Sister exchange
type of marriage agreement where two sets of siblings marry each other
Sister exchange is a type of marriage agreement where two sets of siblings marry each other. In order to get married, a man needs to persuade his sister to marry the bride's brother. It is practised as a primary method of organising marriages in 3% of the world's societies: in Australia, Melanesia, Amazonia and Sub-Saharan Africa; and can replace other methods in 1.4% of the societies.
Researchers disagree about the reasoning behind sister exchange but most believe that it is some type of reciprocity. Several anthropologists and sociologists expressed objections to the term "sister exchange" believing that it is not accurately describing the actual arrangement.
Despite earlier claims of its simplicity, sister exchange is a complex arrangement that involves many family members and not simply the four people who are getting married.
Social functions
Sociologists and anthropologists who are interested in reciprocity study sister exchange. It establishes a symmetrical link between men and binds them together—which can be used to settle pre-existing conflicts. Mark Busse stressed that, since women are not alienable possessions, the exchange was not the end of the transaction but merely the beginning, in accordance with the rules of generosity and honour described by Marcel Mauss.
Many anthropologists pondered the social benefits of sister exchange and reasons why this exchange takes place without any evident "scarcity" of women—contrary to the theory of exchange laid out by Adam Smith.
The public source identifies “Sister exchange” as type of marriage agreement where two sets of siblings marry each other. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sister, exchange and type.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q98769083. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sister exchange” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.