Endogamy is the practice of
marryingMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
within a specific
ethnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the researcher Seng Yang in the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural,...
,
classSocial classes are the hierarchical arrangements of people in society as economic or cultural groups. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political economists and social historians...
or
social groupA group can be defined as two or more humans that interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity...
, rejecting others on such bases as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. A
DanishDanish people are a nation and ethnic group native to Denmark, who speak Danish. This includes people with a Danish ancestral or ethnic identity, whether living in Denmark, emigrants, or the descendants of emigrants, eg: the Danish ethnic minority in Southern Schleswig, a former Danish province.The...
endogamist, for example, would require that a marriage be only with another Dane.
Endogamy is common in many cultures and ethnic groups, but
globalizationGlobalization describes an ongoing process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a globe-spanning network of communication and exchange....
tends to counteract this tendency by exposing isolated ethnic groups to a wider variety of people and cultures. Several ethnic religious groups are notably endogamous, although with the added dimension of requiring
marital religious conversionMarital conversion refers to the concept of religious conversion upon marriage, either as a conciliatory act, or a mandated requirement according to a particular religious belief. Endogamous religious cultures may have certain opposition to interfaith marriage and ethnic assimilation, and may...
, permitting an ostensibly endogamous marriage to be performed, as the convert has accepted the partner's culture. Certain groups such as Orthodox
Ashkenazi JewsAshkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities of the Rhineland valley and northern France...
have practiced endogamy strictly as an inherent part of their religious beliefs and traditions.
Adherence
Endogamy, proponents say, encourages group affiliation and bonding. It is a common practice among
displanted culturesA diaspora is any movement of a population sharing common ethnic identity. While refugees may or may not ultimately settle in a new geographic location, the term diaspora refers to a permanently displaced and relocated collective.Diasporic cultural development often assumes a different course from...
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 when a group is attempting to establish itself within an alien culture). Endogamy helps minorities survive over a long time in societies with other practices and beliefs.
Famous examples of strictly endogamous religious groups have been the
AssyriansAssyrians or Assyrian people may refer to:*Ancient Assyrians*The modern Assyrian people language: ABOUT 750 BC, assyrians spoke two languages throughout history, ancient Assyrian,and Modern Assyrian....
, Jews,
YazidiThe Yazidi are a Kurdish ethnicity with ancient Indo-European roots.They are primarily Kurdish speaking, and most live in the Mosul region of northern Iraq...
in Northern
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
(under Islamic majority),
TurkmensThe Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, northern Iraq and in northeastern Iran...
and Armenians in Iran, Old Order Amish,
Jehovah's WitnessesJehovah's Witnesses is a restorationist, millenarian Christian denomination. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism; they report convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual Memorial attendance of over 17 million...
, Mormons and the Parsi of
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
(a non-
HinduA Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, a set of religious, philosophical and cultural systems that originated in the Indian subcontinent. The vast body of Hindu scriptures, divided into Śruti and Smriti , lay the foundation of Hindu beliefs which primarily include dhárma, kárma, ahimsa and saṃsāra...
minority in India). Through the 1940-1950s in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
was successful at keeping its people marrying within the Catholic community. Since the 1960s, that has been changing as well. The
caste system in IndiaThe Indian caste system describes the social stratification and social restrictions in the Indian subcontinent, in which social classes are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups, often termed as jātis or castes...
is based on an order of (predominantly) endogamous groups. Its formation has been suggested to have originated from the social organization of these groups.
The isolationist practices of endogamy may lead to a group's extinction rather than its survival when genetic disease can affect a larger percentage of the population. For instance, while long serving to preserve their religion, the
SamaritanThe Samaritans are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Religiously, they are the adherents to Samaritanism, a parallel but separate religion to Judaism or any of its historical forms...
s' practice of endogamy now threatens this community: refusal to intermarry, in conjunction with their non-acceptance of converts, has led the population of this ethnic group to decrease to fewer than one thousand. Such a small gene pool has contributed to genetic disease within the community.
Endogamy also plays an important role in
social stratificationIn sociology and anthropology, social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of individuals into social classes, castes, and divisions within a society...
of different social factors, such as occupations, activities, or education. This type of social endogamy is apparent in the United States because occupations have become a chief form of social networking for many adults after college. For instance, actors and actresses generally
marryMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
or
bondHuman bonding refers to the development of a close, interpersonal relationship between family members or friends. Bonding is a mutual, interactive process, and is not the same as simple liking. The term is from the 12th century, Middle English word band or band, which refers to something that...
with people in a similar industry.
Class endogamy affects
social mobilitySocial mobility is the degree to which an individual's family or group's social status can change throughout the course of their life through a system of social hierarchy or stratification. Subsequently, it is also the degree to which an individual's or group's descendants move up and down the...
: children of top executives have an easier time following a similar path as their parents due to similarities between the two, but also the power that executives have in modern corporations allowing them to influence hiring and promotion decisions.
EliteElite is taken originally from the Latin, eligere, "to elect". In sociology as in general usage, the elite is a relatively small dominant group within a large society, having a privileged status perceived as being envied by others of a lower line of order.The elite at the top of the social strata...
families generally contribute to endogamy within big business, producing social links that are carried forward and keep certain groups restrictive. There have been such rapid changes in business and technology, however, that new fields open up where people of achievement can create new hierarchies. Professions also establish endogamy: A child growing with doctor parents, for instance, learns to be at home in that world and is likely to choose a similar education and career; a son or daughter of a famous actor or musician has a much greater chance of becoming a successful performer compared to the son or daughter of an average worker.
Fraternities and sororitiesFraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In English, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in North America, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
at many
universitiesA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
in the United States are a good example of endogamy: Members generally date within these organizations, fostered by special events held exclusively between these organizations.
Endogamy causes groups to be less diversified because of the desire to stay within one's
social groupA group can be defined as two or more humans that interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity...
. For example, the percentage of
interracial marriageInterracial marriage occurs when two people of differing racial groups marry, often creating multiracial children. This is a form of exogamy and can be seen in the broader context of miscegenation .-Legality of interracial marriage:In the Western world certain...
s in the United States is small compared to all marriages. With increased ethnic diversity and changing social attitudes among many people, younger people are entering into such marriages more often.
See also
- Exogamy
Exogamy has two related definitions, both biological and cultural.- 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...
- Consanguinity
Consanguinity refers to the property of being from the same lineage as another person. In that respect, consanguinity is the quality of being descended from the same ancestor as another person...
- Homogamy
-In Sociology:Homogamy refers to marriage between individuals who are, in some culturally important way, similar to each other. Homogamy may be based on socio-economic status, class, gender, ethnicity, or religion...
- Inbreeding
Inbreeding is breeding between close relatives, whether plant or animal. If practiced repeatedly, it can lead to exposure of recessive, deleterious traits. This generally leads to a decreased fitness of a population, which is called inbreeding depression. Deleterious alleles causing inbreeding...
- Cousin couple
A cousin couple is a pair of cousins who are involved in a romantic or sexual relationship. In some jurisdictions and cultures, such marriages are legal, accepted, or even actively encouraged, while in others cousin-cousin relationships are regarded as incest and marriages are prohibited...
- Arranged marriage
Arranged marriage is a marriage arranged by someone other than the couple getting wedded, curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world, including Europe. Today, arranged marriage is still practiced in South...
- Hypergamy
Hypergamy is the act or practice of seeking a spouse of equal or higher socio-economic status, or caste status than oneself....