ANTH100 Lecture 12: Sex, Marriage, and Family

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTH100
• Professor: Gotz Hoeppe

Document Summary

Every society has rules and customes concerning sexual relations, marriage, household and family structures, and childrearing practices. These play important roles in establishing and maintaining the social alliances and continuity that help ensure a society"s overall well-being. Most cultures are sexually permissive and do not sharply regulate personal sexual practices. Others are restrictive, prohibiting all sexual activity outside of marriage. Of these, a few punish adultery by imprisonment, social exclusion, or even death, as traditionally prescribed by some religious laws. Incest taboos forbid marriages and sexual relations between certain close relatives. Such taboos are related to the practices of endogamy (marrying within a group) and exogamy (marrying outside a group) Marriage is a culturally sanctioned union between two or more people that established certain rights and obligations between them, them and their children, and them and their in-laws. Monogamy (having one spouse) is the most common.