Incest Avoidance and the Incest Taboos
eBook - ePub

Incest Avoidance and the Incest Taboos

Two Aspects of Human Nature

  1. 188 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Incest Avoidance and the Incest Taboos

Two Aspects of Human Nature

About this book

Why do most people never have sex with close relatives? And why do they disapprove of other people doing so? Incest Avoidance and Incest Taboos investigates our human inclination to avoid incest and the powerful taboo against incest found in all societies. Both subjects stir strong feelings and vigorous arguments within and beyond academic circles. With great clarity, Wolf lays out the modern assumptions about both, concluding that all previous approaches lack precision and balance on insecure evidence. Researchers he calls "constitutionalists" explain human incest avoidance by biologically-based natural aversion, but fail to explain incest taboos as cultural universals. By contrast, "conventionalists" ignore the evolutionary roots of avoidance and assume that incest avoidant behavior is guided solely by cultural taboos. Both theories are incomplete.

Wolf tests his own theory with three natural experiments: bint'amm (cousin) marriage in Morocco, the rarity of marriage within Israeli kibbutz peer groups, and "minor marriages" (in which baby girls were raised by their future mother-in-law to marry an adoptive "brother") in China and Taiwan. These cross-cultural comparisons complete his original and intellectually rich theory of incest, one that marries biology and culture by accounting for both avoidance and taboo.

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Yes, you can access Incest Avoidance and the Incest Taboos by Arthur P. Wolf in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Physical Anthropology. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
Stanford Briefs
Year
2014
Print ISBN
9781503601543
eBook ISBN
9780804791694
Edition
1
Topic
Social Sciences
Subtopic
Physical Anthropology
Index
Social Sciences

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Copyright
  3. Title Page
  4. Epigraph
  5. Contents
  6. 1. Two questions
  7. 2. The Trobriand Islands
  8. 3. Matters of meaning
  9. 4. Universality affirmed
  10. 5. The dangers of inbreeding
  11. 6. A tempting solution
  12. 7. Group harmony theory
  13. 8. Group alliance theory
  14. 9. The !Kung on cognition
  15. 10. Incest and intuition
  16. 11. From nature to culture
  17. 12. Marx is missing
  18. 13. The Westermarck hypothesis
  19. 14. Frazer and Freud
  20. 15. Three natural experiments
  21. 16. Darwin’s method
  22. 17. Seven predictions
  23. 18. The evidence from the Islamic World
  24. 19. The evidence from Israel
  25. 20. The evidence from Taiwan
  26. 21. Six objections
  27. 22. A seventh objection
  28. 23. Monkeys and apes
  29. 24. Sexual indifference
  30. 25. The second question
  31. 26. Murdock’s other conclusions
  32. 27. Starting over
  33. 28. The meaning of “taboo”
  34. 29. Unnatural acts
  35. 30. Native testimony
  36. 31. Incest and witchcraft
  37. 32. Incest and cannibalism
  38. 33. Incest pollution
  39. 34. Automatic retribution
  40. 35. Supernatural retribution
  41. 36. Communal retribution
  42. 37. State retribution
  43. 38. A collective calamity
  44. 39. Incest impossible
  45. 40. The power of awe
  46. 41. Incestuous origins
  47. 42. Taboos as consensus
  48. 43. Taboos as norms
  49. 44. An emotional animal
  50. 45. Degrees of incest
  51. 46. Beyond the family
  52. 47. The argument in review
  53. 48. A backward glance
  54. Statistical Appendix
  55. Notes