BRIDEWEALTH AND ITS CORRELATES - QUANTIFYING CHANGES OVER TIME

Comparative, quantitative and statistical methods are increasingly esc hewed by sociocultural anthropologists. In an attempt to demonstrate h ow such research tools can shed light on social behaviour, the changin g covariates of marriage payments are examined in relation to the soci oeconomic, ecological, and political factors affecting family life ove r a 40-year period in rural Kenya. Assuming that negotiated bridewealt h outcomes reflect some compromise of the costs and benefits of the an ticipated marriage to each party, correlates of bridewealth variabilit y will reveal the critical qualities that parents seek in the spouses of their progeny and how these change over time. On the basis of such changing covariates, Kipsigis bridewealth can be characterized as an i nstitution that (I) buttresses the formation of an incipient marriage elite and (2) articulates bargaining over the socioeconomic status and earning power of grooms and, increasingly, brides. The significance o f women's reproductive and labour value as a determinant of the size o f bridewealth payments has declined over the past decade. The merits a nd demerits of correlational analysis founded on the assumption of max imization are discussed in this context.