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Resumo

Marriage transactions—bridewealth, dowry, indirect dowry, and so on—and the absence of transactions have been shown to have a patterned distribution worldwide. This article attempts to account for these patterns by looking at marriage transactions as mechanisms by which households provide for labor needs, distribute property, and maintain or enhance status. A major factor in determining type of marriage transaction is the presence and type of property controlled by the household. Bridewealth circulates property and women, while dowry and indirect dowry concentrate them. The former is found where property is limited, in tribal societies and among the landless poorer classes in traditional states, whereas the latter is found in property‐owning classes of landed or commercial pastoral peoples. This article pays particular attention to dowry and indirect dowry, using ethnographic and historical data to explain their functions.

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