Incest: Origins of the Taboo / Edition 1

by Jonathan H. Turner, Alexandra Maryanski

Overview

Throughout history humans have been fascinated with incest. Stories, fables, literature, philosophers, church officials, and scientists have explored this mysterious topic. The taboo is critical to human survival, as incest threatens the species and patterns of human social organization. Drawing upon the rich legacy of theory, empirical data, and speculation about the origins of the incest taboo, this book develops a new explanation for, not only the emergence of the taboo in hominid and human evolutionary history, but also for the varying strength of the taboo for the incestuous dyads of the nuclear family, the different rates of incest of these dyads, and the dramatic differences the psychological pathology incest has on its younger victims. Synthesizing findings from biology, sociobiology, neurology, primatology, clinical psychology, anthropology, and sociology, the authors weave together a scenario of how natural selection initially generated mechanisms of sexual avoidance; and then, as the nuclear family emerged in hominid and human evolution, how sociocultural selection led to the development of the incest taboo.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594511165
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/15/2005
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jonathan H. Turner, Distiguished Professor of sociology at the University of California, Riverside, is the author of Face to Face: Toward a Sociological Theory of Interpersonal Behavior (Stanford University Press, 2002). Alexandra Maryanski, Associate Professor of sociology at the University of California, Riverside, is coauthor with Jonathan H. Turner of The Social Cage: Human Nature and the Evolution of Society (Stanford University Press, 1992).

Table of Contents

Foreword, Acknowledgments, 1. The Golden Age of Promiscuity, 2. Avoiding Incest, 3. Forbidden Acts, 4. A Distant Mirror, 5. The Horde, 6. Family and Taboo, 7. Unraveling the Mystery of the Incest Taboo, Bibliography, Index, About the Authors

Editorial Reviews

"A stimulating and provocative reexamination of one of the social sciences'
classic issues. By drawing attention to the differing forms of incest, Turner and Maryanski develop important new insights into the origins and subsequent evolution of the taboo from prehistoric times to the present."
Gerhard Lenski, author of Power and Privilege and The Religious Factor

"This is the most comprehensive, best, and most important work on incest avoidance and the incest taboo ever undertaken by a sociologist (or team of sociologists).The book should stand as an exemplar of sociology and sociological theorizing - or, more accurately, interdisciplinary social science - at its very best."
Stephen K. Sanderson, author of The Evolution of Human Sociality

From the Publisher