Volume 1

The history of human marriage / by Edward Westermarck.

  • Edvard Westermarck
Date:
1922
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The history of human marriage / by Edward Westermarck. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the distinguished reviewer of the first edition of this work who expressed the belief that if its author had been a student of folk-lore he would in various cases have arrived at different conclusions. It drew my attention to a defect which I have since then endeavoured to remedy; but my conceptions of the earlier history of marriage have not been essentially changed thereby. In my discussion of monogamy and polygyny, and in many other sections of the book as well, I have considered the influence which economic conditions have exercised upon marriage, a point which was also greatly neglected in the earlier editions. Polyandry, which was dealt with on a few pages, now forms the subject-matter of two whole chapters; and the question of group-marriage, which of late has much occupied the minds of sociologists, has been discussed in a chapter by itself. The treatment of divorce is much more detailed, both as regards the history of the subject and the present legislation on it. The list of authorities quoted has increased from thirty pages to over a hundred; and the work as a whole has been expanded from one volume into three. In short, it is a new work much rather than a new edition. At the same time, amidst all the changes, the general character, as well as the structure, of the book has remained unchanged. The criticism passed on it has not essentially affected either its method or its fundamental ideas. This may perhaps be due to the fact that, although I opposed many theories in vogue at the time when the book was first written and the method which had led to them, my decision to write it did not spring from a desire for opposition. On the contrary, I commenced my work as a faithful adherent of the theory of primitive promiscuity and tried to discover fresh evidence for it in customs which I thought might be interpreted as survivals from a time when individual marriage
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