Social structure

Macmillan • New York • Published In • Pages: ??•
By Murdock, George Peter

Abstract

This book is a comprehensive analysis of many aspects of social structure including family, clan, community, kinship terminology, social organization, regulation of sex, incest taboos, and sexual choice.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
Ethnographic Reports

Hypotheses (41)

HypothesisSupported
". . . some form of consideration ordinarily accompanies marriage when residence rules remove the bride from her home" (20)Supported
"Payment of a bride-price or other consideration is particularly common under patrilocal or matri-patrilocal residence when the bride is removed . . . from her home [and] from the local community in which she has grown up" (20)Supported
"Matrilineal descent is normally linked with matrilocal residence, patrilineal with patrilocal" (59)Supported
". . . the bands of migratory tribes are usually politically independent, whereas the villages and settlements of sedentary populations are more commonly organized into larger aggregates" (85)Supported
"Genuine social classes appear [in settled communities rather than bands] . . ." (88)Supported
"Age-differentiating terms used by a brother for his sisters . . . are associated with bilateral descent" (110)Supported
"When secondary or tertiary relatives of any kin-type are called by a kinship term used to denote a primary relative, the daughters of such secondary or tertiary relatives tend to be called by the same kinship term as the daughter of the primary relative" (139)Supported
"In the presence of sororal polygyny, terms for primary relatives tend to be extended, within the same sex and generation, to their collateral relatives through females" (141)Not Supported
"Sororal polygyny tends to be associated with kinship terminology of the bifurcate merging type for aunts and for nieces by marriage" (143)Not Supported
"In the presence of non-sororal polygyny, collateral relatives outside of the polygynous family tend to be terminologically differentiated from primary relatives of the same sex and generation" (144)Supported
"non-sororal polygyny tends to be associated with kinship terminology of the bifurcate collateral type" (146)Supported
"In the presence of patrilocal, matri-patrilocal, matrilocal, or avunculocal residence, separate terms tend to be applied to relatives of the same generation who are linked to ego through connecting relatives of different sex" (148)Supported
"In the presence of matrilocal or avunculocal residence, terms for primary relatives tend to be extended, within the same generation, to their collateral relatives through females" (149)Supported
"Matrilocal and avunculocal residence tend to be associated with kinship terminology of the bifurcate merging type" (149)Supported
"Patrilocal and matri-patrilocal residence tend to be associated with kinship terminology of the bifurcate merging type" (150)Supported
"Patrilocal and matri-patrilocal residence, because of their association with non-sororal polygyny, tend to be accompanied by kinship terminology of the bifurcate collateral type" (151)Supported
"Bilocal residence tends to be associated with kinship terminology of the generation type" (152)Supported
"Neolocal residence tends to be associated with kinship terminology of the lineal type" (152)Supported
"Clans, whether patrilocal, matrilocal, or avunculocal, tend to be associated with bifurcate merging kinship terminology" (154)Supported
"In the absence of clans and of polygamous and extended families, the isolated nuclear family tend to be associated with kinship terminology of the lineal type" (157)Supported
"Bilateral kindreds tend to be associated with kinship terminology of the generation type" (158)Supported
"In societies with endogamous demes, sibling terms tend to be extended to both cross and parallel cousins" (160)Supported
"In the presence of exogamous matrilineal or patrilineal lineages, sibs, phratries, or moieties, terms for lineal relatives tend to be extended, within the same sex and generation, to collateral kinsmen who would be affiliated with them under either unilineal rule of descent" (162)Supported
"In the presence of exogamous matrilineal or patrilineal lineages, sibs, phratries, or moieties, separate kinship terms tend to be applied to comparable relatives of the same generation who are linked to ego by connecting relatives of different sex" (163)Supported
"Exogamous matrilineal or patrilineal lineages, sibs, phratries, and/or moieties tend to be associated with kinship terminology of the bifurcate merging type" (164)Supported
"In the presence of exogamous matri-lineages, matri-sibs, or matri-moieties, unless exogamous patrilineal kin groups are also present, kinship terms for FaSi tend to extended to FaSiDa, and those for BrDa to MoBroDa" (166)Supported
"In the presence of exogamous patri-lineages, patri-sibs or patri-moieties, unless exogamous matrilineal kin groups are also present, kinship terms for MoSi tend to be extended to MoBrDa, and those for SiDa to FaSiDa" (167)Supported
"Exogamous moieties tend to be associated with kinship terminology of the bifurcate merging type" (169)Supported
"In the presence of exogamous moieties, kinship terms for WiBrWi tend to be the same as those for female parallel cousins" (170)Supported
"In the presence of bilinear kin groups, kinship terms tend to be extended to all relatives who belong to the same section or subsection" (170)Supported
"When the normal mode of marriage is by the exchange of sisters, the same kinship terms tend to be applied to MoBrWi and FaSi, to WiBrWi and Si, and to WiBrDa and SiDa" (172)Supported
"Under a rule of preferential marriage with a FaSiDa, the same kinship terms tend to be applied to FaSi and WiMo, to FaSiDa and Wi and/or WiSi and/or BrWi, and to SiDa and SoWi" (173)Supported
"Under a rule of preferential marriage with a MoBrDa, the same kinship terms tend to be applied to MoBrWi and WiMo, to MoBrDa and Wi and/or WiSi and/or BrWi, and to WiBrDa and SoWi" (173)Supported
"We should therefore expect a widespread tendency for sex relations to be extended to the spouse's sibling of the same sex, and for the same persons to be preferred in secondary marriages" (269-270)Supported
". . . a widow is likely to marry the son of her husband by another wife or the son of her husband's brother where descent is patrilineal, or the sister's son of her husband under matrilineal descent. . . . a man [is likely to choose] a close unilinear relative [of his first wife]" (271)Supported
"A relative eligible for marriage is likely to be a permissable sex object in advance of marriage, whereas a relative with whom marriage is forbidden tends to be ineligible also for premarital relations" (271-272)Supported
"[There is a] tendency of incest taboos to be associated with those relatives who are called mother, sister, or daughter" (288)Supported
". . . matrilineal extension [of incest taboos] is strongly associated with the presence of matrilineal kin groups, patrilineal extension with patrilineal kin groups, and extension in both directions with the presence of double descent" (307)Supported
". . . bilateral extension [of incest taboos] is associated with the presence of kindreds, and non-extension with the absence or unreported presence of all consanguineal kin groups . . ." (308)Supported
". . . marriage and extramarital relations with affinal relatives [in the same consanguineal group as Ego] are . . . prohibited" (310)Supported
". . . any relative called by a kinship term that is also applied to a kinsman who is genealogically closer to Ego, and with whom marriage or sex relations are forbidden, tends to be placed in a similar taboo category" (311)UNKNOWN
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: mas  Amelia Piazza