruing to one's spouse, rights to a joint fund of property for the benefit of the children of marriage, and recognized relations of affinity such as that between brothers-in-law. But from this bundle of rights, no single right or set of rights might be defined as central to the universal definition of marriage. Needham (1974), similarly skeptical of a universal definition of marriage, viewed it as a useful word for descriptive purposes, because we know intuitively on which domain the ethnographer will focus, but troublesome when we want to define it, because we risk leaving out of the account the features that are central to the institution in any given society. Needham (1974, p. 44) concludes: ‘So “marriage”… is an odd-job word: very handy in all sorts of descriptive sentences, but worse than misleading in comparison and of no real use at all in analysis.’ Marriage defined cross-culturally is a concept based upon a serial likeness, with a family resemblance between the elements, rather than a univocal concept defined by a universal structural feature. It is a polythetic concept: a list of uses whose meaning depends upon the ethnographic context. As Needham (1974, p. 43) suggests, ‘the comparison of marriage in different societies needs therefore to be contextual, and ultimately “total” in a Maussian sense, if we are to be sure that we understand what we are trying to compare.’"

I hope that this answers your question.  Please feel free to contact your local public library if you would like more information or clarification.  A list of public libraries is available at the WebJunction website: http://lists.webjunction.org/libweb/Publ...

Thank you, -Meg.

Answer 3

the definition of things related to culture like marriage, of course varies from people to people because in every place you go there is a difference in practice, belief, behavior, etc. in short there is a difference in culture or civilization.

Answer 4

Definition of marriage

marriage

     n 1: the state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for

          life (or until divorce); "a long and happy marriage";

          "God bless this union" [syn: matrimony, union, spousal

     relationship, wedlock]

     2: two people who are married to each other; "his second

        marriage was happier than the first"; "a married couple

        without love" [syn: married couple, man and wife]

     3: the act of marrying; the nuptial ceremony; "their marriage

        was conducted in the chapel" [syn: wedding, marriage

    ceremony]

     4: a close and intimate union; "the marriage of music and

        dance"; "a marriage of ideas"

As defined in: WordNet (r) 2.0

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Marriage \Mar"riage\, n.

   In b['e]zique, penuchle, and similar games at cards, the

   combination of a king and queen of the same suit. If of the

   trump suit, it is called a royal marriage.

As defined in: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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Marriage \Mar"riage\, n. [OE. mariage, F. mariage. See Marry,

   v. t.]

   1. The act of marrying, or the state of being married; legal

      union of a man and a woman for life, as husband and wife;

      wedlock; matrimony.

      [1913 Webster]

            Marriage is honorable in all.         --Heb. xiii.

                                                  4.

      [1913 Webster]

   2. The marriage vow or contract. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

      [1913 Webster]

   3. A feast made on the occasion of a marriage.

      [1913 Webster]

            The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king

            which made a marriage for his son.    --Matt. xxii.

                                                  2.

      [1913 Webster]

   4. Any intimate or close union.

      [1913 Webster]

   5. In pinochle, b['e]zique, and similar games at cards, the

      combination of a king and queen of the same suit. If of

      the trump suit, it is called a royal marriage.

      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   Marriage brokage.

      (a) The business of bringing about marriages.

      (b) The payment made or demanded for the procurement of a

          marriage.

   Marriage favors, knots of white ribbons, or bunches of

      white flowers, worn at weddings.

   Marriage settlement (Law), a settlement of property in

      view, and in consideration, of marriage.

      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Matrimony; wedlock; wedding; nuptials.

   Usage: Marriage, Matrimony, Wedlock. Marriage is

          properly the act which unites the two parties, and

          matrimony the state into which they enter. Marriage

          is, however, often used for the state as well as the

          act. Wedlock is the old Anglo-Saxon term for

          matrimony.

          [1913 Webster]

As defined in: English Monolingual Dictionaries

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141 Moby Thesaurus words for "marriage":

   Anschluss, Gretna Green wedding, addition, affiliation,

   agglomeration, agglutination, aggregation, agreement, alliance,

   amalgamation, articulation, assimilation, association, banns,

   blend, blending, bond, bracketing, bridal, bridal suite,

   bridechamber, cabal, carnality, cartel, centralization, chuppah,

   church wedding, civil ceremony, civil wedding, clustering,

   coalescence, coalition, coldness, combination, combine, combo,

   communication, composition, concatenation, concourse, concurrence,

   confederacy, confederation, confluence, congeries, conglomeration,

   conjugation, conjunction, connection, consolidation, conspiracy,

   convergence, copulation, coupling, ecumenism, elopement,

   embodiment, encompassment, enosis, epithalamium, espousals,

   espousement, federalization, federation, flesh, fleshliness,

   forced marriage, frigidity, fusion, gathering, honeymoon, hookup,

   hymen, hymeneal, hymeneal rites, impotence, inclusion,

   incorporation, integration, intercommunication, intercourse,

   interlinking, joinder, joining, jointure, junction, junta,

   knotting, league, liaison, libido, linkage, linking, love,

   lovemaking, match, matrimony, meeting, meld, melding, merger,

   merging, nuptial apartment, nuptial mass, nuptial song, nuptials,

   package, package deal, pairing, potency, prothalamium,

   saffron veil, sensuality, s*x drive, sexiness, sexual instinct,

   sexual urge, sexualism, sexuality, shotgun wedding, solidification,

   splice, spousal, spousals, symbiosis, syncretism, syndication,

   syneresis, synthesis, tie, tie-in, tie-up, unification, union,

   voluptuousness, wedding, wedding canopy, wedding song,

   wedding veil, wedlock, yoking

As defined in: Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

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Marriage

   was instituted in Paradise when man was in innocence (Gen.

   2:18-24). Here we have its original charter, which was confirmed

   by our Lord, as the basis on which all regulations are to be

   framed (Matt. 19:4, 5). It is evident that monogamy was the

   original law of marriage (Matt. 19:5; 1 Cor. 6:16). This law was

   violated in after times, when corrupt usages began to be

   introduced (Gen. 4:19; 6:2). We meet with the prevalence of

   polygamy and concubinage in the patriarchal age (Gen. 16:1-4;

   22:21-24; 28:8, 9; 29:23-30, etc.). Polygamy was acknowledged in

   the Mosaic law and made the basis of legislation, and continued

   to be practised all down through the period of Jewish histroy to

   the Captivity, after which there is no instance of it on record.

  

     It seems to have been the practice from the beginning for

   fathers to select wives for their sons (Gen. 24:3; 38:6).

   Sometimes also proposals were initiated by the father of the

   maiden (Ex. 2:21). The brothers of the maiden were also

   sometimes consulted (Gen. 24:51; 34:11), but her own consent was

   not required. The young man was bound to give a price to the

   father of the maiden (31:15; 34:12; Ex. 22:16, 17; 1 Sam. 18:23,

   25; Ruth 4:10; Hos. 3:2) On these patriarchal customs the Mosaic

   law made no change.

  

     In the pre-Mosaic times, when the proposals were accepted and

   the marriage price given, the bridegroom could come at once and

   take away his bride to his own house (Gen. 24:63-67). But in

   general the marriage was celebrated by a feast in the house of

   the bride's parents, to which all friends were invited (29:22,

   27); and on the day of the marriage the bride, concealed under a

   thick veil, was conducted to her future husband's home.

  

     Our Lord corrected many false notions then existing on the

   subject of marriage (Matt. 22:23-30), and placed it as a divine

   institution on the highest grounds. The apostles state clearly

   and enforce the nuptial duties of husband and wife (Eph.

   5:22-33; Col. 3:18, 19; 1 Pet. 3:1-7). Marriage is said to be

   "honourable" (Heb. 13:4), and the prohibition of it is noted as

   one of the marks of degenerate times (1 Tim. 4:3).

  

     The marriage relation is used to represent the union between

   God and his people (Isa. 54:5; Jer. 3:1-14; Hos. 2:9, 20). In

   the New Testament the same figure is employed in representing

   the love of Christ to his saints (Eph. 5:25-27). The Church of

   the redeemed is the "Bride, the Lamb's wife" (Rev. 19:7-9).

  

As defined in: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

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MARRIAGE. A contract made in due form of law, by which a free man and a free

woman reciprocally engage to live with each other during their joint lives,

in the union which ought to exist between husband and wife. By the terms

freeman and freewoman in this definition are meant, not only that they are

free and not slaves, but also that they are clear of all bars to a lawful

marriage. Dig. 23, 2, 1; Ayl. Parer. 359; Stair, Inst. t*t. 4, s. 1;

Shelford on Mar. and Div. c. 1, s. 1.

     2. To make a valid marriage, the parties must be willing to contract,

Able to contract, and have actually contracted.

     3.-1. They must be willing to contract. Those persons, therefore, who

have no legal capacity in point of intellect, to make a contract, cannot

legally marry, as idiots, lunatics, and infant; males under the age of

fourteen, and females under the age of twelve, and when minors over those

ages marry, they must have the consent of their parents or guardians.

     4. There is no will when the person is mistaken in the party whom he

intended to marry; as, if Peter intending to marry Maria, through error or

mistake of person, in fact marries Eliza; but an error in the fortune, as if

a man marries a woman whom he believes to be rich, and he finds her to be

poor; or in the quality, as if he marry a woman whom he took to be chaste,

and whom he finds of an opposite character, this does not invalidate the

marriage, because in these cases the error is only of some quality or

accident, and not in the person. Poynt. on Marr. and Div. ch. 9.

     5. When the marriage is obtained by force or fraud, it is clear that

there is no consent; it is, therefore, void ab initio, and may be treated as

null by every court in which its validity may incidentally be called in

question. 2 Kent, Com. 66; Shelf. on Marr. and Div. 199; 2 Hagg. Cons. R.

246; 5 Paige, 43.

     6.-2. Generally, all persons who are of sound mind, and have arrived

to years of maturity, are able to contract marriage. To this general rule,

however, there are many exceptions, among which the following may be

enumerated.

     7.-1. The previous marriage of the party to another person who is

still living.

     8.-2. Consanguinity, or affinity between the parties within the

prohibited degree. It seems that persons in the descending or ascending

line, however remote from each other, cannot lawfully marry; such marriages

are against nature; but when we come to consider collaterals, it is not so

easy to fix the forbidden degrees, by clear and established principles.

Vaugh. 206; S. C. 2 Vent. 9. In several of the United States, marriages

within the limited degrees are made void by statute. 2 Kent, Com. 79; Vide

Poynt. on Marr. and Div. ch. 7.

     9.-3. Impotency, (q.v.) which must have existed at the time of the

marriage, and be incurable. 2 Phillim. Rep. 10; 2 Hagg. Rep. 832.

    10.-4. Adultery. By statutory provision in Pennsylvania, when a person

is convicted of adultery with another person, or is divorced from her

husband, or his wife, he or she cannot afterwards marry the partner of his

or her guilt. This provision is copied from the civil law. Poth. Contr. de

Mariage, part 3, c. 3, art. 7. And the same provision exists in the French

code civil, art. 298. See 1 Toull. n. 555.

    11.-3. The parties must not only be willing and able, but must have

actually contracted in due form of law.

    12. The common law requires no particular ceremony to the valid

celebration of marriage. The consent of the parties is all that is

necessary, and as marriage is said to be a contract jure gentium, that

consent is all that is needful by natural or public law. If the contract be

made per verba de presenti, or if made per verba de futuro, and followed by

consummation, it amounts to a valid marriage, and which the parties cannot

dissolve, if otherwise competent; it is not necessary that a clergyman

should be present to give validity to the marriage; the consent of the

parties may be declared before a magistrate, or simply before witnesses; or

subsequently confessed or acknowledged, or the marriage may even be inferred

from continual cohabitation, and reputation as husband and wife, except in

cases of civil actions for adultery, or public prosecutions for bigamy. 1

Silk. 119; 4 Burr. 2057; Dougl. 171; Burr. Settl. Cas. 509; 1 Dow, 148; 2

Dow, 482; 4 John. 2; 18 John. R. 346; 6 Binn, 405; 1 Penn. R. 452; 2 Watts,

R. 9. But a promise to marry at a future time, cannot, by any process of

law, be converted into a marriage, though the breach of such promise will be

the foundation of an action for damages.

    13. In some of the states, statutory regulations have been made on this

subject. In Maine and Massachusetts, the marriage must be made in the

presence, and with the assent of a magistrate, or a stated or ordained

minister of the gospel. 7 Mass. Rep. 48; 2 Greenl. Rep. 102. The statute of

Connecticut on this subject, requires the marriage to be celebrated by a

clergyman or magistrate, and requires the previous publication of the

intention of marriage, and the consent of parents; it inflicts a penalty on

those who disobey its regulations. The marriage, however, would probably be

considered valid, although the regulations of the statutes had not been

observed. Reeve's Dom. Rel. 196, 200, 290. The rule in Pennsylvania is, that

the marriage is valid, although the directions of the statute have not been

observed. 2 Watts, Rep. 9; 1 How. S. C. R. 219. The same rule probably

obtains in New Jersey; 2 Halsted, 138; New Hampshire; 2 N. H. Rep. 268; and

Kentucky. 3 Marsh. R. 370. In Louisiana, a license must be obtained from the

parish judge of the parish in which at least one of the parties is

domiciliated, and the marriage must be celebrated before a priest or

minister of a religious sect, or an authorized justice of the peace; it must

be celebrated in the presence of three witnesses of full age, and an act

must be made of the celebration, signed by the person who celebrated the

marriage, by the parties and the witnesses. Code, art. 101 to 107. The 89th

article of the Code declares, that such marriages only are recognized by

law, as are contracted and solemnized according to the rules which it

prescribes. But the Code does not declare null a marriage not preceded by a

license, and not evidenced by an act signed by a certain number of witnesses

and the parties, nor does it make such an act exclusive evidence of the

marriage. The laws relating to forms and ceremonies are directory to those

who are authorized to celebrate marriage. 6 L. R. 470.

    14. A marriage made in a foreign country, if good there, would, in

general, be held good in this country, unless when it would work injustice,

or be contra bonos mores, or be repugnant to the settled principles and

policy of our laws. Story, Confl. of Laws, Sec. 87; Shelf. on M. & D. 140; 1

Bland. 188; 2 Bland. 485; 3 John. Ch. R. 190; 8 Ala. R. 48.

    15. Marriage is a contract intended in its origin to endure till the

death of one of the contracting parties. It is dissolved by death or

divorce.

    16. In some cases, as in prosecutions for bigamy, by the common law, an

actual marriage must be proved in order to convict the accused. See 6 Conn.

R. 446. This rule is much qualified. See Bigamy.

    17. But for many purposes it may be proved by circumstances; for

example, cohabitation; acknowledgment by the parties themselves that they

were married; their reception as such by their friends and relations; their

correspondence, on being casually separated, addressing each other as man

and wife; 2 Bl. R. 899; declaring, deliberately, that the marriage took

place in a foreign country; 2 Moo. & R. 503; describing their children, in

parish registers of baptism, as their legitimate offspring; 2 Str. 1073; 8

Ves. 417; or when the parties pass for husband and wife by common

reputation. 1 Bl. R. 639; S. C. 4 Burr. 2057; Dougl. 174; Cowp. 594; 3

Swans. R. 400; 8 S. & R. 159; 2 Hayw. R. 3; 1 Taylor, R. 121; 1 H. & McH.

152; 2 N. & McC. 114; 5 Day, R. 290; 4 R. & M. 507; 9 Mass. R. 414; 4 John.

52; 18 John. 346. After their death, the presumption is generally

conclusive. Cowp. 591; 6 T. R. 330.

    18. The civil effects of marriage are the following: 1. It confirms all

matrimonial agreements between the parties.

    19.-2. It vests in the husband all the personal property of the wife,

that which is in possession absolutely, and choses in action, upon the

condition that he shall reduce them to possession; it also vests in the

husband right to manage the real estate of the wife, and enjoy the profits

arising from it during their joint lives, and after her death, an estate by

the curtesy when a child has been born. It vests in the wife after the

husband's death, an estate in dower in the husband's lands, and a right to a

certain part of his personal estate, when he dies intestate. In some states,

the wife now retains her separate property by statute.

    20.-3. It creates the civil affinity which each contracts towards the

relations of the other.

    21.-4. It gives the husband marital authority over the person of his

wife.

    22.-5. The wife acquires thereby the name of her husband, as they are

considered as but one, of which he is the head: erunt duo in carne una.

    23.-6. In general, the wife follows the condition of her husband.

    24.-7. The wife, on her marriage, loses her domicil and gains that of

her husband.

    25.-8. One of the effects of marriage is to give paternal power over

the issue.

    26.-9. The children acquire the domicil of their father.

    27.-10. It gives to the children who are the fruits of the marriage,

the rights of kindred not only with the father and mother, but all their

kin.

    28.-11. It makes all the issue legitimate.

     Vide, generally, 1 Bl. Com. 433; 15 Vin. Ab. 252; Bac. Ab. h.t.; Com.

Dig. Baron and Feme, B; Id. Appx. b. t.; 2 Sell. Pr. 194; Ayl. Parergon,

359; 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 94; Rutherf. Inst. 162; 2 Supp. to Ves. jr. 334; Roper

on Husband & Wife; Poynter on Marriage and Divorce; Merl. Repert. h.t.;

Pothier, Traite du Contrat de Marriage; Toullier, h.t.; Chit. Pract. Index,

h.t.; Dane's Ab. Index, h.t., Burge on the Confl. of Laws, Index, h.t.;

Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.

As defined in: Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

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MARRIAGE, n.  The state or condition of a community consisting of a

master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two.

As defined in: THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993)