Collective beliefs and white lies/The ordinary and the extraordinary
From WikEd
[edit] Collective beliefs and white lies
In this section, Bourdieu continues to examine the marriage form that is considered ideal in the North African Berber/Arab culture: marriage between patrilateral parallel cousins (i.e., sons marry the daughters of their paternal uncles). According to Bourdieu, this culture sees the daughter of one's father's brother as the most "masculine" of all women, and thus the one most likely to maximize the benefits to the family. In a tribal culture that reckons descent (and inheritance) through the male line, this form appears to conserve family resources -- each brother will receive a share of the grandfather's property and family status, so if their children marry each other the family's assets remain undivided. Indeed, those who have studied this culture state that a boy has a "right" to the daughter of his father's brother.
Although this type of marriage is considered ideal, Bourdieu states that it isn't always the case, unless there are other factors that encourage it. If the father of the woman involved has not produced a male heir, or if the family has not been able to find another spouse for the woman (or is concerned that they may not be able to find one), there may be more social pressure toward marrying her to one of her male cousins.
Bourdieu argues that these marriages aren't necessarily the result of the direct application of a rule or law; in general they're the result of implicit cultural norms, rather than explicit rules.
He then points out that marriages that are identical in terms of genealogy may be very different when one examines the circumstances under which they occurred (e.g., whether the marriage was arranged by the grandfather (perhaps over the objections of the fathers) whether the marriage was forced by a dominant brother, whether a low-status brother showed his loyalty to the family by marrying his son to an undesirable (for whatever reason) daughter of another family member, and so on.
[edit] The ordinary and the extraordinary
In this section, Bourdieu talks about extraordinary marriages -- those arranged with "outsiders". These marriages are almost always presented as political, designed to foster alliances with other families or tribes. Marrying a stranger involves a great deal of expense in this society, while marriage within the family does not (there's less need to exchange expensive gifts if it's all in the family). There is thus a tension between the desire to marry within the group (conserving resources, but giving up the possibility of forming an alliance with another group) and marrying outside the group (expending resources, but perhaps gaining a powerful ally).
[edit] Questions
Although the marriage customs in Western society are quite different (because we don't have a tribal organization), do we see any similarities? I'm thinking of social class, in particular. We tend to marry people from a similar social class, but that doesn't always occur. What are the differences between our "extraordinary marriages" and those of the Bourdieu's subjects?
