CULTURAL VARIATIONS IN RELATIONSHIPS SUMMARY

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CULTURAL VARIATIONS IN RELATIONSHIPS(SUMMARY)

• INDIVIDUALISTIC VS COLLECTIVIST 
• MONOGAMY VS POLYGAMY  
• PERMANENT VS IMPERMANENT

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SUB-CULTURAL VARIATIONS

• GENDER DIFFERENCES
•  
• SOCIAL CLASS DIFFERENCES
•  
• HISTORICAL DIFFERENCES

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UNDERSTUDIED RELATIONSHIPS

• GAY AND LESBIAN
• ELECTRONIC FRIENDSHIP
• CHATROOMS AND CYBERAFFAIRS
• THE EFFECT OF SMS MESSAGING

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CULTURAL VARIATIONS IN RELATIONSHIPS

• Most studies on relationships have been done on
  white US and British heterosexual couples. 
• Historical changes
• Mosher, in the late 1800s asked her female
  patients about their sexual lives.
• Middle of century
• Sex is for reproduction. Unpleasurable
• Latter part of century
  
  Sex is linked to passionate love.

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Western and non-western cultures

• Goodwin (95) argued that the key difference
  between most Western societies and most Eastern
  societies is that the former tend to be
  individualistic where the latter tend to be
  collectivist.
• It is expected that in Western societies that
  individuals take responsibility for their own
  lives.
• In Eastern societies, in contrast, it is expected
  that individuals will regard themselves mainly as
  part of family and social groups, and that their
  decisions will be influenced strongly by
  obligations to other people.

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INDIVIDUALISTIC AND COLLECTIVIST

• Individualistic people make decisions on their
  own and take responsibility for their own lives.
• Basis for marriage choice heart 

• Collectivist People see themselves as part of a
  social group and decisions are influenced by
  obligations to others.
• Basis for marriage choice social status

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INDIVIDUALISTIC COLLECTIVIST

• Romantic love is the basis of marriage
• In individualistic societies people have more
  friendships but are less close

• Strengthening family ties is the basis for
  marriage
• In collectivist societies people have fewer but
  closer friendships

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Western or Eastern?
India Pakistan
USA
China
England
Japan
Australia
Germany
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Question

• Do you think love is important to you in a
  marriage?

• Do you think there will be any change in other
  societies?

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Romance marriages
A P F C

• Levine et al. (95)
• To compare the importance of love in marriage in
  different societies.
• Collected evidence on love and marriage from both
  Eastern and Western societies.
• Their key finding was that there was a
  correlation of 0.56 between a societys
  individualism and perceived necessity of love in
  a marriage.
• They concluded that there is a strong tendency
  for members of an individualistic society to
  regard love as more important for marriage than
  did members of collectivist societies.

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Friendships

• There is one other important difference between
  individualistic and collectivist societies, which
  applies to friendships.
• As Goodwin pointed out people in collectivist
  societies tend to have fewer but closer
  friendships than people in individualistic
  societies.

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Question.

• Which female body shape is more attractive to
  you, pink or red?

• Do you think there will be any change in other
  societies?

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Cross-cultural differences in preference in
female body

• Anderson et al. (92)
• To see if there is a difference in preference of
  body size between cultures with a plentiful food
  supply and those with a scarce food supply.
• Compared the preferred female body size in 54
  different cultures and then divided these
  cultures into differences of food supply.

A P F C
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Findings
In view of the obsessive focus on slimness in
women in Western cultures, it comes as a surprise
to discover that heavy women are preferred to
slim women in the greater majority of cultures
studied by Anderson et al. Presumably it occurs
because heavy women in cultures with unreliable
food supplies are better equipped with resources
for child bearing.
C
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Question

• Males would you prefer an older or younger wife?
• Females would you prefer an older or younger
  husband?

• Do you think there will be any change in other
  societies?

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Relative Age sociobiological approach

• In spite of various cultural differences in
  standards of physical attractiveness, there are
  also some important similarities. Buss (89)
  studies 37 cultures around the world, and found
  that men in all of these cultures preferred women
  who were younger than themselves, and women liked
  older men (except for Spain).
• He also found that personal qualities of kindness
  and intelligence were regarded as important in
  virtually all cultures he studied.
• There are various reasons for men to prefer
  younger women. Can you think of any???
• The main reason is that younger women are more
  capable of producing and looking after offspring.

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Monogamy and polygyny
One male, one female
One male, many females

• In Western societies it is the norm for one male
  to have one female but in many Eastern societies
  it is acceptable for one male to have many wives.
  
• Arguments that favour polygyny are
  sociobiological.
• Males that impregnate many females improves his
  chances of passing on his genes.
• For females a man that can attract a harem must
  have power so it is likely that the offspring
  will inherit this.

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Quiz

• Are Western cultures individualistic or
  collectivist?
• What did Levine et el. Find in their study into
  romantic marriages?
• What did Yelsma (98) find?
• Why do men prefer younger wives?
• Give one argument for polygyny.

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VOLUNTARY AND ARRANGED RELATIONSHIPS

• SHAVER, WU AND SCHWARTZ report that the Chinese
  associate romantic love with sorrow and pain.
• They believe that the Western idea of basing
  marriage on romance is unrealistic. 
• YELSMA AND ATHAPPILY 80 compared Indian
  marriages in India and North America.
• No major differences

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HUNTER-GATHERERS

• WESTEN 96 studied 42 hunter-gatherer tribes 
• 26 tribes - evidence of romantic love
• 6 tribes - individuals had complete freedom to
  choose
• 36 tribes marriages were arranged by the
  parents

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EVALUATIONS

•  1. In individualistic societies, parents may
  still try to influence their children 
• 2. In collectivist societies, parents still want
  their children to be happy.

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PERMANENT AND IMPERMANENT RELATIONSHIPS

• GOODWIN 99 looked at divorce rates. 
• CHINA 4 Divorce is considered shameful 
• USA - 45 Divorce is accepted

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SIMMEL

• proposed that high divorce rates in
  individualistic societies is due to the idea of
  an ideal partner. 
• In individualistic societies, the family is
  nuclear (mum, dad and small number of children)
  so the adults rely heavily on just one other
  person. 
• In collectivist societies, the family is extended
• (includes grandparents, uncles and aunts) 
• Collectivist subcultures e.g. English Asians, New
  York Jews, have greater marital stability

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Western and Non-Western Cultures
3 Goodwin argued the key difference between
Western and Eastern societies is
Western
Eastern
Collectivistic
Individualistic
Individuals will regard themselves part of family
and social groups
Individuals are independent
Decisions will be influenced strongly by
obligations to other people
Take responsibility for their own lives
HSU (1981)
Chinese asks What will other people say?
American asks How does my heart feel?
Those in individualist western societies tend to
stress the personality of a spouse
Those in collectivist eastern societies favour
arranged marriages based on social status.
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Therefore cross cultural research has the
potential to be highly informative about human
behaviour, but also has many important weaknesses