Final answer:
Anthropologists consider arranged marriages a cultural practice designed to maintain social stability, ensure socioeconomic compatibility, and preserve familial interests. Such arrangements can vary widely, including monogamous and polygamous unions, and are influenced by societal norms and economic strategies. Modern means, like online marriage brokering, have become an adaptation of traditional arranged marriage systems.
Step-by-step explanation:
Anthropologists explain the practice of arranged marriage in various cultures as a product of cultural norms and social structures. Arranged marriages are often seen as a way to maintain social stability, ensure compatibility on important socio-economic factors, and preserve cultural or familial lineage. In Papua New Guinea, for instance, arranged marriages can involve negotiations between entire families, which indicate the importance of the extended family's interests over individual romantic desires. Moreover, arranged marriages are sometimes preferred for reducing stress and increasing stability as Jankowiak (2021) suggests.
In societies where production and labor are important, such as in small-scale farming cultures, the practice of one man having multiple wives can lead to a greater number of offspring who can contribute to work and subsistence. Other forms of marriage, such as ghost marriage among the Dinka and Nuer of South Sudan or Chinese immigrants to Singapore, serve to continue lineage and create alliances between families, even posthumously. The advent of online platforms and marriage brokers represents a modern adaptation of the arranged marriage system, facilitating connections among individuals who share similar cultural backgrounds but are geographically dispersed.
Endogamy and exogamy rules delineate appropriate marriage partners within a society and reflect the society's norms about the family structure. These rules function to organize society and ensure that marriage serves its purpose of creating stable socio-economic units, whether those are monogamous or polygamous households.