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CHAPTER XVIII

THE FAMILY

The Functions of the Family. The family is an institution of primary importance in the life and development of society. When the continuity of society, or the relationship of one generation to another, is considered, the family is the primary unit or cell; but when psychological relationships are studied the individual must be regarded as the true social unit.

Although the activities of the family have varied considerably at different periods of time and in different stages of social development, two functions remain inherent in its nature. First, the family should furnish the medium for the normal and continuous development of each sex in so far as that depends upon the life in common; and second, it should provide proper care and training for a sufficient number of offspring to satisfy the needs of the social group. If it fails to perform at least one of these functions the family is not fulfiling the purpose for which it was established. Other services rendered by the family, whether economic, or religious, or educational, are either temporary or are subsidiary to these fundamental duties.

The Forms of Marital Relations. The forms of family organization have varied widely with environmental conditions and stages of culture, adapting themselves roughly to needs of social groups. Although these forms are to some extent products of local conditions, a general development may be detected over long periods of time showing progressive adaptation of the family organization for the performance of its primary functions. Notwithstanding its genuine progress, the family cannot yet be regarded as a perfected or unchanging institution. It must continue to adapt itself to new social conditions; and minor alterations which may appear in its structure should not be viewed with alarm so long as they conform to social needs. A comprehension of the causes for and limitations of present and future changes in family relations may be attained best by a review of marriage relations as they have existed in the past and an analysis of the conditions which have caused modifications.

Marriage may be defined as the more or less enduring relationship of the sexes recognized by social custom or prescribed by law. In some societies the form of the family is merely a customary relationship and in other societies it is regulated by law. In the latter case, however, extra-legal relations are so common that they must be taken into consideration in order to understand the actual status of family life.

In classifying marriage relations the spirit of the union, as well as its external form, should be taken into consideration; and sometimes, where more than one form exists in the same society, the most commonly existing relationship is not the one most generally approved. For example, in a society where polygyny is considered the most desirable form of the family relation, it may yet be impossible, owing to external conditions, for the majority to obtain more than one wife; yet under these circumstances to classify such a society as monogamous would be superficial. Marriage is not the only institution where classification based upon the condition of the majority can be misleading. Our property system is officially one of private ownership, notwithstanding the fact that the majority of the population is propertyless.

The original relationship between the sexes in the human species is not known with certainty; but the form prevalent among many of the most primitive types of societies now existing, although varying greatly in detail with environmental conditions, may be described as indefinite sex relations. This does not mean absolute promiscuity. Regulations do exist and may be rigidly enforced, but these still permit considerable latitude in sex relations. Such primitive relationships are well illustrated in the tribes of Central Australia. Here each tribe is divided into two exogamous intermarrying groups, and in some tribes these are subdivided, giving four classes. A man of one class, or totem, can marry into only one of these totemic groups. All the women in this group are to him “Nupa,” or possible wives. He lives with one, or perhaps two of them, as his actual wife or wives. In addition to his Nupa he has a lesser right to certain other women known as his “ Piraungaru ”; and his Nupa may also be Piraungaru to other men. Furthermore he may lend his wives to men who are not Piraungaru to them provided they belong to the right group. Other primitive peoples have less complicated relationships, but usually the sex relations are sufficiently lax to be classed as indefinite. Progress has consisted in gradually enforcing greater restrictions on sex relations.

1 See Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia; and Manilowski, The Family among the Australian Aborigines.

The second stage of family development may be called the proprietary stage. Here the sex relations are restricted to the family group; but that group varies greatly in size and the marriage bond partakes more of the character of property right than it does of free contract between equals.

At least three forms of marital relation occur in the proprietary stage of development, - polyandry, group marriage, and polygyny. Polyandry, or the union of several men with one woman, has two distinct forms, the Nair and the Thibetan. In the Nair form the wife lives with her parents and the husbands are received there. The husbands are not necessarily related, and the unions are often temporary, so that descent is naturally in the female line. In the Thibetan form the husbands are brothers, and the wife goes to live with them, descent being in the male line.

Group marriage means the union of several men with several women. Sometimes the men are brothers and the women sisters; but among the Todas, who furnish the best known example of this kind of marriage, the women need not be sisters. Westermarck believes that this form is an outgrowth of polyandry.

Polygyny is the union of one man with several women. The wives may hold positions of approximate equality in the family group or, as is more frequently the case, one wife may hold a superior position as favorite. This differentiation represents a step in the direction of monogamy, for the favorite wife may come to be recognized as the only legal wife.

The third form of the family, monogamy, or the union of one man with one woman, is by far the most common. Westermarck in his “History of Human Marriage” refers altogether to about eight hundred societies in various stages of development; and among these he cites 184 cases of polygyny and 53 cases of polyandry, the rest being supposedly monogamic. Futhermore, even in polygynous societies a large number of the families are actually monogamic.

An analysis of the monogamic family in different stages of social development shows that the spirit of the union has varied so much that two forms are distinguishable; enforced and voluntary. Enforced monogamy includes those cases in which the male is unable to obtain more than one wife, either because of a scarcity of women or because of poverty of the environment which makes a larger family group inadvisable. Voluntary monogamy is attained when the union of one man and one woman is recognized by a society as the superior form of the family and is so accepted by both parties to the union. Strictly speaking, voluntary monogamy only should be included in the third stage of family development. Enforced monogamy is ordinarily proprietary in spirit and should be included under the second stage. Passing from the proprietary stage to the stage of equality is a gradual process; and, inasmuch as the spirit of the marriage relation does not always coincide with the external form, a classification which includes two independent standards cannot be exact. The following classification will, however, be sufficiently accurate for the present purpose.

I. Indefinite Marital Relations

II. The Proprietary Family

a. Polyandry
b. Group Marriage
c. Polygyny
d. Enforced Monogamy

III. Voluntary Monogamy

Form of the Family Determined by Two Factors. In this classification the family is regarded as something more than a mere numerical relationship of the sexes. The family is a union of personalities, and therefore its character necessarily varies with the natures of the individuals forming the union. Any explanation of the form of the family at any particular period, to be complete, must cover at least two factors, individual development and economic influences; although other influences, such as the character of the state, or forms of belief, have had at times a strong effect upon it. Of the two chief factors, individual development seems to have played the more influential rôle in determining the evolution of the family as far as its major forms are concerned; but economic conditions have been potent in causing minor variations in the marital relations. These two factors are not in the last analysis entirely distinct, for the character of the individual is strongly modified by economic conditions. Nevertheless as the individual is affected by other influences also the growth of the personality may well be treated as an independent factor.

Influence of the Factor of Individual Development. The indefinite form of sex relations is characterized by little differentiation of the individual from the rest of the group. A kind of equality exists, simply because no one has gained distinction and the group remains undifferentiated. Little wealth of any kind has been accumulated; but such as there is is usually owned in common. Individuals, like property, are not completely appropriated; and the sex relations are not fully restricted. Among no existing people, however, is the personality entirely undeveloped nor is the idea of individual rights wholly lacking; so no cases are to be found in which the sex relations are wholly unrestricted. Westermarck believes that this has always been the case; and, arguing largely from conditions among the highest primates, he maintains that the earliest form of human marriage was temporary monogamy. Although this conclusion may be correct, too much stress should not be laid on the relationships among the lower animals, for animals act according to instinct, while man must have passed through a period when he was controlled neither by instinct nor by experience and the restraint of his passions was accomplished slowly.

The change from indefinite sex relations to the proprietary family is marked by the beginnings of individual development

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