In most societies, it serves to socially identify children by defining kinship ties to a mother, father, and extended relatives. The term monogamy is used to specifically refer to marital monogamy. There is greater family and household diversity as a result. Twitter: @SocioDictionary Probably the most fundamental thing is that people’s attitudes towards marriage have change. Sociological explanations for the long term decline in marriage include changing gender roles, the impact of feminism and female empowerment, economic factors such as the increasing cost of living and the individualisation associated with postmodernism.
This post has been written for the families and household topic within A-level sociology.. Polygamy is marriage with several spouses, or more than one spouse, at once, or living at the same time. This is the most acceptable way of structuring relationships with polygamous and polyandrous relationships still being viewed as abnormal.
The Open Education Sociology Dictionary (OESD) is part of the open access and open education movement and seeks to create an entry level resource for sociology students, educators, and the curious. In Sociology and Social Anthropology, Monogamy refers to the marital practice in which an individual marries one partner (unlike Polygyny where a man has more than one wife and Polyandry where a woman has more than one husband). It also serves to regulate sexual behavior, to transfer, preserve, or consolidate property, prestige, and power, and most importantly, it is the basis for the institution of the family. Social monogamy refers to two persons or creatures who live together and cooperate in acquiring basic resources such as food, clothes, and money. Despite the decline of marriage, most people still ‘couple up’ – cohabitation has increased. However, from the perspective of social science, the practice of monogamy can be understood in two ways - Monogamy Monogamy is when two individuals are in a partnership (relationship) and there are no more than two people in the relationship. According to one, primates are monogamous so that nonrelated males don’t kill their babies.