One, Two, Four or Five?

Michele White

Sociology 101

Marriage

What exactly contitutes a marriage to many people? Naturally marriage is thought to be a commitment between two people, usually a man and a women. From this they may choose to start a family. Typically America may view the dream family as  one mother, one father, and two children. This type of family is based on mongany which simply means, one man married to one women. However in the United States, for every two marriages one will end in divorce. In some cases those people may choose to remarry which is consider as serial mongany. Despite the type of relationship pursued, the United States hold tightly the view of only having one martial partner at a time.

A Differnt Type of Marriage

Polygamy holds the definition of one person being married to more than one spouse, possible two or three. Commonly this done between one man and multiple women. This called polygyny. The practice of one women being married to multiple men is called polyandry, which is less common then polygyny. In America polygamy is definately looked down upon by many citizens, as well as in the law. In other countries however, polygamy is viewed as natural. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica during the ninteenth century forty Native American cultures practice polygamy. Even today many cultures still practice polygamy. Although each cultures reason for practicing polygamy is different, they normally have two of the same commonalities. One being there are not enough people of a specific sex, and second for finacial reason. The following short clip shows a family who practice polyandry because of tradition, fiances, and the shortage of men.

This clip I found to be interesting. Here this talks about why she involved herself in such a marrage, and also the lifestyle they had together. This type of arrangement is not something that I would thing about in India. By doing this they thrived off of one another. Many other culture share the same belief. However, in my research the polygamy "marriages" preformed in American has a totally differnt outcome. Out of many video clips and articles I have watched and read, the men and women are completely different towards this type of marriage in America. Other countries seem have one husband or one wife and many spouses in order to provide for each other. They also apparently work side by side to keep order in that household. In America it seems to be different. It seem as thought the husband has multiple wives more so to split duties and responsibilites among the wives leaving him with less responsibility. Also the women become more jealous that the husband will either spend more time with or is more emotionally attached to one wife over the other. While one wife may make the income for the family, one may babysit while the other clean. This next clip shows the life of a women who followed a polygamy lifestyle. It shows the stuggles she dealt with, as well as her sisterwives, and what she ended up doing to find happiness.         

 

Although polygamy is illegal in America, it is happening quite often. I think that something should not be shares, and spouses are one of them. I think that polygamy in America is practiced by the "everyday normal" person. I personally would never get involved in this. Many people however, feel that they do have logical reasons for being involved in polygamy. Either way a person chooses, it is still a commitment that they should consider wisely.