Polygamy Question for Sociology Course.?

Question

I have to do a paper on Polygamy for my sociology class. I know the definition of polygamy, but my main focus is what are the effects on children who are not born into this lifestyle, but merely forced to be around it. For example say a man is getting divorced from his wife and they have kids together. He gets involved in a polygamist relationship with another couple (man and woman). The woman has a kid with her husband, that child is born into the lifestyle. The oldest child from the divorced man is old enough to know what is going on and they are not comfortable being around that lifestyle. What are the emotional and psychologial effects that it can have on that child?

I know the difference between polygamists and mormans, so no need to tell me the differences.

Answer 1

this is one of my research areas, and yes you're talking more about polyamory than polygamy. and unfortunately it's a new research area and you might not be able to find that much on it, especially published data. try searching a couple of family studies databases if you have access to them (i'm assuming your profs are going to want academic sources). i know that there's some stuff in the family therapy research. i'm afraid that your question may be too limited for the scope of the research that's out there.

as for the emotional and pysch effects-- it's the same as any other relationship. it depends on the structure and how it's handled. but like i said i've looked into this research for my own work and am not sure that the data's there yet.

Answer 2

The situation you described sounds more like polyamory...and NOT polygamy.

This site has some great insight into the subject...

http://www.polyfamilies.com/index.html

Answer 3

I think the situation you describe is too convoluted and unlikely. Do you think that has happened so many times that we could know anything about it?

The number of families where there are multiple men for one woman is astoundingly low, especially in families that have lasted long enough to have kids.

You can make all the guesses you want, but there isn't any data or information to base the guesses on.

Answer 4

When reflecting upon this question, I believe that you have to be careful about making particular assumptions.  For example, it seems that you are assuming that children will experience difficulties from this lifestyle.  Why do you assume this?  We could easily turn the tables and ask, "What are the effects of being raised in a 2-parent household?"  "Why do these effects exist?"

Let's do a quick thought experiment.  Polygamy in Western countries is non-normative or in other words, most people are not engaged in this behavior and very judgmental cultural schemas exist which demonize this behavior.  Let us now "assume" that children raised in this environment experience negative psychological consequences (it doesn't really matter what they are for this experiment).  ARE THESE CONSEQUENCES THE RESULT OF POLYGAMY ITSELF OR ARE THEY THE RESULT OF BEING RAISED IN A CULTURE WHICH STIGMATIZES THIS BEHAVIOR?

One way to examine this, is to look at cultures in which polygamy is normative, and I would assume that these children "suffer no psychological consequences."  But now we run into another problem.  How exactly do we measure these psychological consequences, and are these consequences merely manifestations of cultural constructions?

These are some things to ponder and although I didn't specifically address your question, I hope that this information provides you something to ponder.

Answer 5

Katrina is correct, that sounds like a polyamorous relationship, not a polygamist.  Polygamist infers marriage which in western cultures is at the very least frowned upon if not illegal.  

And I see polyamorous relationships all the time and this is how I would see it played out.  If the relationship is as in your description which would be a primary (husband) and secondary (divorced guy) the children of the secondary may not even be involved in the relationship of the woman and their father, like regular dating, til a bit later.  And, it's probable that the secondary's children will not be made aware that the woman is married at all so there would be no reason that the oldest would be uncomfortable.  Quite probably the children of the primary partners wouldn't be aware of the relationship either because a responsible poly couple wouldn't bring the secondaries into the relationship as anything but good friends as far as the children are concerned.  It's quite possible the kids wouldn't even know of the existence of the secondary as anything but a name.  There probably aren't sleep overs when children are present and mom isn't going to get all gooey with the secondary in front of her kids.  Poly people for the most part are very protective of their kids and what they see as well as their private lives and don't need the young'uns blabbing to the neighbors what mom and dad and mom's boyfriend have been up too.  Unless the secondary is a complete idiot he's going to keep his relationship on the QT as well.  

Try reading the Ethical **** by Dossie Easton and Katherine Liszt, Greenery Press.  Very idealized view of a poly relationship and how to do it but a very good guideline.  Can probably find it at B & N.

It's really hard to describe a poly life, really you have to live it to get it.

Polygamy I can't help you with as I live in the US but check out some books regarding western women (usually) marrying eastern or African men, that seems to be where most of the polygamy takes place.  Though I don't know how common it is that a polygamous man would marry a woman with someone elses child, but that's a whole different thing.