Read the Book(Uploaded) and write about the questions(each 1150~200 words)

Mate Selection. Each human group establishes norms to govern who marries whom. If a group has norms of endogamy, it specifies that its members must marry within their group. For example, some groups prohibit interracial marriage. In some societies, these norms are written into law, but in most cases they are informal. In the United States, most whites marry whites, and most African Americans marry African Americans—not because of any laws but because of informal norms. In con- trast, norms of exogamy specify that people must marry outside their group. The best example of exogamy is the incest taboo, which prohibits sex and marriage among designated relatives.

As you can see from Table 10.1 on the previous page, how people find mates varies around the world, from fathers selecting them, with no input from those who are to marry, to the highly individualistic, personal choices common in Western cultures. Changes in mate selection are the focus of the Sociology and the New Technology box on the next page.

Descent. How are you related to your father’s father or to your mother’s mother? The answer to this question is not the same all over the world. Each society has a system of descent, the way people trace kinship over generations. We use a bilineal system, for we think of ourselves as related to both our mother’s and our father’s sides of the family. “Doesn’t everyone?” you might ask. Ours, however, is only one logical way to reckon de- scent. Some groups use a patrilineal system, tracing descent only on the father’s side; they don’t think of children as being related to their mother’s relatives. Others follow a matrilineal system, tracing descent only on the mother’s side, and not considering chil- dren to be related to their father’s relatives. The Naxi of China, for example, don’t even have a word for father (Hong 1999).

Inheritance. Marriage and family—in whatever form is customary in a society—are also used to determine rights of inheritance. In a bilineal system, property is passed to both males and females, in a patrilineal system only to males, and in a matrilineal system (the rarest form), only to females. No system is natural. Rather, each matches a group’s ideas of justice and logic.

Authority. Historically, some form of patriarchy, a social system in which men dom- inate women, has formed a thread that runs through all societies. Contrary to what some think, there are no historical records of a true matriarchy, a social system in which women as a group dominate men as a group. Our marriage and family customs, then, developed within a framework of patriarchy. Although U.S. family patterns are becoming more egalitarian, or equal, some of today’s customs still reflect their patri- archal origin. One of the most obvious examples is U.S. naming patterns. Despite some changes, the typical bride still takes the groom’s last name, and children usually receive the father’s last name.

Marriage and Family in Theoretical Perspective

As we have seen, human groups around the world have many forms of mate selection, ways to trace descent, and ways to view the parent’s responsibility. Although these patterns are arbitrary, each group perceives its own forms of marriage and family as natural. Now let’s see what pictures emerge when we view marriage and family theoretically.

The Functionalist Perspective: Functions and Dysfunctions Functionalists stress that to survive, a society must fulfill basic functions (that is, meet its basic needs). When functionalists look at marriage and family, they examine how they are related to other parts of society, especially the ways that marriage and family contribute to the well-being of society.

304 C h a p t e r 1 0 M A R R I A G E A N D F A M I L Y

endogamy the practice of marrying within one’s own group

exogamy the practice of marrying outside one’s own group

incest taboo the rule that prohibits sex and marriage among designated relatives

system of descent how kinship is traced over the generations

bilineal (system of descent) a system of reckoning descent that counts both the mother’s and the father’s side

patrilineal (system of descent) a system of reckoning descent that counts only the father’s side

matrilineal (system of de- scent) a system of reckoning descent that counts only the mother’s side

patriarchy a group in which men as a group dominate women as a group; authority is vested in males

matriarchy a society in which women as a group dominate men as a group

egalitarian authority more or less equally divided between people or groups (in marriage, for example, between husband and wife)