Moso society which better known as Na, is a small minority group living in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces in China. For over decades, they have implemented a matrilineal system through their culture. Matrilineality is defined as a system in which their descendants are traced using their mother lineages. Since Moso society applied the matrilineal system in their culture, there are several implications and characteristics that can be analyzed from that point of view. One of the practice in an accordance to matrilineality is called a “walking marriage”. There is no traditional marriage in Moso culture, so in a family there are neither husband nor wives. In walking marriage the partners do not live in the same household, after midnight the man who has been given permission to visit the woman comes to spending the night with her and return to his home in the early morning. As a result, Moso’s family structure, child preference and gender equality are affected by the practice of walking marriage.
Generally people misunderstood the concept of walking marriage. They would think that the couplings in the society will last only in a short term, but in fact, the women would spend her life with a particular partner for a longer term. Many anthropologists (2009) define this relationship as “serial monogamy” in which an individual has only one partner at any one time. The term “one time” in this particular context can sometimes shift to a longer period which last for a lifetime. Although the relationship between partners may be a long term, the father will never live with the woman’s family or vice versa. The man and the woman will continue to live and taking responsibilities of their own family separately. Significantly, when children are born, ...
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...families looking for additional income by running a boat rental business or just simply be a tour guide. Even though Moso women would think there is no such equality in her society, evidently the men also play an important role in sustaining the financial need of the Moso ethnic group.
Moso society which live in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in China, have been practicing matrilineality for decades. One of the practice of matrilineal system is the implementation of “walking marriage” in several community aspects especially in family structure, childbearing preference and gender equality. In a walking marriage practice, the partners are not bound on to another. But they have their own responsibilities in terms of sustaining financial need. As a result the Moso family structure are extremely stable. There will be no families’ issues, such as divorce and child custody.
In the video “A World Without Fathers or Husbands” is set in Lijiang, China, which is in Southwest China. Women in Lijiang is wear traditional clothing, which remind them of a time women were held to a very high status and were respected more than anyone else. This was a time when both women and men did not marry. Neither gender were forced to marry or be tied to one person, they both could have as many boyfriends or girlfriends they wanted, and this was something nobody complained about at all, they were actually quite pleased to do without the ritual of marriage. However, this did not last due to Prince Yung gaining the throne of China in 1723. When the Prince sent representatives out into the field to improve this land in any way possible,
In her book, The House of Lim, author Margery Wolf observes the Lims, a large Chinese family living in a small village in Taiwan in the early 1960s (Wolf iv). She utilizes her book to portray the Lim family through multiple generations. She provides audiences with a firsthand account of the family life and structure within this specific region and offers information on various customs that the Lims and other families participate in. She particularly mentions and explains the marriage customs that are the norm within the society. Through Wolf’s ethnography it can be argued that parents should not dec5pide whom their children marry. This argument is obvious through the decline in marriage to simpua, or little girls taken in and raised as future daughter-in-laws, and the influence parents have over their children (Freedman xi).
A family is a group of people consisting of the parents and their children who live together and they are blood related. The family is always perceived as the basic social units whether they are living together in the same compound or at far distance but are closely related especially by blood. Therefore, the family unit has had a great influence on the growth and the character traits possessed by the children as they grow up and how they perceive the society they live in. the family also shapes the children to be able to relate well with other people that are not part of their family and with a good relationship it impacts to the peace achieved in country. This paper addresses the reasons as to why the family is considered the most important agent of socialization. It’s evident that families have changed over time and they have adopted different ways of living. This paper also tackles on the causes of the dramatic changes to the American family and what the changes are. Different people with different race, gender and preferences make the family unit and this makes the difference in marriages. This will also be discussed in this paper.
China has been undergoing number of social and economic changes throughout its communist history. There is no doubt that these socio-economic changes have influenced the society both positively and negatively. The most two significant changes of all would be the Cultural Revolution which took place during 1960s and the economic transition to the market economy, which has been in effect since 1980s. In this research paper I will focus on the impacts of the ongoing socio-economic changes on what is called a “traditional” family in China. To be more specific, I will try to analyze how the divorce has become one of the “new values” of a “modern” Chinese family.
Every culture has its own unique values, beliefs and norms. Culture defines the identity and interests of a society. Understanding other’s culture is crucial in preparing ourselves for the global experience in the twenty-first century. As the world is becoming more connected to each other, interaction between cultures is unavoidable. I consider myself lucky to live in one of the most diverse cities in the world where I get chance to interact with people of different cultures. In this paper, I will discuss my findings about Family Structure in a Mexican culture, and Dating and Marriage in an African / Gabonese culture. Having a chance to understand various cultures, I realized that beliefs and practices tend to vary from culture to culture.
“Like most wives of our generation, we’d contemplated eventual widowhood but never thought we’d end up divorced” (Hekker 278). Traditional wives married for love and to follow th...
Polygamous marriages in Tibet were the basis of an article by Melvyn Goldstein, the articles specific focus was on a unique type of marriage they practice called fraternal polyandry where several Tibetan brothers marry one wife. Age determination is the method in which each brother is place; sexual aspects of the marriage are age-related as well as how children are treated within family groups. Discussed also within the article was family planning and how these polyandry marriage are celebrated.
Families are becoming more diverse and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some people consider families to be strictly biological, while others consider people they love to be their family. Although two-parent families, also known as a nuclear family are the majority, one-parent families are becoming more common in today’s society. A sole-parent is considered to be a parent without a partner or spouse who is the primary care giver of one or more children in a household (Ministry of Social Development, 2010). From the age of 14 onward I was raised by m...
Chinese cultural traditions such as arranged marriages, different religions, and superstitious notions, all which repress women, also influenced their character. A great deal of importance is placed on the variety of traditions that were placed on them. The theme of tradition being passed down from mother to daughter is also stressed. This particular tradition is not explicitly expressed. In order for it to be preserved and handed down it is to be observed, absorbed, and understood.
Examples of cultural constructions can be seen throughout history in several forms such as gender, relationships, and marriage. “Cultural construction of gender emphasizes that different cultures have distinctive ideas about males and females and use these ideas to define manhood/masculinity and womanhood/femininity.” (Humanity, 239) In many cultures gender roles are a great way to gain an understanding of just how different the construction of gender can be amongst individual cultures. The video The Women’s Kingdom provides an example of an uncommon gender role, which is seen in the Wujiao Village where the Mosuo women are the last matriarchy in the country and have been around for over one thousand years. Unlike other rural Chinese villages where many girls are degraded and abandoned at birth, Mosuo woman are proud and run the households where the men simply assist in what they need. The view of gender as a cultural construct ...
The Western Religious leaders and moralists believe only one spouse for life is the highest form of marriage. Some of the most "primitive" peoples are strictly monogamous in their ideals, while some "highly advanced" cultures have moved away from the stri...
"A family is a small social group of people related by ancestry or affection, who share common values and goals, who may live together in the same dwelling, and who may participate in the bearing and raising of children. They have a physical or emotional connection with each other that is ongoing" (Vissing, 2011) and is the foundation of all societies. They can be formed by a grouping of father-mother-children or even more complicated combination of relatives. In the primary stage of family life in the United States, everyone from every generation lived together in one house. Subsequently, the idea of traditional family evolved and a married couple with children is at present, often called the traditional family. There are many types of families; however, this paper will focus on the traditional family. It will describe how the functionalist perspective, conflict perspective, and the interactionism theory apply to the sociological institution known as a family. It will explain some of the similarities and differences between the sociological theories in regards to families and how they affect the family members.
The family is the main agent of socialisation and an institution. (Giddens, 2013:339). As children, we rely on our family to fulfil basic needs. We all need guidance, and more importantly we also require nurturing to become healthy adults. The definition of family varies across cultures. However, the family is sensitive to change and, therefore, not static. The structure of the family has changed, and culture and society are now more accepting of the fact that people now choose to cohabit, rather than marry. (Haralambos & Holborn 2009:3). In 2013, there were nearly 1.9 million lone parent households with dependent children in the United Kingdom; a figure which has steadily increased over the years (Office of National Statistics 2013). The rise in lone parents has brought about greater acceptance of pregnancies that do not have to involve marriage although acceptance is not the concern. A study suggests that….
When it comes to the topic of marriage, different cultures have different customs. Some of these customs have changed over the years and some have stayed the same. One type of marriage that interests me is arranged marriage and why there are arranged marriages still going on today. That is why I have chosen to write about them in this paper and discuss why they were/are an important staple in certain cultures.
In today’s society the assumption asserts that there must be only two adults integrated in a relationship, however in polygamous environments, having more than one spouse is traditional. Some may argue that Polygamy is simply just an alternate lifestyle. This, however, ceases to be true. Young girls are being forced to marry older men and sometimes relatives. Little boys are often abandoned because it appears to be competition for older men. Children are victims of sexual and physical abuse. Whereas, for women, they generally become stripped of their money and experience competition against the multiple wives a husband. Although Polygamy is viewed as immoral by society, the main focus point should be saving young children and women because