Marriage

The form of marriage practiced in a society affects the structure of the family’s kinship group. The accepted forms of marriage are (a) monogamous marriage and (b) polygamous marriage.

(a) Monogamy permits a man to take only one spouse at a time. This is the more widespread form of a marriage.

(b) Polygamy is plural marriage. It has three forms:

• Polygyny is the marriage of one man to two or more at the same time
• Polyandry is the marriage of a women to two or more men at the same time
• Group marriage is the marriage union of several men and several women at a time.