ABSTRACT
For many contemporary practitioners, polygamy becomes a way of expressing allegiance to their version of their traditional culture, society or religion, which is perceived to be under threat from the encroaching globalized world. Defenders of polygamy are typically confronted by women’s rights activists who want to ban polygamy. Such opposing trends are found in numerous societies, in varying forms, as polygamy becomes part of the social and political discourse in contemporary societies. Mormon polygamy is not primarily a matter of status or politics, as among many other contemporary practitioners, but rather a religious statement of allegiance to an idealized nineteenth-century Mormonism, where it was part of church doctrine and practice. Traditionally, becoming a polygynous wife of a wealthy and powerful man would secure a woman a higher standard of living, as well as assistance for her family, but the contemporary forms of urban polygyny bestow almost none of the benefits on women that polygyny had in rural areas.
