Challenging common explanations of social life, this book tests a major anthropological theory against real-world cases.This book offers a careful, data-driven critique of how psychology has been used to explain social phenomena. It presents a close look at the debate around cross-cousin marriage and offers a test case that challenges a well-known theoretical approach. The discussion centers on how kinship, authority, and marriage rules shape social structure, using historic and cross-cultural evidence to question established claims.
- How to assess sociological and anthropological theories with concrete examples
- Detailed examination of cross-cousin marriage and related kinship patterns
- Analysis of authority, residence, and family influence in diverse societies
- Discussion of methodological issues, including the role of statistics in comparisons
Ideal for readers of structural anthropology and those exploring how theory meets field data in social life.