CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS The Elementary Structures of Kinship Les Structures elementaires de la parente) JAMES HARLE BELL OHN RICHARD vo STURMER RODNEY NEEDHAM 3 BEACON PRESS BOSTON
CHAPTER XXIX The Principles of Kinship Thus, it is always a system of exchange that we find at the origin of rules of marriage, even of those of which the apparent singularity would seem to allow only a special and arbitrary interpretation. In the course of this work we have seen the notion of exchange become complicated and diversified it has constantly appeared to us in different forms. Sometimes exchang appears as direct( the case of marriage with the bilateral cousin), sometimes as indirect(and in this case it can comply with two formulas, one continuous the other discontinuous, corresponding to two different rules of mariage with the unilateral cousin). Sometimes it functions within a total system (this is the theoretically common characteristic of bilateral marriage and of-s matrilateral marriage), and at others it instigates the formation of an un limited number of special systems and short cycles, unconnected among themselves(and in this form it represents a permanent threat to moiety systems, and as an inevitable weakness attacks patrilateral systems ) Some times exchange appears as a cash or short-term transaction(with the exchange of sisters and daughters, and avuncular marriage), and at other times more as a long-term transaction(as in the case where the prohibited degrees include first, and occasionally second, cousins ). Sometimes the exchange is explicit and at other times it is implicit(as seen in the example of so-called riage by purchase). Sometimes the exo closed (whe must satisfy a special rule of alliance between marriage classes or a special rule for the observance of preferential degrees), while sometimes it is open (when the rule of exogamy is merely a collection of negative stipulations, hich beyond the prohibited degrees, leaves a free choice). Sometimes it is secured by a sort of mortgage on reserved categories(classes or degrees); sometimes(as in the case of the simple prohibition of incest, as found in our society) it rests on a wider fiduciary guarantee, viz the theoretical free- dom to claim any woman of the group, in return for the renunciation of certain designated women in the family circle, a freedom ensured by the xtension of a prohibition, similar to that affecting each man in particular to all men in general. But no matter what form it takes, whether direct or 478
The Principles of Kinship indirect, general or special, immediate or deferred, explicit or implicit, closed or open, concrete or symbolic, it is exchange, always exchange, that emerges as the fundamental and common basis of all modalities of the institution of marriage. If these modalities can be subsumed under the general term of exogamy (for, as we have seen in Part I, endogamy is not opposed to exogamy, but presupposes it), this is conditional upon the apperception behind the superficially negative expression of the rule of exogamy, of the final principle which, through the prohibition of marriage within prohibited degrees, tends to ensure the total and continuous circulation of the group's most important assets, its wives and its daughters. The functional value of exogamy, defined in its widest sense, has been specified and brought out in the preceding chapters. This value is in the first place negative. Exogamy provides the only means of maintaining the group aa as a group, of avoiding the indefinite fission and segmentation which the practice of consanguineous marriages would bring about. If these consan guineous marriages were resorted to persistently, or even over-frequently, E they would not take long to fragment the social group into a multitude of families, forming so many closed systems or sealed monads which no pre-established harmony could prevent from proliferating or from coming into confict. The rule of exogamy, applied in its simplest forms, is not entirely sufficient to the task of warding off this mortal danger to the group B. Such is the case with dual organization. with it there is no doubt that the risk seeing a biological far mily become est stablished as a closed system is definitely eliminated; the biological group can no longer stand apart, and the bond of alliance with another family ensures the dominance of the social i. over the biological, and of the cultural over the natural. But there immediately war appears another risk, that of seeing two familie rather two lir 23. isolate themselves from the social continuum to form a bi-polar system, an indefinitely self-sufficient pair, closely united by a succession of intermarriages The rule of exogamy, which determines the modalities for forming such pairs, gives them a definite social and cultural character, but this social character is no sooner given than it is disintegrated. This is the danger which is avoided by the more complex forms of exogamy, such as the principle of generalized exchange, or the subdivision of moieties into sections and subsections in which more and more numerous local groups constitute indefinitely more complex systems. It is thus the same with women as with the currency the name of which they often bear, and which, according to the admirable native saying, ' depicts the action of the needle for sewing roots which, weaving in and out, leads backwards and forwards the same liana, holding the straw together,. Even when there are no such procedures, dual s: organization is not itself ineffective. We have seen how the intervention of preferred degrees of kinship within the moiety, e.g., the predilection for the real cross-cousin, and even for a certain type of real cross-cousin, as among 1 Leenhardt, 1930, pp. 48, 54
4 The elementary Structures of Kinshi, the Kariera, provides the means of palliating the risks of an over-automatic functioning of the classes. As opposed to endogamy and its tendency to set a limit to the group, and then to discriminate within the group, exogamy represents a continuous pull towards a greater cohesion, a more efficacious solidarity, and a more supple articulation This is because the value of exchange is not simply that of the goods exchanged. Exchange -and consequently the rule of exogamy which ex presses it-has in itself a social value. It provides the means of bindir men together, and of superimposing upon the natural links of kinship the henceforth ificial links-artificial in the sense that they are removed from chance encounters or the promiscuity of family life-of alliance governed by rule. In this connexion, marriage serves as model for that artificial and temporary 'conjugality'between young people of the same sex in some schools and on which Balzac makes the profound remark that it is never superimposed upon blood ties but replaces them It is strange, but never in my time did i know brothers who were"Activists". If man lives only by his feelings, he thinks perhaps that he will make his life the poorer if he merges an aftection of his own choosing in a natural tie. 1 On this level, certain theories of exogamy which were criticized at the beginning of this work find a new value and significance If, as we have suggested, exogamy and the prohibition of incest have a permanent functional value, co-extensive with all social groups, surely all the widely differing interpretations which have been given for them must contain an atom of truth? Thus the theories of McLennan, Spencer and Lubbock have, at least, a symbolical meaning. It will be recalled that McLennan believed that exogamy had its origin in tribes practising female infanticide, and which were consequently obliged to seek wives for their sons from outside. Similarly Spencer suggested that exogamy began among warrior tribes who carried off.- women from neighbouring groups. Lubbock proposed a primitive opposition between two forms of marriage viz an endogamous marriage in which" the women were regarded as the communal property of the men of the group, and an exogamous marriage, which reckoned captured women as the private property of their captor, thus giving rise to modern individual marriage. The concrete detail may be disputed, but the fundamental idea is sound. iZ,, that exogamy has a value less negative than positive, that it asserts the social existence of other people, and that it prohibits endogamous marriage only in order to introduce, and to prescribe, marriage with a group other than the biological family, certainly not because a biological danger is attached to consanguineous marriage, but because exogamous marriage results in a social benefit Consequently, exogamy should be recognized as an important element doubtless by far the most important element-in that solemn collection of The conjugal regard that united us as boys, and which we used to express by calling Balzac. ve X,1937,pp.366,382
The Principles of Kinship 48I manifestations which, continually or periodically, ensures the integration of partial units within the total group, and demands the collaboration of outside groups. Such are the banquets, feasts and cerei monies of various kinds which form the web of social life. But exogamy is not merely one manifestation among many others. The feasts and ceremonies are periodic st part have limited functions. The law of exogamy, by contrast, is omnipresent, acting permanently and continually; moreover, it pplies to valuables-viz,, women-valuables par excellence from both the biological and the social points of view, without which life is impossible, or at best, is reduced to the worst forms of abjection. It is no exaggeration then, to say that exogamy is the archetype of all other manifestations based upon reciprocity, and that it provides the fundamental and immutable rule ensuring the existence of the group as a group. For example, among the Maori, Best tells us Female children of rank, as also male children of that status, were given in marriage to persons of important, powerful tribes, possibly of a quite unrelated people, as a means of procuring assistance from such tribes in time of war. In this connexion we can see the application of the following saying of older times: He taura taonga e motu, he taura tangata e kore e mod”(“ A gift connexion may be severed, but not so a human link”) Two peoples may meet in friendship and exchange gifts and yet quarrel and fight in later times, but intermarriage connects them in a permanent manner. And, further on, he quotes another proverb: 'He hono tangata e kore e motu, kapa he taura waka, e motu, 'a human joining is inseverable, but not o a canoe-painter, which can be severed. 2 The philosophy contained in these remarks is the more significant because the Maori were by no means insensible to the advantages of marriage within the group If both families quarrelled and insulted each other, they said this would not be serious, but merely a family affair and war would be avoided. 3 II The prohibition of incest is less a rule prohibiting marriage with the mother, sister or daughter, than a rule obliging the mother, sister or daughter to be given to others. It is the supreme rule of the gift, and it is clearly this aspect, too often unrecognized, which allows its nature to be understood. All the errors in interpreting the prohibition of incest arise from a tendency to see marriage as a discontinuous process which derives its own limits and possi- bilities from within itself in each individual case Thus it is that the reasons why marriage with the mother, daughter or sister can be prevented are sought in a quality intrinsic to these women Best,1929,p.34. 2 ibid, p. 36 3 ibid. 1924, vol. I, p. 447