Marriage

===Polygamy===
{{Main|Polygamy}}
[[File:Kwong Sue Duk with his three wives and fourteen children, Cairns, 1904 (9623512597).jpg|thumb|Chinese immigrant with his three wives and fourteen children, [[Cairns]], 1904]]
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two spouses.<ref name="Zeitzen">{{cite book |last=Zeitzen |first=Miriam Koktvedgaard |title=Polygamy: a cross-cultural analysis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WIzHjpTJgdQC&pg=PA3 |publisher=Berg |page=3 |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-84520-220-0}}</ref> When a man is married to more than one wife at a time, the relationship is called [[polygyny]], and there is no marriage bond between the wives; and when a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called [[polyandry]], and there is no marriage bond between the husbands. If a marriage includes multiple husbands or wives, it can be called [[group marriage]].<ref name=Zeitzen/>

A molecular genetic study of global human genetic diversity argued that sexual polygyny was typical of human reproductive patterns until the shift to sedentary farming communities approximately 10,000 to 5,000 years ago in Europe and Asia, and more recently in Africa and the Americas.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Dupanloup I, Pereira L, Bertorelle G, Calafell F, Prata MJ, Amorim A, Barbujani G | year = 2003 | title = A recent shift from polygyny to monogamy in humans is suggested by the analysis of worldwide Y-chromosome diversity | journal = J Mol Evol | volume = 57 | issue = 1| pages = 85–97 | doi = 10.1007/s00239-003-2458-x | pmid = 12962309 | bibcode = 2003JMolE..57...85D | citeseerx = 10.1.1.454.1662 | s2cid = 2673314 }}</ref> As noted above, Anthropologist [[Jack Goody]]'s comparative study of marriage around the world utilizing the [[Human Relations Area Files|Ethnographic Atlas]] found that the majority of Sub-Saharan African societies that practice extensive hoe agriculture show a correlation between "[[Bride price]]" and polygamy.<ref name="Goody 1976 7"/> A survey of other cross-cultural samples has confirmed that the absence of the plough was the only predictor of polygamy, although other factors such as high male mortality in warfare (in non-state societies) and pathogen stress (in state societies) had some impact.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ember|first=Carol R.|title=What we know and what we don't know about variation in social organization: Melvin Ember's approach to the study of kinship|journal=Cross-Cultural Research|year=2011|volume=45|issue=1|pages=27–30|doi=10.1177/1069397110383947|s2cid=143952998}}</ref>

Marriages are classified according to the number of legal spouses an individual has. The suffix "-gamy" refers specifically to the number of spouses, as in [[Bigamy|bi-gamy]] (two spouses, generally illegal in most nations), and poly-gamy (more than one spouse).

Societies show variable acceptance of polygamy as a cultural ideal and practice. According to the [[Human Relations Area Files|Ethnographic Atlas]], of 1,231 societies noted, 186 were monogamous; 453 had occasional polygyny; 588 had more frequent polygyny, and 4 had polyandry.<ref name="Atlas">[http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~drwhite/worldcul/Codebook4EthnoAtlas.pdf ''Ethnographic Atlas Codebook''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118232413/http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~drwhite/worldcul/Codebook4EthnoAtlas.pdf |date=18 November 2012 }} derived from George P. Murdock's ''Ethnographic Atlas'' recording the marital composition of 1231 societies from 1960 to 1980</ref> However, as Miriam Zeitzen writes, social tolerance for polygamy is different from the practice of polygamy, since it requires wealth to establish multiple households for multiple wives. The actual practice of polygamy in a tolerant society may actually be low, with the majority of aspirant polygamists practicing monogamous marriage. Tracking the occurrence of polygamy is further complicated in jurisdictions where it has been banned, but continues to be practiced (''de facto polygamy'').<ref name="Zeitzen 2008 5">{{cite book|last=Zeitzen|first=Miriam Koktvedgaard|title=Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis|url=https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit|url-access=limited|year=2008|publisher=Berg|location=Oxford|page=[https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit/page/n11 5]|isbn=978-1-84788-617-0}}</ref>

Zeitzen also notes that Western perceptions of African society and marriage patterns are biased by "contradictory concerns of nostalgia for traditional African culture versus critique of polygamy as oppressive to women or detrimental to development."<ref name="Zeitzen 2008 5"/> Polygamy has been condemned as being a form of human rights abuse, with concerns arising over domestic abuse, forced marriage, and neglect. The vast majority of the world's countries, including virtually all of the world's developed nations, do not permit polygamy. There have been calls{{by whom|date=August 2022}} for the abolition of polygamy in developing countries.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

====Polygyny====
{{Main|Polygyny}}
{{See also|Concubinage}}
Polygyny usually grants wives equal status, although the husband may have personal preferences. One type of de facto polygyny is [[concubinage]], where only one woman gets a wife's rights and status, while other women remain legal house mistresses.

Although a society may be classified as polygynous, not all marriages in it necessarily are; monogamous marriages may in fact predominate. It is to this flexibility that Anthropologist [[Robin Fox]] attributes its success as a social support system: "This has often meant – given the imbalance in the sex ratios, the higher male infant mortality, the shorter life span of males, the loss of males in wartime, etc. – that often women were left without financial support from husbands. To correct this condition, females had to be killed at birth, remain single, become prostitutes, or be siphoned off into celibate religious orders. Polygynous systems have the advantage that they can promise, as did the Mormons, a home and family for every woman."<ref>{{cite book|last=Fox|first=Robin|title=Reproduction & Succession: Studies in Anthropology, Law, and Society|year=1997|publisher=Transaction Publishers|location=New Brunswick, NJ|page=48}}</ref>

Nonetheless, polygyny is a gender issue which offers men asymmetrical benefits. In some cases, there is a large age discrepancy (as much as a generation) between a man and his youngest wife, compounding the power differential between the two. Tensions not only exist ''between'' genders, but also ''within'' genders; senior and junior men compete for wives, and senior and junior wives in the same household may experience radically different life conditions, and internal hierarchy. Several studies have suggested that the wive's relationship with other women, including co-wives and husband's female kin, are more critical relationships than that with her husband for her productive, reproductive and personal achievement.<ref>{{cite book|last=Zeitzen|first=Miriam Koktvedgaard|title=Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis|url=https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit|url-access=limited|year=2008|publisher=Berg|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit/page/n131 125]–27}}</ref> In some societies, the co-wives are relatives, usually sisters, a practice called ''sororal polygyny''; the pre-existing relationship between the co-wives is thought to decrease potential tensions within the marriage.<ref name="Zeitzen 2008 9">{{cite book|last=Zeitzen|first=Miriam Koktvedgaard|title=Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis|url=https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit|url-access=limited|year=2008|publisher=Berg|location=Oxford|page=[https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit/page/n15 9]}}</ref>

Fox argues that "the major difference between polygyny and monogamy could be stated thus: while plural mating occurs in both systems, under polygyny several unions may be recognized as being legal marriages while under monogamy only one of the unions is so recognized. Often, however, it is difficult to draw a hard and fast line between the two."<ref>{{cite book|last=Fox|first=Robin|title=Reproduction & Succession: Studies in Anthropology, Law and Society|year=1997|publisher=Transaction Publishers|location=New Brunswick, NJ|page=21}}</ref>

As polygamy in Africa is increasingly subject to legal limitations, a variant form of ''de facto'' (as opposed to legal or ''de jure'') polygyny is being practiced in urban centers. Although it does not involve multiple (now illegal) formal marriages, the domestic and personal arrangements follow old polygynous patterns. The de facto form of polygyny is found in other parts of the world as well (including some Mormon sects and Muslim families in the United States).<ref>{{cite book|last=Zeitzen|first=Miriam Koktvedgaard|title=Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis|url=https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit|url-access=limited|year=2008|publisher=Berg|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit/page/n23 17], 89–107}}</ref>
In some societies such as the [[Lobedu people|Lovedu]] of South Africa, or the [[Nuer people|Nuer]] of the Sudan, aristocratic women may become female 'husbands.' In the Lovedu case, this female husband may take a number of polygamous wives. This is not a lesbian relationship, but a means of legitimately expanding a royal lineage by attaching these wives' children to it. The relationships are considered polygynous, not polyandrous, because the female husband is in fact assuming masculine gendered political roles.<ref name="Zeitzen 2008 9"/>

Religious groups have differing views on the legitimacy of [[polygyny]]. It is allowed in [[Islam]] and [[Confucianism]]. [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]] have mentioned practices involving polygyny in the past, however, outright religious acceptance of such practices was not addressed until its rejection in later passages. They do explicitly prohibit polygyny today.

====Polyandry====
{{Main|Polyandry|Polyandry in Tibet|Polyandry in India}}

[[Polyandry]] is notably more rare than polygyny, though less rare than the figure commonly cited in the ''Ethnographic Atlas'' (1980) which listed only those polyandrous societies found in the Himalayan Mountains. More recent studies have found 53 societies outside the 28 found in the Himalayans which practice polyandry.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Starkweather|first1=Katherine|last2=Hames|first2=Raymond|title=A survey of non-classical polyandry|journal=Human Nature|date=June 2012|volume=23|issue=2|pages=149–72|doi=10.1007/s12110-012-9144-x|pmid=22688804|s2cid=2008559|url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article%3D1049%26context%3Danthropologyfacpub|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923033542/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=anthropologyfacpub|archive-date=23 September 2017}}</ref> It is most common in egalitarian societies marked by high male mortality or male absenteeism. It is associated with ''partible paternity'', the cultural belief that a child can have more than one father.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Starkweather|first1=Katherine|last2=Hames|first2=Raymond|title=A survey of non-classical polyandry|journal=Human Nature|date=June 2012|volume=23|issue=2|pages=149–72|doi=10.1007/s12110-012-9144-x|pmid=22688804|s2cid=2008559|url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=anthropologyfacpub}}</ref>

The explanation for polyandry in the Himalayan Mountains is related to the scarcity of land; the marriage of all brothers in a family to the same wife (''fraternal polyandry'') allows family land to remain intact and undivided. If every brother married separately and had children, family land would be split into unsustainable small plots. In Europe, this was prevented through the social practice of impartible inheritance (the dis-inheriting of most siblings, some of whom went on to become celibate monks and priests).<ref>{{cite book|last=Levine|first=Nancy|title=The Dynamics of polyandry: kinship, domesticity, and population on the Tibetan border|year=1998|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago}}</ref>

====Plural marriage====
[[Group marriage]] (also known as ''multi-lateral marriage'') is a form of [[polyamory]] in which more than two persons form a [[family]] unit, with all the members of the group marriage being considered to be married to all the other members of the group marriage, and all members of the marriage share [[parent]]al responsibility for any children arising from the marriage.<ref name="murdock-1949-definition">Murdock, 1949, p. 24. "''group marriage'' or a marital union embracing at once several men and several women."</ref> No country legally condones group marriages, neither under the law nor as a common law marriage, but historically it has been practiced by some cultures of Polynesia, Asia, Papua New Guinea and the Americas – as well as in some [[Intentional community|intentional communities]] and alternative subcultures such as the [[Oneida Community|Oneida Perfectionists]] in up-state New York. Of the 250 societies reported by the American anthropologist [[George Murdock]] in 1949, only the [[Kaingang]] of Brazil had any group marriages at all.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/247131/group-marriage|title=Group Marriage|journal=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=9 October 2023 }}</ref>