Exogamy

Exogamy is a social arrangement where marriage is allowed only outside a social group. The
social groups define the scope and extent of exogamy, and the rules and enforcement
mechanisms that ensure its continuity. In social studies, exogamy is viewed as a combination of
two related aspects: biological and cultural. Biological exogamy is marriage of nonblood-related
beings, regulated by forms of incest law. A form of exogamy is dual exogamy, in which two
groups engage in continual wife exchange.[1] Cultural exogamy is marrying outside a specific
cultural group; the opposite being endogamy, marriage within a social group.

Scientists surmise that the drive in humans, as in many animals, to engage in exogamy
(outbreeding) is evolutionarily adaptive, as it reduces the risk of children having genetic defects
caused by inbreeding, as a result of inheriting two copies of a recessive gene.[2] The genetic
principles involved apply to all species, not just humans.

Individuals who breed with more 'exotic' (or distant) partners and avoid incestuous
relationships tend to have healthier offspring, due to the benefits of heterosis. Maladapative
genetic conditions are more likely to be inherited where inbreeding takes place, or within
relatively closed populations over long periods of time.[3] An example is cystic fibrosis, which
has developed as a genetic disease inherited chiefly by people of European descent. Another
genetic disease specific to certain populations is sickle-cell anemia, for which people of African
descent are more at risk; it developed among Africans together with higher immunity to
malaria, which is endemic on the continent. Offspring may not always inherit such adaptations
that evolved in specific geographic areas. Genetic concerns are not the only cause for exogamy;
many social and political aspects support this system of marriage, throughout societies and
species.

Cultural exogamy is the custom of marrying outside a specified group of people to which a
person belongs. Thus, persons may be expected to marry outside their totem clan(s) or other
groups, in addition to outside closer blood relatives.

Researchers have proposed different theories to account for the origin of exogamy. Edvard
Westermarck said an aversion to marriage between blood relatives or near kin emerged with a
parental deterrence of incest. From a genetic point of view, aversion to breeding with close

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relatives results in fewer congenital diseases. If one person has a faulty gene, breeding outside
his group increases the chances that his partner will have another functional type gene and
their child may not suffer the defect. Outbreeding favours the condition of heterozygosity, that
is having two nonidentical copies of a given gene. J. F. McLennan[4] holds that exogamy was
due originally to a scarcity of women among small bands. Men were obliged to seek wives from
other groups, including marriage by capture, and exogamy developed as a cultural custom.

Émile Durkheim[5] derives exogamy from totemism. He said that a people had religious respect
for the blood of a totemic clan, for the clan totem is a god and is present especially in the blood,
a sacred substance.

Morgan[6] maintains that exogamy was introduced to prevent marriage between blood
relations, especially between brother and sister, which had been common in an earlier state of
promiscuity. Frazer[7] says that exogamy was begun to maintain the survival of family groups,
especially when single families became larger political groups. Lang[8] in 1905 argued against
Howitt's claim of group marriage and claims that so-called group marriage is only tribe-
regulated licence.

Claude Lévi-Strauss introduced the "Alliance Theory" of exogamy,[9] that is, that small groups
must force their members to marry outside so as to build alliances with other groups. According
to this theory, groups that engaged in exogamy would flourish, while those that did not would
all die, either literally or because they lacked sufficient ties for cultural and economic exchange,
leaving them at a disadvantage. The exchange of men or women served as a uniting force
between groups.

Dual exogamy is a traditional form of arranging marriages in numerous modern societies and in
many societies described in classical literature. It can be matrilineal or patrilineal. It is practiced
by some Australian tribes,[10] historically widespread in the Turkic societies,[11][12] Taï
societies (Ivory Coast),[13] Eskimo,[14] among Finnic people[15] and others. In tribal societies,
the dual exogamy union lasted for many generations, ultimately uniting the groups initially
unrelated by blood or language into a single tribe or nation.