Social Impact of Bride Price, Essay Example

Bride price is a very important ritual among many cultures that provides compensation to the father of the bride in order for the groom to “purchase” the bride (Palomar.edu).  This compensation can come in the form of money, land, or other materials that hold significant value in the specific culture.  “Bride price [or bride wealth] is most common among polygynous, small-scale, patrilineal societies – especially in sub-Saharan Africa and among Native Americans” (Palomar.edu).  These cultures value this tradition because it impacts the culture in a number of different ways.

The social impact that bride price provides to a culture varies depending on the culture, the frequency of its practice, and the amount paid to the father of the bride.  Typically in South Africa, “the higher the education of the girl, the higher the socio-economic strata from which she can choose a potential husband, and consequently, the higher her bride- price” (WestAfricaReview.com).  In this case, the increase in bride price is caused by higher education, which increases the value of the bride.

In addition to higher education, bride price is a way of showing respect for the bride and her parents.  Many women in these cultures are responsible for providing economic support to the family, so bride price can also be considered “a compensation for the bride’s family for the loss of her economic services” (Palomar.edu).  This is very important in each culture so that the woman’s parents are not faced with the additional burden of having to over-compensate for the social and economic impact that their daughter’s marriage will cause.  Finally, bridge price is also a way of providing the groom with the right to future children, which is also important so that the man can have a family that will help him work in society (Palomar.edu).  Some people believe that this is a dying practice among educated societies and cultures, but it hold many deep roots in the cultural rituals of South Africa that are not likely to die out very soon.

References

Palomar.edu. “Bride price.” Social Organization: Glossary of Terms. Palomar College – Anthropology. Web. 4 Oct. 2009. <http://anthro.palomar.edu/status/glossary.htm#sectB>.

WestAfricaReview.com. “Marriage, Women, And Tradition In Guillaume Oyônô Mbia’s Three Suitors: One Husband.” West Africa Review. 2000. Web. 04 Oct. 2009. <http://www.westafricareview.com/vol2.1/mosadomi.html>.