Residential variation among hunter-gatherers

Behavior Science Research • Vol/Iss. 10 • Published In • Pages: 199-227 •
By Ember, Carol R.

Abstract

This study explores predictors of variation in two dimensions of marital residence patterns among hunter-gatherers: 1) the tendency toward patrilocality versus matrilocality and 2) the tendency toward unilocality versus bilocality.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
Ethnographic Reports
Ethnographic Atlas (EA)

Hypotheses (7)

HypothesisSupported
"In the present hunter gatherer sample . . . when men's [subsistence] contribution is high . . . residence tends toward patrilocality; and when men's contribution is relatively low, residence tends toward matrilocality" (202)Supported
The more a society depends upon fishing, the more it should tend toward patrilocality. And the more a society depends upon gathering, the more it should tend toward matrilocality (202)Supported
Societies that have internal warfare or purely external warfare with men contributing a great deal to subsistence should tend toward patrilocality; those with purely external war and high female contribution to subsistence should tend toward matrilocalitySupported
". . . in noncommercial societies, where married couples are usually obliged to live and work with kin, depopulation so reduces the feasibility of adhering to a single unilocal rule that couples are forced to live with whichever spouse's close relatives are still alive (213)Supported
". . . the more unpredictable the resources, the more residence should tend toward bilocality" (215)Supported
". . . among hunter-gatherers, those with smaller bands or communities would tend toward bilocality, while those with larger bands or communities should be able to maintain unilocality" (218)Supported
". . . the more a hunter-gatherer society depends upon hunting, the more they should tend toward patrilocality . . ." (202)Not Supported
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: mas  Megan Farrer