In many ways modern people probably live in social systems that are much closer to those of their hunter-gatherer ancestors than they are to the conditions of early history. No hunter-gatherer society supports more than occasional polygamy, and the institution of marriage is virtually universal. People live in larger bands than they used to, but within those bands the kernel of human life is the nuclear family: husband, wife, and children. Marriage is a child-rearing institution; wherever it occurs, the father takes at least some part in rearing the child even if only by providing food. In
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