Cultural Anthropology Social Organization Essay

In the United States the practice of serial monogamy, where one goes through a series of marriages then divorce; and unwed parenthood seem to have replaced the cultural traditional marriage. (Nowak & Laird, 2010) Single parent families and the accompanying socioeconomic circumstances usually warrant social intervention from state agencies and that places a strain on public funds. The fact is, every single parent household is unbalanced. In the household where both parents are present the children usually benefit because each parent brings; not only a gender based perspective to the relationship and child rearing cultural traditional practices; but he/she also brings a level of stability that is not easily quantified. Stable marriages are usually founded upon the couple’s religious beliefs, kinship traditions of stable relationships, friendship, trust, similar backgrounds, traditional values as well as kindred cultural practices that include gender role expectations. Persons in stable marriages tend to understand each other’s moods and idiosyncrasies; so they are able to co-exist and live as friends. In the film, people adhere to the traditions of their kindred, they hold them sacred and they marry their own kind. It might seem bizarre to the outsider but it is normal behavior for their kinship. Arranged marriages are basically bilateral agreements between two families. The groom’s family gives the bride’s family a bride wealth of livestock, jewelry land and other valuables depending on the traditional culture of the tribe. The bride wealth forms a part of the wealth of the bride’s kinship. The groom basically has to pay the bride’s family for the loss of her labor. (Nowak & Laird, 2010). The women accept and submit themselves to the cultural traditions of their kinship. They have no choice in the arrangements. In the film, the women are hard workers. They take care of the men, children, fields, livestock wash the clothes, cook but the most bizarre was the Indian polyandrous family; the woman was married to three brothers. The children in this family do not know their biological father; and it is normal behavior so nobody really cares about a DNA match. It is also interesting to note that the wife in the feature film is illiterate and she knows no other way of life. The family is stable and the brothers look out for each other. This arrangement is economical as all the wealth is kept in the groom’s kinship. As strange as it may sound, this marriage seem to be more successful than the marriages of choice; in that the wives know there roles and stick to their list of duties. On the other hand, in marriages of choice, after a few years have passed, the wives tend to place pressure on the husbands to change into their likeness and to be what they, and their families want them to be. Arranged marriages are basically bilateral agreements between two families. The gang/crime family is a rather incredible one. I prefer to consider it as a social group with its own set of operational tenets but not a family. Rference Nowak, B., & Laird, P. (2010). Cultural Anthropolgy, San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education Inc.