The preceding chapters have touched on various aspects of plural family structure. It is time now to look at three interrelated aspects of fundamentalist religious and social ideology that apply to family functioning: the patriarchal status of husbands, the emphasis on family unity, and genderspecific roles of men and women. Following a brief discussion of these principles, we illustrate their application in three families. One stable and smoothly functioning older family operates according to a clearly formulated “theory” about plural family life. The second family is young and growing and has not yet developed a consistent approach to family structure and function; its members are continually experimenting and searching for ways to live this challenging lifestyle. We then present a composite case study of several nonviable families. This profile is based on the experiences of three wives who quit their marriages after years of struggling unsatisfactorily with plural family life.

Religious and cultural values regarding family structure

The father/husband as patriarch and family leader

The historical, theological, and cultural ideology of 19th-century Mormonism and contemporary fundamentalism emphasizes a patriarchal and polygynous family structure in the present life and in the afterlife. This doctrine is based on the belief that God is a patriarchal figure modeled after the God of the Old Testament; and that any man can achieve some level of “godliness” in the afterlife and literally become a “god” or “king” in his own “universe,” depending on how he lives his earthly life.