Sociology and Psychology of Non-Monogamous Relationships

• Caesar's report that the Britons in groups of ten or twelve possessed their wives in common

• Lewis Morgan, letters on the Iroquois, in American Review (1847)
• Lewis Morgan, The League of the Iroquois (1851)

• Latham, Descriptive Ethnology (1859)
• Bachofen, Mutterrecht (1861)

• Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (1865)
  "Our early semi-human progenitors would not have practised infanticide or polyandry; for the instincts of the lower animals are never so perverted as to lead them regularly to destroy their own offspring, or to be quite devoid of jealousy."

• Lubbock, The Origin of Civilization (1870)
  "McLennan knew only three forms of marriage: polygyny, polyandry and monogamy. But once attention had been directed to the question, more and more proofs were found that there existed among undeveloped peoples forms of marriage in which a number of men possessed a number of women in common, and Lubbock recognized this group marriage ("communal marriage") as a historical fact." - Frederick Engels

• Lewis Morgan, Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity (1871)
  "[Morgan] induced the Federal government to collect information about the systems of consanguinity among the other peoples of the world and to send out for this purpose tables and lists of questions prepared by himself. He discovered from the replies: (1) that the system of consanguinity of the American Indians was also in force among numerous peoples in Asia and, in a somewhat modified form, in Africa and Australia; (2) that its complete explanation was to be found in a form of group marriage which was just dying out in Hawaii and other Australasian islands; and (3) that side by side with this form of marriage a system of consanguinity was in force in the same islands which could only be explained through a still more primitive, now extinct, form of group marriage." - Frederick Engels
• Lewis Morgan, Ancient Society (1877)
  "But at the time when group marriage still prevailed -- and in all probability it prevailed everywhere at some time -- the tribe was subdivided into a number of groups related by blood on the mother's side, gentes, within which it was strictly forbidden to marry, so that the men of a gens, though they could take their wives from within the tribe and generally did so, were compelled to take them from outside their gens." - Frederick Engels

• J. F. McLennan, Studies in Ancient History (1886) Primitive Marriage, p. 124

• Frederick Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State, preface to the 4th edition (1891)

• G. J. Ravisini, Die anthropologische Bedeutung der Polygamie, Vienna: Instituts-Ravasini (1930)
  "The author, an investigator in the field of race hygiene, predicts the decline of the West as the inevitable consequence of its monogamous structure. Tracing the history of the problem, he finds that polygamy is the originally normal form for man and animals; monogamy has arisen through the influence of unfavorable environmental conditions, and sprang up as a 'pathological' variant some time during the Ice Age in the case of both man and the majority of animals. Then there took place 'athermic' monogamy, when people migrated northward and the stress of obtaining a living and protecting the family group became acute. Medieval monogamy, however, is the most important form for consideration, for the reason that it constitutes the essential basis of the whole modern legal system of the Occident. This medieval monogamy represents a diseased condition of society. The question of the decline of the West goes hand in hand with that of monogamous status. As a matter of fact, two-thirds of the human race are polygamous, while the remaining fraction is for the most part really pseudo-monogamous rather than strictly monogamous. The paper refers to the literature bearing upon this subject." - reviewed by P. C. Squires in Psychological Abstracts (1931)

• A. Lesser, "Levirate and fraternal polyandry among the Pawnees", Man 30, pp.98-101 (1930)

• V. F. Calverton, "Modern anthropology and the theory of cultural compulsives", Psyche 11, pp.43-62 (1930)
  An attack on a work by E. Westermarck which claimed to prove monogamy is the best form of marriage.

• R. Grau, "Die Gruppenehe ein völkerkundliches Problem" (Group marriage an ethological problem), Studien z. Völkerkunde 5, p.152 (1931)

• E. Westermarck, "On primitive marriage: a rejoinder to Mr. V. F. Calverton", Amer. J. Sociol., 41, pp.565-584 (1936)
  A response to Calverton's 1930 article.

• B. Malinowski, The sexual life of savages in north-western Melanesia: an ethnographic account of courtship, marriage, and family life among the Trobriand Islands, British New Guinea,New York: Halcyon House (1936?)

• E. Ward, "Marriage among the Yoruba", Anthrop. Ser. Catholic Univ. Amer., #4, pp.55-? (1937)

• N. Anderson, "The Mormon Family", Amer. Sociol. Rev., 2, pp.601-608 (1937)
  "The typical Mormon family was characterized by extreme devotion to raising children, by intimate association of family life with religion, by self-sufficiency of the family and of the community, and by special family status of the aged and the dead. Some of the problems of adjustment of Mormon society to present conditions are discussed. The polygamous family was an exceptional condition associated with high status in the community." - reviewed by I. L. Child in Psychological Abstracts (1938)

• E. E. Evans-Pritchard, "Some aspects of marriage and the family among the Nuer", Z. vergl. Rechtsw. 52, pp.306-392 (1938)

• H. Thurnwald, "Ehe und Mutterschaft in Buin" (Marriage and motherhood in Buin [Bougainville, Solomon Islands]), Arch. Anthrop. Völks-Forsch. 24, pp.214-246 (1938)

• J. E. Hulett Jr., "Social role and personal security in Mormon polygamy", Amer. J. Sociol. 45, pp.542-553 (1940)

• K. Young, "Variations in personality manifestations in Mormon polygynous families", in Q. McNemar & M. A. Merrill, Studies in Personality New York: McGraw-Hill, pp.285-314 (1942)
  "This study of the social, economic, and emotional adjustments of both husbands and wives is based on approximately 125 records of men and their families who at some time lived under Mormon polygyny. Living in polygyny created problems of social-emotional adjustment for both the husbands and wives. Opportunity for public approval was enhanced, and affectional and directly sexual variations were permitted within the culturally approved pattern. In many cases a sense of inadequacy was induced in regard to property and family authority and interwife conflicts, and guilt feelings arose in connection with monogamous standards." - reviewed by G. S. Speer in Psychological Abstracts (1942)

• J. E. Hulett Jr., "The social role of the Mormon polygamous male", Amer. Sociol. Rev. 8, pp.279-287 (1943)
  "Factors disturbing the ego-security of the Mormon polygamous male in the family group are discussed. These impeding factors were largely due to the fact that his own behavior and his expectations of others' behavior were in many ways conditioned by the monogamous patterns of the larger American society, from which the Mormon group had only recently departed. Feelings of guilt and insecurity frequently resulted." - reviewed by S. E. Ash in Psychological Abstracts (1943?)

• Prince Peter [of Greece], "Tibetan, Toda, and Tiya polyandry: a report on field investigations", Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 10, pp.210-225 (1948)
  "Field investigations of these tribes were undertaken to obtain up-to-date knowledge on polyandry by using psychoanalytic discoveries in conjunction with anthropological data. Fraternal and non-fraternal systems of polyandry are described, and certain details of behavior suggest unconscious jealousy among brothers, and the presence of Oedipus and castration complexes. The usual economic, sociological, demographic, and other explanations of polyandry are found to be unsuitable. Polyandry is not necessarily a primitive institutional form of marriage, but seems to be due to the psychological reaction of individuals in a community subject to poor and insecure economic conditions. It persists in the Tibetans through community isolation, and in the Todas as a type of defense against invasion by alien cultures." - reviewed by J. Bucklew in Psychological Abstracts (1949)

• S. C. Jain, "Some features of fraternal polyandry in Jaunsar Bawar", Eastern Anthrop. 1 #3, pp.27-33 (1948)
• S. C. Jain, "Social ceremonies in a polyandrous society in Jaunsar Bawar", Eastern Anthrop. 1 #4, pp.29-36 (1948)

• M. Kamel Nahas, "The family in the Arab world", Marriage Fam. Living 16, pp.293-300 (1954) "The topics cover population, sex, age, religion, types of marriage, the family relationships, economic conditions, family disorganization, polygyny, divorce. Changing standards now allow more freedom of behavior." - reviewed by M. M. Gillet in Psychological Abstracts (1955)

• Dorothy Fahs. Beck, "The changing Moslem family of the Middle East", Marriage Fam. Living 19, pp.340-347 (1957)
  "'The extent to which the veil has been lifted correlates closely with the westernization' of the areas. A second factor is the passing of the harem and its restricted life for women. Third, there is 'increased freedom for interpersonal contact' and premarital courtship. Moslem law still rules marriage customs and determines the position and responsibilities of the wife, the duties of the females in the household. 'The ingrained patterns ... are diametrically opposed to the western way ... They will not be as easy to discard as the veil. The price of adjustment ... will come high in conflict, stress and turmoil' between members of the family." - reviewed by M. M. Gillet in Psychological Abstracts (1959)

• Merle K. Miller & Charles Windle, "Polygyny and social status in Iran", J. Soc. Psychol. 51, pp.307-311 (May 1960)
  "Census data from 24,819 married Moslem male employees of the Iranian Oil Refining Company were examined to determine the relationship between the incidence of polygyny and social status within the company, possession of certain luxury items, and education. Generally, the higher the occupational status the greater the incidence of polygyny, and the higher the educational level the less the incidence."

• Michio Kitahara, "Polygyny: Insufficient father-son contact and son's masculine identity", Archives of Sexual Behavior 5(3), pp.201-209 (May 1976)
  "Hypothesized about the fact that in polygynous societies in which the family consists of husband, wives, and children only (if each co-wife lives in separate quarter with her children), males are more likely to be circumcised of segregated at puberty. These customs are interpreted as the measures to rectify boys' mother-oriented personality development because of limited contact with their fathers due to their mother's separate quarters. Information from a sample of 37 societies taken from G. P. Murdock's (1967) Ethnographic Atlas indicated that circumcision and segregation can be explained better in terms of the son's insufficient contact with the father rather than a very close relationship with the mother due to the long postpartum sexual taboo."

• Stephen T. Emlen & Lewis W. Oring, "Ecology, sexual selection, and the evolution of mating systems", Science 197(4300), pp.215-223 (July 1977)
  "Proposes an ecological framework for understanding and predicting the forms of animal mating systems. The underlying assumption is that intrasexual interactions associated with mating are basically competitive. An individual member of the limited sex is expected to maximize its inclusive fitness by attempting to control access to mates of the limiting sex. The degree to which this is possible depends on the costs and benefits associated with such control. Certain environmental factors, particularly the spatial dispersion pattern of key resources and the temporal availability of receptive mates, are seen as important determinants of these costs and benefits. It is suggested that the greater the potential for individuals to monopolize resources or mates, the greater the intensity of sexual selection and the freater the environmental potential for polygamy. The precise form of the mating system will depend on which sex is limiting and on the manner and the degree to which the limited sex controls the resource base or monopolizes mates (or both). An ecological categorization of mating systems is presented to show the selective forces shaping one mating system over another. Within this ecological framework, specific examples are discussed ranging from the occurrence of leks to the evolution of polyandry." (88 ref.)

• Stephen Clark, "Sexual Ontology and the Group Marriage", Philosophy 58, pp.215-227 (1983)

• Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, "Empathy, Polyandry, and the Myth of the Coy Female", in Ruth Bleier, ed. Feminist Approaches to Science, Elmsford, NY: Pergamon (1986)

• Nancy E. Levine, The Dynamics of Polyandry. Kinship, Domesticity, and Population on the Tibetan Border, U. Chicago Press (1988)

• T. T. Moh, "A Short History Of Tibet"
  "In Tibet, there are multihusbands-multiwives marriage system from very ancient time. The husbands may or may not be related, similarly, the wives may or may not be related. ... In this system, husbands and wives are ordered. If the number 1 husband passes away, then the number 2 husband will assume the position of number 1 husband, etc. The children will consider all present husbands of the mother as fathers. The property will be commonly owned by the marriage group."

• J. Hughes, Monogamy as a Prisoners Dilemma: Non-Monogamy as a Collective Action Problem
  "uses the perspective of rational choice theory and strategic interaction to examine three known equilibrium social states: patriarchal polygyny, loose patriarchal monogamy, and strict monogamy."

• a discussion of legalizing polygamy in Singapore

• Theodore C. Bergstrom, "On the Economics of Polygyny", U. Mich. Center for Research on Economic and Social Theory, Working Paper Series 94-11, (July 1994).
  "Although overt polygamy is rare in our own society, it is a very common mode of family organization around the world. Of 1170 societies recorded in Murdock's Ethnographic Atlas, polygyny (some men having more than one wife) is prevalent in 850. ... Most polygynous societies have positive prices for brides. ... In the polygynous societies of Africa, these prices, which anthropologists call ``bridewealth'', are typically paid to the bride's male relatives rather than to the bride According to Jack Goody (1973, p. 5), ``Bridewealth is not to be consumed in the course of the celebration, nor is it handed to the wife, it is given to the bride's male kin (typically brothers) in order that they can themselves take a wife.'' Dowry, in contrast to bridewealth, is a payment from the bride's relatives. But according to Goody, dowry is not the ``reverse'' of bride wealth. Dowry typically goes directly to the newly married couple rather than to the relatives of the groom, constituting as Goody suggests, ``a type of pre-mortem inheritance to the bride.''"