Marriage : Marriage is approved, and socially recognized sexual and economic union, usually between a women and a men but not limited to.
It is presumed by both the couple and others , to be more or less permanent, and it subsumes reciprocal rights and obligations between the two spouses and between spouses and their future children.

Marriage is a socially approved and recognised sexual and Economic union, usually between a women and a men but not limited to.

Reasosn for Universal existance of Marraige –

1. Gender Division of Labour
2. Prolonged Infant Dependency
3. Sexual Competition
4. Others mammals and birds –– having bonds between man-women for care child.

1. Gender division of Labour –– Females and males in every society known to anthropology perform different economic activities. This gender divison of labor has often been cited as a reason for marriage. Marriage provided the way for dividation of labour betwen men and women and provide a way for society to train men and women differently and make specialised those in their specific task to solve the problem. Thus, although marriage may solve the problem of sharing the fruits of a division of labor, it clearly is not the only possible solution.

2. Prolonged infant Dependency –– Humans exhibit the longest period of infant dependency of any primate. The child’s prolonged dependence places the greatest burden on the mother, who is the main child caregiver in most societies. The burden of prolonged child care by human females may limit the kinds of work they can do. They may need the help of a man to do certain types of work, such as hunting, that are incompatible with child care. because of this prolonged depedency, it has been suggested that marriage is necessary. But marriage is not the only possible solution.

3. Sexual competition –– Unlike most other female primates, the human female may engage in intercourse at any time throughout the year. Some scholars have suggested that more or less continuous female sexuality may have created a serious problem, sexual competition for mate between male and female, It is argued that society had to prevent such competition to survive, that it had to develop some way of minimizing the rivalry among males for females to reduce the chance of lethal and destructive conflict –– marriage provide a permanent companion and reduce the sexual competition.

4. Other Mammal and Birds –– Some birds such as Albatross, pigon, animals such as Wolves and Beavers, have Female-male bonding. Species in which postpartum mothers cannot feed themselves and their babies at the same time do typically form male-female bonds like human. such that male can help them. On the other hand species on them mother can feed themselves and childer together doesn't have male-female bonding such as horse, cow, buffalo and other grazers, those childern can walk right after their birth.

Some Theories that proves universality of Marriage :

Childhood Familiarity Theory By Westermark :

Given by Edward Westermarck, in 1920.

Westermarck argued that poeple who have been closely associated with each other since earlist childhoos, such as siblings, are not sexually attarcted to each other and would therefore avoid marraige with each other.

Experiments. by Yonina Talmon, 1964 over isreal communities Kibbutz proved the theory. , Arthur Wolf's study over Chinese in Northern Taiwan also supported the idea that something about being reared together produces sexual disinterest.

Studies on Israeli Kibbutz shows that childern "who see each other naked " have littile sexual interest in one another.

Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory :

Sigmund Freud proposed that the incest taboo is a reaction against unconscious, unacceptable desires. He suggested that the son is attracted to his mother (daughter to father) and as a result feels jealousy and hostility towards his father. but the son knows that these feeling cannot continue, for they might lead the father to retaliate against hin, therefore, they must be renounced or repressed. these feeling are repressed into unconscious. But the desire to posses the mother continue to exists in the unconscious and according to freud, horror at the thought of incest is a reaction to, or a defense against, the forbidden unconscious impluse.

Cooperation Theory –– E B Tylor. , Levi Strauss, 1969 :

Proposed by the Early Anthropologists, such as Edward B Tylor and Elaborated by Leslie A White and Claude Levi Strauss.

It emphasizes the value of the incest taboo in promoting cooperation among family groups and thus helping communities to survive. As Tylor suggest, certain operations necessary for the welfare of the commuity can be accomplished only by large number of people working together. To break down suspicion and hostility between family groups and make such cooperation possible, early humans developed the incest taboo to ensure that individuals would marry members of other families. The ties created by intermarriage would serve to hold the community together.

Inbreeding Theory :

One of the oldest explanations for the incest taboo in inbreeding theory. incest taboo is adapative as it avoid and limit inbreeding.

It focuses on the potentially damaging consequences of inbreeding or marrying within the family.

People with the same family are likely to carry the same harmful recessive genes. Inbreeding then will tend to produce offspring who are more likely to die early of genetic disorders than are the offspring of unrelated spouses.

Close blood relatives are much more likely than unrelated individuals to carry the same harmful recessive gene. If close relatives mate, their offspring have a higher probability than the offspring of nonrelatives of inheriting the harmful trait.

William Durham's concluded that if the harm of inbreeding was widely recognized, people may have delibrately invented or borrowed the incest taboo.

Thus Marriage is universal found in all societies.

Mains Questions :

1. Analyse the prespective of Isolation, Assimilation and integration in understanding the trajectory of Indian Tribal Development? 20M PYQ

Answer Link

2. Elucidate the challenges of integration for tribal communities in India? (#BEAT 12)

Answer Link

Download Cheat Sheet here