Difference between revisions of "Exogamy and endogamy" - New World Encyclopedia
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== Exogamy in humans == | == Exogamy in humans == | ||
| − | There may be a drive in humans as well as animals to engage in exogamy (outbreeding); this is because procreating with individuals who are more closely related means any children will be more likely to suffer from genetics defects caused by [[inbreeding]].<ref>Thornhill, N. 1993. The Natural History of Inbreeding and Outbreeding: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.</ref> Individuals who date more exotic partners thereby avoiding [[incest|incestuous]] relationships will have healthier offspring due to the benefits of outbreeding. There are many conditions that are more likely where inbreeding takes place,<ref>Dorsten, L., Hotchkiss, L., and King, T. 1999. The Effect of Inbreeding on Early Childhood Mortality: Twelve Generations of an Amish Settlement. Demography. Vol. 36. No. 2. pp. 263-271.</ref> one example being [[cystic fibrosis]] when a couple of [[European]] origin have children, another being [[sickle-cell anemia]] when a couple of [[African]] origin have children | + | There may be a drive in humans as well as animals to engage in exogamy (outbreeding); this is because procreating with individuals who are more closely related means any children will be more likely to suffer from genetics defects caused by [[inbreeding]].<ref>Thornhill, N. 1993. The Natural History of Inbreeding and Outbreeding: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.</ref> Individuals who date more exotic partners thereby avoiding [[incest|incestuous]] relationships will have healthier offspring due to the benefits of outbreeding. There are many conditions that are more likely where inbreeding takes place,<ref>Dorsten, L., Hotchkiss, L., and King, T. 1999. The Effect of Inbreeding on Early Childhood Mortality: Twelve Generations of an Amish Settlement. Demography. Vol. 36. No. 2. pp. 263-271.</ref> one example being [[cystic fibrosis]] when a couple of [[European]] origin have children, another being [[sickle-cell anemia]] when a couple of [[African]] origin have children. Therefore, the drive to reproduce with individuals genetically different from oneself may derive from an innate drive to seek the healthiest combination of DNA possible for one's offspring by outbreeding. |
| + | |||
| + | Conversely, exogamy can cause serious difficulties in modern medicine, for example, exogamous patients who require organ transplants may find it difficult to find matching donors. {{Fact|date=August 2007}} | ||
== Cultural Exogamy == | == Cultural Exogamy == | ||
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[[Image:Disparity in Male Female Endogamy Rates for Asian Americans of 1.5 Generation.png|center|]] | [[Image:Disparity in Male Female Endogamy Rates for Asian Americans of 1.5 Generation.png|center|]] | ||
Endogamy encourages group affiliation and bonding. Endogamy is a common practice among displanted cultures attempting to make roots in new countries as it encourages group solidarity and ensures greater control over group resources (which may be important to preserve where a group is attempting to establish itself within an alien culture). It helps minorities to survive over a long time in societies with other practices and beliefs. Famous examples of strictly endogamous religious groups are the [[Yazidi]] in Northern [[Iraq]] (under Islamic majority), the [[Armenians in Iran|Armenian-Iranians]], [[Orthodox Jews]], [[Old Order Amish]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], and the [[Parsi]] of [[India]] (a non-Hindu minority in India). Ironically, endogamy can also lead to a group's extinction rather than its survival. While long serving to preserve their religion, the [[Samaritan]]s' practice of endogamy now threatens this community. Refusal to intermarry as well as to accept converts has meant that the population of this ethnic group has dwindled to less than a thousand, and the small gene pool has contributed to disease within the community. | Endogamy encourages group affiliation and bonding. Endogamy is a common practice among displanted cultures attempting to make roots in new countries as it encourages group solidarity and ensures greater control over group resources (which may be important to preserve where a group is attempting to establish itself within an alien culture). It helps minorities to survive over a long time in societies with other practices and beliefs. Famous examples of strictly endogamous religious groups are the [[Yazidi]] in Northern [[Iraq]] (under Islamic majority), the [[Armenians in Iran|Armenian-Iranians]], [[Orthodox Jews]], [[Old Order Amish]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], and the [[Parsi]] of [[India]] (a non-Hindu minority in India). Ironically, endogamy can also lead to a group's extinction rather than its survival. While long serving to preserve their religion, the [[Samaritan]]s' practice of endogamy now threatens this community. Refusal to intermarry as well as to accept converts has meant that the population of this ethnic group has dwindled to less than a thousand, and the small gene pool has contributed to disease within the community. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Inbreeding== | ||
| + | The taboo of [[incest]] has been discussed by many social scientists. [[Anthropology|Anthropologists]] attest that it exists in most cultures. As inbreeding within the first generation would produce expression of recessive traits, the prohibition has been discussed as a possible functional response to the requirement of culling those born deformed, or with undesirable traits. The [[eugenics|eugenicists]] used breeding techniques to promulgate their ideas of human perfection and "illness" on all humans. Some anthropologists like [[Charles Davenport]] advocated the traditional forms of assortative breeding to form "better" human stock. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Royalty and nobility=== | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[Image:Charles II (1670-80).jpg|thumb|200px|[[Charles II of Spain]] was physically and mentally disabled.]] | ||
| + | The royal and noble families of [[Europe]] have close blood ties which are strengthened by [[royal intermarriage]]; the most discussed instances of interbreeding relate to European monarchies. Examples abound in every royal family; in particular, the ruling dynasties of [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]] were in the past very inbred. Several [[Habsburg]]s, [[Bourbon]]s and [[Wittelsbach]]s married aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. Even in the [[United Kingdom|British]] royal family, which is very moderate in comparison, there has scarcely been a monarch in 300 years who has not married a (near or distant) relative. Indeed, [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]] and her husband [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]] are [[cousin|second cousins once removed]], both being descended from [[Christian IX of Denmark|King Christian IX of Denmark]]. They are also third cousins as great-great-grandchildren of [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom]]. European monarchies did avoid brother-sister marriages, though [[Jean V of Armagnac]] was an exception. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Other examples of royal family intermarriage include: | ||
| + | |||
| + | *Some Egyptian [[Pharaoh]]s and Peruvian [[Sapa Inca]]s married their sisters; in both cases we find a special combination between [[endogamy]] and [[polygamy]]. Normally the son of the old ruler and the ruler's oldest (half-)sister became the new ruler. | ||
| + | *The [[Inca]] had an unwritten rule that the new ruler must be a son of the Inca and his wife and sister. He then had to marry his sister (not half-sister), which ultimately led to the catastrophic [[Huascar]]s reign, culminating in a [[civil war]] and then fall of the empire. | ||
| + | *[[Cleopatra]] and [[Ptolemy XIII]], married and named co-rulers of [[ancient Egypt]] following their father's death, were brother and sister. Not only this, but all members of the [[Ptolemaic]] dynasty from [[Ptolemy II]] on engaged in inbreeding among brothers and sisters, so as to keep the Ptolemaic blood "pure." This was often looked over, or even made more complex when Ptolemies married other Ptolemies who had only a remote connection to the Ptolemaic bloodline (Cleopatra herself was the daughter of a [[Mithridatid]] princess). | ||
| + | *The [[Habsburg|House of Habsburg]] inmarried very often. Famous in this case is the ''Habsburger (Unter)Lippe'' (Habsburg jaw/Habsburg lip/"Austrian lip"), typical for many Habsburg relatives over a period of six centuries. (See mandibular [[prognathism]].) | ||
| + | *[[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]], [[King of Spain]] and Infanta [[Isabella of Portugal]] were first cousins. | ||
| + | *[[John, Crown Prince of Portugal]] and [[Joan of Habsburg]] were [[double first cousin]]s. | ||
| + | *[[Mary I of Scotland|Mary, Queen of Scots]] and [[Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley]] were half first cousins, and 3rd cousins once removed. | ||
| + | *King [[Louis XIV of France]] and Infanta [[Maria Theresa of Spain]] were double first cousins. | ||
| + | *King [[William III of England|William III]] and Queen [[Mary II of England]] were first cousins. | ||
| + | *King [[George I of Great Britain]] and Princess [[Sophia Dorothea of Celle]] were paternal first cousins. | ||
| + | *King [[Gustav III of Sweden]] and Princess [[Sophia Magdalena of Denmark]] were second cousins. | ||
| + | *King [[Christian VII of Denmark]] and Princess [[Caroline Matilda of Wales|Caroline Matilda of Great Britain]] were first cousins | ||
| + | *King [[George IV of the United Kingdom]] and Princess [[Caroline of Brunswick]] were first cousins. | ||
| + | *[[William I, German Emperor]] and Princess [[Augusta of Saxe-Weimar]] were second cousins. | ||
| + | *Queen [[Victoria of the United Kingdom]] and Prince [[Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]] were first cousins. | ||
| + | *Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]] and Princess [[Elisabeth of Bavaria]] were first cousins. | ||
| + | *King [[George V of the United Kingdom]] and Princess [[Mary of Teck]] were second cousins once removed. | ||
| + | *[[Prince Gustav Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten]] and [[Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]], parents of the present King [[Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden]], were second cousins. | ||
| + | *[[Prince Nicola Pignatelli]] (1648–1730) and [[Princess Giovanna Pignatelli]] (1666–1723) were half great-granduncle and half great-grandniece, representing a peculiar alliance between two relatives. Nicola was a son of [[Giulio Pignatelli]], Prince of Noia (1587-1658) through his third wife and Giovanna a great-great-granddaughter through his first marriage. | ||
| + | *A similar alliance was the marriage between Princess [[Sophie of Sweden]] and [[Leopold I, Grand Duke of Baden|Grand Duke Leopold of Baden]], half-brother of her maternal grandfather. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Intermarriage in [[European royal families]] is no longer practiced as often as in the past. This is likely due to changes in the importance of [[marriage]] as a method of forming [[political alliance]]s through kinship ties between nobility. These ties were often sealed only upon the birth of progeny within the [[arranged marriage]]. Marriage was seen as a union of lines of nobility, not of a contract between individuals as it is seen today. More marry for "love," best illustrated by the second marriage of [[Charles, Prince of Wales|Prince Charles]] of the [[United Kingdom]]. During the tumult of the removal, sometimes by revolution, of most lines of nobility from state government, it became less important to marry for the good of the respective monarchies and the states they governed. | ||
| + | |||
| + | It is not necessarily the case that there was a greater amount of inbreeding within royalty than there is in the population as a whole: it may simply be better documented. Among genetic populations that are isolated, opportunities for [[exogamy]] are reduced. Isolation may be geographical, leading to inbreeding among peasants in remote mountain valleys. Or isolation may be social, induced by the lack of appropriate partners, such as Protestant princesses for Protestant royal heirs. Since the late [[Middle Ages]], it is the urban [[middle class]] that has had the widest opportunity for [[Heterosis|outbreeding]]. | ||
| + | |||
==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
| Line 58: | Line 96: | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
| − | {{ | + | {{Credits|Exogamy|88844158|Endogamy|138836325|Inbreeding|154085365|}} |
Revision as of 13:37, 29 August 2007
Biological Exogamy
In Biology, exogamy more generally refers to the mating of individuals who are relatively less related genetically, that is outbreeding as opposed to inbreeding, this benefits the offspring by avoiding the chance of the offspring inheriting two copies of a defective gene and also by increasing the genetic diversity of the offspring, improving the chances that more of the offspring will have the required adaptions to survive.
Exogamy in humans
There may be a drive in humans as well as animals to engage in exogamy (outbreeding); this is because procreating with individuals who are more closely related means any children will be more likely to suffer from genetics defects caused by inbreeding.[1] Individuals who date more exotic partners thereby avoiding incestuous relationships will have healthier offspring due to the benefits of outbreeding. There are many conditions that are more likely where inbreeding takes place,[2] one example being cystic fibrosis when a couple of European origin have children, another being sickle-cell anemia when a couple of African origin have children. Therefore, the drive to reproduce with individuals genetically different from oneself may derive from an innate drive to seek the healthiest combination of DNA possible for one's offspring by outbreeding.
Conversely, exogamy can cause serious difficulties in modern medicine, for example, exogamous patients who require organ transplants may find it difficult to find matching donors. [citation needed]
Cultural Exogamy
Exogamy is the custom of marrying outside a specified group of people to which one belongs. In addition to blood relatives, marriage to members of a specific totem or other group may be forbidden.
The opposite of exogamy is endogamy.
Different theories have been proposed to account for the origin of exogamy.
Edvard Westermarck said it arose in the aversion to marriage between blood relatives or near kin, that is, in horror of incest. From a genetic point of view, aversion to breeding with close relatives results in fewer congenital diseases, because, where one gene is faulty, there is a greater chance that the other - being from a different line - is of another functional type and can take over. Outbreeding thus favours the condition of Heterozygosity, that is having two non-identical copies of a given gene.
J.F. McLennan [3] holds that exogamy was due originally to scarcity of women, which obliged men to seek wives from other groups, including marriage by capture, and this in time grew into a custom.
Émile Durkheim Template:Cite needed derives exogamy from totemism, and says it arose from a religious respect for the blood of a totemic clan, for the clan totem is a god and is especially in the blood.
Morgan[4] and Howitt Template:Cite needed maintain that exogamy was introduced to prevent marriage between blood relations, especially between brother and sister, which had been common in a previous state of promiscuity. Frazer says this is the true solution, that it really introduced group marriage, which is an advance to monogamy, and that the most complete record of this is the classificatory system of relationship. Lang, however, denies there is any group marriage, and says that so-called group marriage is only tribe-regulated licence. Hill-Tout Template:Cite needed writes that exogamous rules arose for political reasons by marriage treaties between groups. Darwin denies primitive promiscuous intercourse, and says exogamy arose from the strongest male driving the other males out of the group. This is also the opinion of Lang, Atkinson, and Letourneau Template:Cite needed.
Claude Levi-Strauss introduced the "Alliance Theory" of exogamy, 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 didn't would die out, either literally or because they lacked ties for cultural and economic exchange, leaving them at a disadvantage. The exchange of men and/or women therefore served as a uniting force between groups.
Endogamy
Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a social group. Cultures who practice endogamy require marriage between specified social groups, classes, or ethnicities. A Danish endogamist would require marriage only to other Danes. Just about any accepted social grouping may provide a boundary for endogamy. Despite the fact that many people tend to marry members of their own social group, there are some groups that practice endogamy very strictly as an inherent part of their moral values, traditions or religious beliefs. The caste-system of India is based on an order of (mostly) endogamous groups.
Endogamy encourages group affiliation and bonding. Endogamy is a common practice among displanted cultures attempting to make roots in new countries as it encourages group solidarity and ensures greater control over group resources (which may be important to preserve where a group is attempting to establish itself within an alien culture). It helps minorities to survive over a long time in societies with other practices and beliefs. Famous examples of strictly endogamous religious groups are the Yazidi in Northern Iraq (under Islamic majority), the Armenian-Iranians, Orthodox Jews, Old Order Amish, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Parsi of India (a non-Hindu minority in India). Ironically, endogamy can also lead to a group's extinction rather than its survival. While long serving to preserve their religion, the Samaritans' practice of endogamy now threatens this community. Refusal to intermarry as well as to accept converts has meant that the population of this ethnic group has dwindled to less than a thousand, and the small gene pool has contributed to disease within the community.
Inbreeding
The taboo of incest has been discussed by many social scientists. Anthropologists attest that it exists in most cultures. As inbreeding within the first generation would produce expression of recessive traits, the prohibition has been discussed as a possible functional response to the requirement of culling those born deformed, or with undesirable traits. The eugenicists used breeding techniques to promulgate their ideas of human perfection and "illness" on all humans. Some anthropologists like Charles Davenport advocated the traditional forms of assortative breeding to form "better" human stock.
Royalty and nobility
.jpg)
The royal and noble families of Europe have close blood ties which are strengthened by royal intermarriage; the most discussed instances of interbreeding relate to European monarchies. Examples abound in every royal family; in particular, the ruling dynasties of Spain and Portugal were in the past very inbred. Several Habsburgs, Bourbons and Wittelsbachs married aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. Even in the British royal family, which is very moderate in comparison, there has scarcely been a monarch in 300 years who has not married a (near or distant) relative. Indeed, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh are second cousins once removed, both being descended from King Christian IX of Denmark. They are also third cousins as great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. European monarchies did avoid brother-sister marriages, though Jean V of Armagnac was an exception.
Other examples of royal family intermarriage include:
- Some Egyptian Pharaohs and Peruvian Sapa Incas married their sisters; in both cases we find a special combination between endogamy and polygamy. Normally the son of the old ruler and the ruler's oldest (half-)sister became the new ruler.
- The Inca had an unwritten rule that the new ruler must be a son of the Inca and his wife and sister. He then had to marry his sister (not half-sister), which ultimately led to the catastrophic Huascars reign, culminating in a civil war and then fall of the empire.
- Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII, married and named co-rulers of ancient Egypt following their father's death, were brother and sister. Not only this, but all members of the Ptolemaic dynasty from Ptolemy II on engaged in inbreeding among brothers and sisters, so as to keep the Ptolemaic blood "pure." This was often looked over, or even made more complex when Ptolemies married other Ptolemies who had only a remote connection to the Ptolemaic bloodline (Cleopatra herself was the daughter of a Mithridatid princess).
- The House of Habsburg inmarried very often. Famous in this case is the Habsburger (Unter)Lippe (Habsburg jaw/Habsburg lip/"Austrian lip"), typical for many Habsburg relatives over a period of six centuries. (See mandibular prognathism.)
- Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain and Infanta Isabella of Portugal were first cousins.
- John, Crown Prince of Portugal and Joan of Habsburg were double first cousins.
- Mary, Queen of Scots and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley were half first cousins, and 3rd cousins once removed.
- King Louis XIV of France and Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain were double first cousins.
- King William III and Queen Mary II of England were first cousins.
- King George I of Great Britain and Princess Sophia Dorothea of Celle were paternal first cousins.
- King Gustav III of Sweden and Princess Sophia Magdalena of Denmark were second cousins.
- King Christian VII of Denmark and Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain were first cousins
- King George IV of the United Kingdom and Princess Caroline of Brunswick were first cousins.
- William I, German Emperor and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar were second cousins.
- Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha were first cousins.
- Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria were first cousins.
- King George V of the United Kingdom and Princess Mary of Teck were second cousins once removed.
- Prince Gustav Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, parents of the present King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, were second cousins.
- Prince Nicola Pignatelli (1648–1730) and Princess Giovanna Pignatelli (1666–1723) were half great-granduncle and half great-grandniece, representing a peculiar alliance between two relatives. Nicola was a son of Giulio Pignatelli, Prince of Noia (1587-1658) through his third wife and Giovanna a great-great-granddaughter through his first marriage.
- A similar alliance was the marriage between Princess Sophie of Sweden and Grand Duke Leopold of Baden, half-brother of her maternal grandfather.
Intermarriage in European royal families is no longer practiced as often as in the past. This is likely due to changes in the importance of marriage as a method of forming political alliances through kinship ties between nobility. These ties were often sealed only upon the birth of progeny within the arranged marriage. Marriage was seen as a union of lines of nobility, not of a contract between individuals as it is seen today. More marry for "love," best illustrated by the second marriage of Prince Charles of the United Kingdom. During the tumult of the removal, sometimes by revolution, of most lines of nobility from state government, it became less important to marry for the good of the respective monarchies and the states they governed.
It is not necessarily the case that there was a greater amount of inbreeding within royalty than there is in the population as a whole: it may simply be better documented. Among genetic populations that are isolated, opportunities for exogamy are reduced. Isolation may be geographical, leading to inbreeding among peasants in remote mountain valleys. Or isolation may be social, induced by the lack of appropriate partners, such as Protestant princesses for Protestant royal heirs. Since the late Middle Ages, it is the urban middle class that has had the widest opportunity for outbreeding.
Notes
- ↑ Thornhill, N. 1993. The Natural History of Inbreeding and Outbreeding: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
- ↑ Dorsten, L., Hotchkiss, L., and King, T. 1999. The Effect of Inbreeding on Early Childhood Mortality: Twelve Generations of an Amish Settlement. Demography. Vol. 36. No. 2. pp. 263-271.
- ↑ McLennan, JF (1888). The Origin of Exogamy. The English Historical Review 3: 94-104.
- ↑ Morgan, Lewis Henry (1871). Systems of consanguinity and affinity of the human family. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge 41.
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