Primitive Marriage

Book Details:

• ISBN: 9788130714738
• Author: J. F. McLennan
• Pages: 418 pp
• Year of Publishing: 2008
• Binding: Hardback
• Publisher: Cosmo Publications

Description:
In Primitive Marriage, J. F. McLennan examines the marriage practices and kinship systems of primitive societies, offering a groundbreaking theory on early marriage customs. He introduced the terms "endogamy" and "exogamy" to explain how tribes organized their marital systems. McLennan defines endogamy as the practice of marrying within one's tribe and exogamy as the prohibition of marrying within the tribe, often leading to the capture of wives from other tribes. This theory is rooted in his belief that hostility between tribes drove the practice of wife capture, a notion supported by cultural symbols of capture present in tribal societies.

McLennan argues that in primitive societies, women born into a tribe were not valued as marriageable within their own group, resulting in female infanticide and ultimately leading to polyandry as men sought wives outside their communities. He classifies marriage practices into five categories, from pure endogamy to pure exogamy, and uses these classifications to illustrate the evolution of marriage systems in early societies.

This seminal work provides an essential insight into the social and cultural structures of primitive societies, laying the foundation for the study of kinship and marriage in anthropology.