Editing Incest taboo (section)

====Exogamy====
The anthropologist [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]] developed a general argument for the universality of the incest taboo in human societies. His argument begins with the claim that the incest taboo is in effect a prohibition against [[endogamy]], and the effect is to encourage [[exogamy]]. Through exogamy, otherwise unrelated households or lineages will form relationships through marriage, thus strengthening social solidarity. That is, Lévi-Strauss views marriage as an exchange of women between two social groups. This theory is based in part on [[Marcel Mauss]]'s theory of ''[[The Gift (Mauss book)|The Gift]]'', which (in Lévi-Strauss' words) argued:

{{quote|that exchange in primitive societies consists not so much in economic transactions as in reciprocal gifts, that these reciprocal gifts have a far more important function than in our own, and that this primitive form of exchange is not merely nor essentially of an economic nature but is what he aptly calls "a total social fact", that is, an event which has a significance that is at once social and religious, magic and economic, utilitarian and sentimental, jural and moral.<ref>Claude Lévi-Strauss, 1969 ''The Elementary Structures of Kinship'' revised edition, translated from the French by James Harle Bell and John Richard von Sturmer. Boston: Beacon Press. 52</ref>}}

It is also based on Lévi-Strauss's analysis of data on different kinship systems and marriage practices documented by anthropologists and historians. Lévi-Strauss called attention specifically to data collected by [[Margaret Mead]] during her research among the [[Arapesh]]. When she asked if a man ever sleeps with his sister, Arapesh replied: "No we don't sleep with our sisters; we give our sisters to other men, and other men give us their sisters." Mead pressed the question repeatedly, asking what would happen if a brother and sister did have sex with one another. Lévi-Strauss quotes the Arapesh response:

{{quote|What? You would like to marry your sister? What is the matter with you anyway? Don't you want a brother-in-law? Don't you realize that if you marry another man's sister and another man marries your sister, you will have at least two brothers-in-law, while if you marry your own sister, you will have none? With whom will you hunt, with whom will you garden, whom will you visit?<ref>Claude Lévi-Strauss, 1969  ''The Elementary Structures of Kinship'' revised edition, translated from the French by James Harle Bell and John Richard von Sturmer. Boston: Beacon Press. 485</ref>}}

By applying Mauss's theory to data such as Mead's, Lévi-Strauss proposed what he called [[alliance theory]]. He argued that, in "primitive" societies—societies not based on agriculture, class hierarchies, or centralized government—marriage is not fundamentally a relationship between a man and a woman, but a transaction involving a woman that forges a relationship—an alliance—between two men.<ref>Claude Lévi-Strauss, 1969 ''The Elementary Structures of Kinship'' revised edition, translated from the French by James Harle Bell and John Richard von Sturmer. Boston: Beacon Press. 492-496</ref> 

Some anthropologists argue that nuclear family incest avoidance can be explained in terms of the ecological, demographic, and economic benefits of exogamy.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Leavitt | first1 = Gregory | year = 1989 | title = Disappearance of the Incest Taboo | journal = American Anthropologist | volume = 91 | pages = 116–131 | doi=10.1525/aa.1989.91.1.02a00070}}</ref>

While Lévi-Strauss generally discounted the relevance of alliance theory in Africa, a particularly strong concern for incest is a fundamental issue among the age systems of East Africa. Here, the avoidance between men of an age-set and their daughters is altogether more intense than in any other sexual avoidance. Paraphrasing Lévi-Strauss's argument, without this avoidance, the rivalries for power between age-sets, coupled with the close bonds of sharing between age-mates, could lead to a sharing of daughters as spouses. Young men entering the age system would then find a dire shortage of marriageable girls, and extended families would be in danger of dying out. Thus, by parading this avoidance of their daughters, senior men make these girls available for younger age-sets and their marriages form alliances that mitigate the rivalries for power.<ref>Spencer, Paul. 1988. ''The Maasai of Matapato: a Study of Rituals of Rebellion'', Manchester University Press, Manchester.</ref>