Editing Incest taboo (section)

===Sociological explanations===
[[Psychoanalytic theory]]—in particular, the claimed existence of an [[Oedipus complex]], which is not an instinctual aversion against incest but an instinctual desire—has influenced many theorists seeking to explain the incest taboo using sociological theories.<ref name=WolfDurham2005/>

====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>

====Endogamy====
Exogamy between households or descent groups is typically prescribed in [[Classless society|classless societies]]. Societies that are stratified—that is, divided into unequal classes—often prescribe different degrees of endogamy. Endogamy is the opposite of exogamy; it refers to the practice of marriage between members of the same social group. An example is [[Caste_system_in_India|India's caste system]], in which unequal castes are endogamous.<ref>Marvin Harris 1997 ''Culture, People and Nature: An Introduction to General Anthropology'' 7th edition Longman pp. 250, 311</ref> Inequality between [[ethnic group]]s and [[Race (classification of humans)|races]] also correlates with endogamy.<ref>Marvin Harris 1997 ''Culture, People and Nature: An Introduction to General Anthropology'' 7th edition Longman pp. 317–318</ref>

An extreme example of this principle, and an exception to the incest taboo, is found among members of the ruling class in certain ancient states, such as the Inca, Egypt, China, and Hawaii; brother–sister marriage (usually between half-siblings) was a means of maintaining wealth and political power within one family.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Bixler | first1 = Ray | year = 1982 | title = Comment on the Incidence and Purpose of Royal Sibling Incest | journal = American Ethnologist | volume = 9 | issue = 3| pages = 580–582 | doi=10.1525/ae.1982.9.3.02a00100}}</ref> Some scholars have argued that in Roman-governed Egypt this practice was also found among commoners,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Frier |first1=Bruce W. |last2=Bagnall |first2=Roger S. |author2-link=Roger S. Bagnall |title=The Demography of Roman Egypt |publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1994 |isbn=0-521-46123-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Shaw | first = B. D. | title = Explaining Incest: Brother-Sister Marriage in Graeco-Roman Egypt | journal = Man |series=New Series | volume = 27 | issue = 2 | year = 1992 | pages = 267–299 | jstor=2804054 | doi=10.2307/2804054}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Hopkins | first = Keith | author-link = Keith Hopkins | year = 1980 | title = Brother-Sister Marriage in Roman Egypt | url = http://humweb.ucsc.edu/jklynn/ancientwomen/HopkinsBrotherSisterMarriage.pdf | journal = Comparative Studies in Society and History | volume = 22 | pages = 303–354 | doi = 10.1017/S0010417500009385 | issue = 3 | s2cid = 143698328 | access-date = 2013-07-21 | archive-date = 2016-03-03 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180202/http://humweb.ucsc.edu/jklynn/ancientwomen/HopkinsBrotherSisterMarriage.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Scheidel | first = W | title = Brother-sister marriage in Roman Egypt | journal = Journal of Biosocial Science | year = 1997 | volume = 29 | issue = 3 | pages = 361–71 | doi = 10.1017/s0021932097003611 | pmid = 9881142 | s2cid = 23732024 | url = http://humweb.ucsc.edu/jklynn/AncientWomen/ScheidelBrotherSisterMarriages.pdf | access-date = 2013-03-08 | archive-date = 2013-11-02 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131102012940/http://humweb.ucsc.edu/jklynn/AncientWomen/ScheidelBrotherSisterMarriages.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref> but others have argued that this was in fact not the norm.<ref>Walter Scheidel. 2004. "Ancient Egyptian Sibling Marriage and the Westermarck Effect", in ''Inbreeding, Incest, and the Incest Taboo: the state of knowledge at the turn of the century'' Arthur Wolf and William Durham (eds) Stanford University Press. pp. 93-108</ref><ref>[[Sabine R. Huebner|Huebner, Sabine R.]] "‘Brother-Sister’ Marriage in Roman Egypt: a Curiosity of Humankind or a Widespread Family Strategy?." The Journal of Roman Studies 97 (2007): 21-49.</ref><ref>Huebner, Sabine R. The family in Roman Egypt: a comparative approach to intergenerational solidarity and conflict. Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp.190-195</ref>