Freud and the family–socialization school

Freud and the family–socialization school

Titre de l'ensemble: Incest

This chapter discusses a theory proposed by the family-socialization school. Following Sigmund Freud, scholars of the school—Malinowski, Seligman, Murdock, and Parsons—explained the origin, persistence, and functions of the incest taboo in terms of its beneficial, even indispensable, functions in maintaining the social structure of the human family and in making the process of socialization possible. Freud's main focus was on religion. This was the period of deep interest in primitive religion. The clan that develops from the Adelphi community is based on clantotemic exogamy and is a much more extensive exogamic unit than the nuclear family. Freud's basic assumption is that the sexual attraction of males to females (libido) is omnipresent, ever active, and, if not properly checked, destructive. In other words, if incest is not prohibited, it will be the rule. By far the most influential statements about incest can be found in Malinowski's writings. Malinowski had a profound impact on British social anthropologists and other incest theoreticians.