TWO IMPORTANT TOPICS ADDRESSED
BY PSYCHOLOGICAL
ANTHROPOLOGISTS
• Incest avoidance and the incest taboo
• Enculturation and the sex drive
UNDERSTANDING INCEST
AVOIDANCE AND THE INCEST
TABOO:
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•
•
•
widespread avoidance
Oedipus complex
“primal parricide”
incest involves sexual relations or
marriage between certain relatives
• Incest Avoidance: refers to the rejection of
sexual relations and marriage between
certain relatives.
Incest avoidance is found universally,
incest taboos are not
• Marriage and sex between parent
and child or brother and sister are
prohibited almost in all societies
BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF
INCEST AVOIDANCE
• Old view
• genetic defects
• problems
MARITAL ALLIANCE AND THE
INCEST TABOO
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•
•
•
a shift from biology to culture
“Marry out or be killed out”
Problems with Tylor’s explanation
Malinowski:
CHILDHOOD FAMILIARITY
HYPOTHESIS
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•
•
•
•
•
Biological tendency
Arthur Wolf (1970)
“minor marriage”
Kibbutzim in Israel
Yonina Talmon (1964)
Second generation of Kibbutzim
INCEST AVOIDANCE:
INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVES
• variety of reasons
• exogamy helps create alliances
• Melvin Ember (1975)
• biological tendencies along with
sociocultural factors
FAMILIARITY HYPOTHESIS
• Paul Roscoe (1994)
• interactionist explanation of incest
avoidance.
• “kinship amity”
ENCULTURATION AND THE SEX
DRIVE
• Codes of Sexual Behaviour
•
•
•
•
-permissive or restrictive
(Lindholm 1980)
Inis Beag Islanders of Ireland
John Messenger (1971)
•
•
•
•
Homosexual Behaviour
-third genders
Unni Wikan (1991): Xaniths
Serena Nanda (1990): hijras
Discussion questions
• What are some of the methods of
enculturation used in your society? Give
an example of how your own personality
has been affected by enculturation.
• Describe a pattern of human behaviour
that you believe to be “normal” for your
society but might be considered
“abnormal” in another.
incest avoidance is found universally , incest taboos are not