Inbreeding, Incest, and the Incest Taboo: The State of Knowledge at the Turn of the Century

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Arthur P. Wolf William H. Durham

Inbreeding, Incest, and the Incest Taboo

The State of Knowledge at the Turn of the Century

Arthur P. Wolf, William H. Durham

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Hardback

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English

Stanford University Press
01 November 2004

Society & Social Sciences; Sociology: family & relationships; Social & cultural anthropology

Is inbreeding harmful? Are human beings and other primates naturally inclined to mate with their closest relatives? Why is incest widely prohibited? Why does the scope of the prohibition vary from society to society? Why does incest occur despite the prohibition? What are the consequences? After one hundred years of intense argument, a broad consensus has emerged on the first two questions, but the debate over the others continues. That there is a biological basis for the avoidance of inbreeding seems incontrovertible, but just how injurious inbreeding really is for successive generations remains an open question. Nor has there been any conclusion to the debate over Freud's view that the incest taboo is necessary because humans are sexually attracted to their closest relatives - a claim countered by Westermarck's argument for the sexually inhibiting effects of early childhood association. This book brings together contributions from the fields of genetics, behavioral biology, primatology, biological and social anthropology, philosophy, and psychiatry who reexamine these questions.

Edited by: Arthur P. Wolf, William H. Durham
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 155mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 458g
ISBN: 9780804745963
ISBN 10: 080474596X
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 01 November 2004
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Arthur P. Wolf is David and Lucile Packard Foundation Professor of Human Biology at Stanford University. William H. Durham is Bing Professor of Human Biology at Stanford University.