What significantly affects the family type is the number of spouses, no matter how they have been acquired. When a person has more than one spouse at the same time, it is an instance of Polygamy as against Monogamy. Polygamy is basically of two types: Polygyny (plural wives, single husband) and Polyandry (plural husbands, single wife). There are references to a third type of polygamy, called group marriage (plurality of both husbands and wives in a single union). In a monogamous union there is a single triangle of relationship between husband, wife and children. But in a polygamous union, the number of triangles depends on the number of spouses a person has, each triangle representing our analytical category of a nuclear family. In situations where there are plural husbands and wives, there is a complicated criss-cross of triangular relations. This is shown below in Figures 9.3–9.6.
Figure 9.3 Monogamous Nuclear Family
Figure 9.4 Polygynous Family: One Husband Three Wives
Figure 9.5 Polyandrous Family: One Wife Three Husbands
Figure 9.6 Group Marriage: Three Husbands Two Wives (numbers can vary)
Figure 9.7 Children from a Group Marriage
In such a union, there will be six sets of children, as shown under:
From the above analysis, we can identify family types based on the kinship composition of the unit. The various types are listed in the following discussion.
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