SOCF2614 UNIT 5 Flashcards
(29 cards)
Define the concept ‘‘marriage’’
A cultural phenomenon which sanctions a more or less permanent union between partners conferring legitimacy on their offspring.
Monogamy
One person marrying one person
Polygamy
one person marrying 2 people
Polygyny
A man marrying two or more women
Polyandry
a woman marrying two or more men
Arranged marriage
Marriages arranged by family, the parents and relatives.
Children may of had little to no say in the matter.
They may not meet their future spouse till the wedding day
Assisted Marriage
Parents choose for their children, thereafter, children agree to marry the chosen spouse if they are satisfied with their parent’s choice.
Functions of Arranged Marriages
The parent’s power ensures that family loyalties and obligations are taken into consideration and not subjugated to the personal goals of a single person.
It ensures the union of families by maintaining the traditions of a family’s culture, ethnicity, ethics, and identity.
Free Choice Marriages
When a person thinks about free choice marriage they think of love and freedom. It is associated with romance and/or friendship.
With the absence of arranged marriages, love is the primary driving force.
Free Choice Marriage: Advantages
No dowry/lobola/marriage settlement is involved in free choice marriages because no parents or middlemen are involved.
Couples choose their own partners and take responsibility for their marriage without depending on others.
They also manage family planning and responsibilities on their own.
In interracial or intercultural marriages, there is an exchange of ideas and values, which is more easily accepted in free choice marriages.
Free Choice Marriages: Disadvantages
Free choice marriages are often not accepted in societies that prefer arranged marriages, especially in inter-religion or inter-caste cases.
Financial costs are usually borne by the couple, and often by the bride’s family.
The individual is fully responsible for finding their own partner.
Endogamy
Marrying within one’s own social group. Traditionally, Protestant, Catholic and Jewish religions, as well as Muslim and Hindu have encouraged endogamy.
Homogamy
The tendency of people to form committed, and especially
marital, relationships with others with whom they share certain social characteristics.
Heterogamy
Choosing someone dissimilar or different in race, age, education, religion, or social class.
Exogamy
marrying outside one’s social
group.
Marital exchange
is a form of marriage involving an arranged and mutually beneficial exchange of spouses between two groups.
Exchange Theory
whether relationships form or continue depends on the rewards and costs they provide to the partners.
Expectations of permanence
derive from the fact that marriage was historically a practical institution.
Marriage
A legal contract between two people that cannot be broken
without permission from society or the state.
* People enter marriage expecting that mutual affection and commitment will last – “until death do us part”.
National Marriage Trends
There is a large difference in marriage rates between Africans and whites (twice as high)
Expectations Of Sexual Exclusivity
In which spouses promise to have
sexual relations only with each other.
Civil Marriage definition
A civil marriage is a marriage that can only be entered into between a man and a woman. Civil marriages is the most common type of marriage in South Africa
Ilobolo
Paying ilobolo and getting married were understood as transactions of
“mutually beneficial rights and duties and prescribed relationships
between the two groups of relatives which continues past the death of the individual marriage partners”
There are 3 types of civil marriages
- Marriage in community of property.
- Marriage out of community of property.
- Marriage out of community of property with accrual: the process of accruing something, such as money or interest.
