Exogamy

exogamy (ĕksŏg`əmē): see marriage.

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exogamy [ek′säg·ə·mē]

(genetics)

Union of gametes from organisms that are not closely related. Also known as outbreeding.

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Exogamy 

the practice of marrying only outside one’s own group, as prescribed by law or custom in the age of the primitive communal system. The ban could apply to marriages within one’s family group (such as the clan or phratry) or, more rarely, to marriages within one’s regional group or community. The prohibition against such marriages was retained in later times.

There are numerous theories concerning the origin of exogamy; the theories basically fall into three groups. Some researchers, including L. H. Morgan, believe the practice arose from the need to avoid the possibly harmful consequences of marriages between blood relatives. Others, including E. Tylor, A. M. Zolota-rev, and C. Levi-Strauss, regard it as an attempt to expand social contacts and initiate relations with other groups. Still others, including S. P. Tolstov and Iu. I. Semenov, regard it as a means of establishing social peace within a group, since sexual relations and the conflicts that accompany them are thus carried beyond the confines of the group.

REFERENCES

Engels, F. Proiskhozhdenie sem’i, chastnoi sobstvennosti i gosudarstva. In K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed, vol. 21.
Semenov, Iu. I. Proiskhozhdenie braka i sem’i. Moscow, 1974.
Pervobytnoe obshchestvo: Osnovnye problemy razvitiia. Moscow, 1975.