Most marriages in traditional cultures used to be “kin marriages”. People were expected, or obliged, to marry a partner chosen from a specific range of people, defined by means of kinship relations. For example, where strong clan groups existed, individuals were usually not allowed to marry anyone who was a member of the same clan, however distant might be the kin connection. This practice is called exogamy. Endogamy is the reverse, where individuals are obliged to marry others within a kin group. In both instances, kin membership is the organizing factor for the formation of marriage relationships. This is generally becoming less and less the case.