The dowry system is a kinship and economic institution in which a bride's family transfers money, property or goods to the groom or his family at marriage, historically practiced across South Asia, parts of Europe, the Mediterranean and elsewhere as a means of establishing a woman's inheritance share, cementing alliances between families, or compensating the groom's household. Dowry practices have varied widely in scale and social meaning, from token ceremonial gifts to substantial transfers that could determine a family's economic standing, and stand in institutional contrast to bridewealth systems in which payment flows from the groom's family to the bride's. In modern India, dowry demands have become associated with coercion and violence against women, prompting legal prohibition of the practice, even as related customs persist informally in many communities.
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Bride service and the dowry system are alternative marriage-payment institutions in anthropological kinship theory, moving compensation in opposite directions between the families of the bride and groom.
The dowry system in South Asia has historically been embedded within the structure of the Hindu joint family, with dowry negotiations and transfers shaping alliances and obligations between joint-family households.
Hypergamous marriage, in which a bride marries into a higher-status family, is historically associated with dowry inflation as families compete to secure higher-status grooms for their daughters.
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