Kinship and Marriage: An Anthropological Perspective

Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology #50

by Robin Fox

Robin Fox's study of systems of kinship and alliance has become an established classic of the social science literature. It has been praised above all for its liveliness of style and clarity of exposition in an area that students and general readers have found difficult to master. It was the first attempt to produce an overview of this central subject and has maintained its unique position over the years. Fox's reconciliation of 'descent' and 'alliance' theories, and his 'deductive' approach to the logic of kinship systems based on four universal premises, give the book its distinctive flavour and make it not only the best available introductory text but a contribution to theory in its own right. It has been used throughout the world as an introduction for both academic and lay readers and has been translated into numerous languages.

Genres: Anthropology, Nonfiction, Sociology

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[William Dorrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short little set of lecture notes (presumably somewhat dated?) about kinship structures.

I was interested in how societies arrange family ties. These book took a deliciously normative approach. It began by asking "how might a society determine inheritance?" and used that to motivate many of the bewildering array of family patterns displayed by societies around the world. Exactly like my favourite textbooks: teaches you a structure to see things, rather than just showing you things.

The material is, admittedly, at times dry, but the writing is 1950s acerbic academic brilliance, a bit like Bertrand Russell, which made it much more palatable.

[Lily Bronski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really excellent primer on kinship from a formal and structural POV. I appreciate its deductive emphasis a lot. Some of the causal explanations were less convincing but not really the point of this book for me. I appreciated the rigor with which he approached debates, although he ignored his own critiques at a few points (like adopting the evolutionary approach he admitted might be causally inappropriate).

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad as far as "things I've been required to read for college courses" go. I appreciated the formatting of the book more as a lecture, providing a dialogue on kinship rather than the typical textbook format with every sentence buried in citations. Found the charts and graphs to be rather difficult to follow sometimes, though, even with the in-text explanations.

[Zifra Ra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un curioso ensayo antropológico sobre familias, parentescos y relaciones. Un clásico en su momento. Algunos de sus enfoques se han quedado quizás un poco anticuados, pero no deja de ser imprescindible para los estudiosos del tema. En mi humilde opinión de no-experto en el tema.

[Munna · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow

[Lília · Rating 2 out of 5]

gostei dos gráficos