Toward Monogamy: A Cross-Cultural Study of Correlates of Type of Marriage

Multiple Wives, Co-wives and Female Status: Example on Contemporary Change from Manipur (India)

“…Engel"s notion is, however, corroborated by the subsequent cross-culture researches (e.g. Osmond, 1965;Blumberg and Winch, 1972;Martin and Voorhies, 1979;Hartung, 1982;Alvard, 1986;etc. ) viewed polygyny as a reproductive strategy (known as, r-strategy) by which men maximize the number of their offspring but minimize investment in each child, which obviously suggests that polygyny has more reproductive benefits for men than for women.…”

“…Further, wealthier men will be more likely to choose polygynous marriages ; 4) Homogamy decreases the incidence of polygyny by limiting the possibilities for polygynous marriages; 5) As the sex ratio decreases, polygyny will increase; 6) If there are economies of scale of polygynous households, polygyny is more likely. A number of workers (Murdock, 1949;Heath, 1958;Osmond, 1965;Lee, 1979;Burton and Rietz, 1981, etc) find positive relationship between polygyny and female economic contribution discerned at different subsistence levels. However, Goody (1973:189), rejecting the female contribution hypothesis, maintained that "the reasons behind polygyny are sexual and reproductive rather than economic and productive".…”

Cross-Cultural Surveys Today

“…Although it is common to hypothesize that polygyny is a consequence of high female economic contributions, studies of the relationship between these two variables find it to be weak, and to hold true only for agricultural and gathering societies (23,53,62,88,122). Many scholars have noted the strong negative correlation between plow agriculture and polygyny (15,23,47,48).…”

What Have We Learned from Cross‐Cultural Surveys?1

“…Osmond (1965) suggests that monogamy is favored by societies with more complex socioeconomic structures, polygyny by those with simpler ones. Goggin and Sturtevant (1964) report that societies allowing brother-sister marriage are sedentary and highly stratified, with advanced political integration.…”