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The term polygamy (''many marriages'' in late Greek ) is used in related ways in Social Anthropology , Sociobiology , and Sociology . Polygamy can be defined as any "form of marriage in which a person more than one spouse."[http://www.socialsciencedictionary.org/index.php?title=Polygamy Polygamy at socialsciencedictionary.org In social anthropology, polygamy is the practice of Marriage to more than one spouse simultaneously. Historically, polygamy has been practiced as ''' Polygyny ''' (one man having more than one wife), or as ''' Polyandry ''' (one woman having more than one husband), or, less commonly as "polygamy" (having many wives and many husbands at one time). (See "Forms of Polygamy" below.) In contrast Monogamy is the practice of each person having only one spouse at a time. Like ''monogamy'', the term is often used in a '' De Facto '' sense, applying regardless of whether the relationships are recognized by the State (see Marriage for a discussion on the extent to which states can and do recognize potentially and actually polygamous forms as valid). In sociobiology, polygamy is used in a broad sense to mean any form of multiple Mating . In a narrower sense, used by Zoologists , polygamy includes a pair bond, perhaps temporary. FORMS OF POLYGAMY Polygamy exists in three specific forms, including Polygyny (one man having multiple wives), ''' Polyandry ''' (one woman having multiple husbands), or ''' Group Marriage ''' (some combination of polygyny and polyandry). Historically, all three practices have been found, but polygyny is by far the most common. Polygyny Polygyny is described as when a man is either married to or involved in sexual relationships with a number of different females at one time. This is the most common form of polygamy. Polygyny is practiced in a traditional sense in many African cultures and countries even today, including South Africa and most of Southern and Central Africa. Polyandry Polyandry is a breeding practice where a woman has more than one male sexual partner simultaneously. Fraternal polyandry was traditionally practiced among Nomad ic Tibet ans including Nepal and parts of China , where it meant that two or more brothers share the same wife, with her having equal sexual access to them. Polyandry is believed to be more likely in societies with scarce environmental resources, as it is believed to limit human population growth and enhance child survival. A woman can only have so many children in her life time, no matter how many husbands she has. On the other hand, a child with many "fathers", all of whom provide resources, is more likely to survive. (In contrast, the number of children would be increased if polygyny were practiced, and a man had more than one wife. These wives could be simultaneously pregnant). (Linda Stone, Kinship and Gender, 2006, Westview, 3rd ed, ch 6) The Center for Research on Tibet Papers on Tibetan Marriage and Polyandry. Accessed: October 1, 2006 It is a rare form of marriage that not only exists among poor families, but also within the elite.Goldstein, Pahari and Tibetan Polyandry Revisited, Ethnology. 17(3): 325-327, 1978, from The Center for Research on Tibet . Accessed: October 1, 2006 Group marriage Group Marriage , or ''circle marriage'', may exist in a number of forms, such as where more than one man and more than one woman form a single Family unit, and all members of the marriage share Parent al responsibility for any children arising from the marriage. Another possible arrangement not thought to exist in reality, although occurring in Science Fiction (notably in Robert Heinlein's '' The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress ''), is the long-lived Line Marriage , in which deceased or departing spouses in the group are continually replaced by others, so that family property never becomes dispersed through inheritance. Bigamy Bigamy is when one individual is married to two people at the same time and at least one of the marriages is a legal marriage. Most western countries have laws making any secondary marriage a crime. For example, in the United States, because of the contract a married person makes upon becoming married, that person is under obligation not to marry again as long as the first marriage continues; stipulations of the marriage license applying. The purpose of bigamy laws is to protect a spouse from entering a marriage based upon deceit. Examples would be Hezekiah Bradley Smith 1 and Frankie Lymon 2. Trigamy In seventeenth to nineteenth century England, Trigamy referred to someone who had three spouses at the same time. The term is typically used for comic reference as is alluded to in the William Cosmo Monkhouse Limerick Poem : :There was an old fellow of Lyme :Who lived with three wives at one time. :When asked, 'Why the third?' :He replied, 'One’s absurd, :and bigamy, sir, is a crime.' From the modern legal perspective, this is just seen as two counts of bigamy. Polyamory See Also: Polyamory The term '' Polyamory '' refers to romantic or sexual relationships involving multiple partners at once, regardless of whether they involve marriage. Any polygamous relationship is polyamorous, and some polyamorous relationships involve multiple spouses. "Polygamy" is usually used to refer to multiple marriage, while "polyamory" implies a relationship defined by negotiation between its members rather than cultural Norm s. Serial monogamy See Also: Serial monogamy The phrase ''serial monogamy'' has been used to describe the lifestyle of persons who have repeatedly married and divorced multiple partners. Other forms of nonmonogamy See Also: Forms of nonmonogamy Other forms of nonmonogamous relationships are discussed at Forms Of Nonmonogamy . Benefits of polygamy Philip Kilbride, an American anthropologist, in his provocative book, ''Plural Marriage for our Time'', proposes polygamy as a solution to some of the ills of the American society at large. He argues that plural marriage may serve as a potential alternative for divorce in many cases in order to obviate the damaging impact of divorce on many children. He maintains that many divorces are caused by the rampant extramarital affairs in the American society. According to Kilbride, ending an extramarital affair in a polygamous marriage, rather than in a divorce, is better for the children, "Children would be better served if family augmentation rather than only separation and dissolution were seen as options." Moreover, he suggests that other groups will also benefit from plural marriage such as: elderly women who face a chronic shortage of men.(Citation needed) POLYGAMY WORLDWIDE According to the ''Ethnographic Atlas Codebook'', of the 1231 societies noted, 186 were monogamous. 453 had occasional polygyny, 588 had more frequent polygyny, and 4 had polyandry. ''Ethnographic Atlas Codebook'' derived from George P. Murdock’s ''Ethnographic Atlas'' recording the marital composition of 1231 societies from 1960-1980 Patterns of occurrence At the same time, even within societies which allow polygyny, the actual practice of polygyny occurs relatively rarely. There are exceptions: in Senegal, for example, nearly 47 percent of marriages are multiple. |
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