SOC214H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Simpletech, Original Affluent Society, Premarital Sex
Document Summary
Cross- cultural patterns, and a description of foraging societies. Historical materialism --> family is a product of social history, not biology. -> prof: wrong, too simplistic, but a popular approach. Social explanations for behaviour are much clearer --> custom, institution: cross-cultural evidence on family patterns, our common-sense assumptions about gender and family. It would seem that nuclear families are natural --> gender roles: the evidence on the range of human socitieties f. edholm"s summary. Edholm: don"t see any fact showing nuclear families are natural. Many cultures didnt know/believe sex led to pregnancy: the mother-child-relaitonsihp- not always close. Not true: women know how to take care about babies naturally Fatherhood= socially defined: marriage - different forms. Monogomy is less than common: household - diverse compositions. Nuclear household are usually embedded in a larger family: incest- variable. Marrying counsins keep the land/money within the family. There"s nothing univseral about family patterns, they"re different in different cultures.
