Social Structure

Description

Author: Murdock, George Peter  (1897-1985)

Publisher: Macmillan Company (New York)

Pub Date: 1949

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fair.  Binding tight.  Without dust jacket.  No marks, bends, folds.  Spine head has an approx. 1/2″ square tear.  Very light edge and corner wear.

Notes:  Murdock’s basis for social structure is the nuclear family and kinship systems, both functional necessities.  This volume was considered groundbreaking in its day (late forties, early fifties).  Murdock said the nuclear family and kinship groups occurred across all societies, generations, and eras.  The family had four primary functions–sexual, reproductive, economic, and educational (i.e. socialization).  Murdock was a big “numbers” guy, and he used data from 250 separate societies to help figure out the role of family and kinship.