There are some prescribed norms of Kinship and marriage rules which operates in many societies , to which a man has to adhere while acquiring a mate. Prescriptive rules positive rules of marriage one should follow while selecting mate. Any violation dealt firmly , sometimes expelled from the group membership. These are operates in the form of Endogamy and exogamy. In some societies like Hindu varna system these are operates in the form of hypergamy and hypogamy.
A. Exogamy: (Exo= outside, gamy= marriage) Exogamy refers to the rule that a man must marry someone outside his own group. The most important reason of these exogamous rules is to prevent marital alliances between the close blood relations. For example: clans in tribal communities and Gotra system in Hindu society.
If a man and a woman belong to the same Gotra, they cannot marry each other. Hoebel defined exogamy as, In kinship and marriage “the social rule that requires an individual to marry outside a culturally defined group of which he is a member.” Malinowski assumed that exogamy is the prohibition of marriage between members of one descent group (clan) which is explained in incest taboo. Such rule is reported among Gonds, Baiga, Ho, Oraon, etc.
B. Endogamy: (Endo= within, gamy= marriage) Endogamy refers to the rule that a man must marry someone within his own social group i.e., Caste ,Tribe. The endogamous rule is to maintain marital alliances between the close blood relations. For example: Caste, Religion, Tribe etc. Marriage cannot take place between two persons if, they do not belong to same caste, religion and tribe. Hoebel defined endogamy as, “the social rule that requires an individual to marry within a culturally defined group of which he is a member.” Mostly, this results in conservation of property, relations, retention of services and avoidance of external social bonds. The Urapim, a small tribe of Papua New Guinea practice strict endogamy
C. Hypergamy: Hypergamy is a system of marriage where a man gets his daughter married to a person of the same or higher social and economical status. This type of system is found in the stratified societies like Hindus, wherein it is practiced to retain the social status and prestige of the group. In Hindu society this is known as Anuloma.
D. Hypogamy: Hypogamy is just the opposite of Hypergamy. Here, a man gets his daughter married to a man of either same or lower social and economical status than his. In Hindu society this is known as Pratiloma. Kinship and marriage Pratiloma/ hypogamy refer to inter-caste marriages which are not approved socially.