(from late greek πολυγαμία, polygamia, “state of marriage to many spouses”)
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(“polygamy” involves marriage with more than 1 spouse)
(when a man is married to more than one wife at a time, it is called ‘polygyny’)
(when a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called ‘polyandry’)
(if a marriage includes multiple husbands and wives, it can be called a ‘group marriage’)
(in contrast, ‘monogamy’ is marriage consisting of only two parties)
(like “monogamy”, the term “polygamy” is often used in a de facto sense, applied regardless of whether the relationship is recognized by the state)
(in ‘sociobiology’ and ‘zoology’, researchers use polygamy in a broad sense to mean any form of ‘multiple mating’)
(‘polygamy’ is widely accepted among different societies worldwide)
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(according to the ‘ethnographic atlas’, of 1,231 societies noted…)
588 had frequent ‘polygyny’
453 had occasional ‘polygyny’
186 were ‘monogamous’
4 had ‘polyandry’
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