Work · Sociology & Social Theory
The History of Human Marriage
Comparative history that grew out of his doctoral work: against theories of an original promiscuity it argues that lasting pair bonds go back to the earliest humans, and explains the avoidance of incest by an aversion arising between people who grow up together.
Introduction
Westermarck published “The History of Human Marriage” in London in 1891, with a preface by Alfred Russel Wallace; an expanded fifth edition in three volumes appeared in 1921. Drawing on ethnographic reports from all over the world and on Darwin’s theory, the book disputes the then widespread view that human society began with promiscuity or group marriage and argues that marriage-like pair bonds go back to the earliest humans. It explains the avoidance of incest by an aversion that develops between people raised together. The book made Westermarck famous; its incest hypothesis, criticised by Freud and Lévi-Strauss, was later supported by empirical studies and is now called the “Westermarck effect”.
Connections
Builds on
- On the Origin of Species1859 · Charles Darwin
More works by Edvard Westermarck
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