elementary structures

E678774

Elementary structures are fundamental kinship patterns that organize marriage rules and social relations in Claude Lévi-Strauss’s structural anthropology.

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Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf anthropological concept
kinship system type
structuralist concept
aimsToExplain organization of social relations through marriage rules
analyzedIn Les Structures élémentaires de la parenté NERFINISHED
appliesTo small-scale societies
societies with explicit marriage prescriptions
associatedWith dual organization
moiety systems
prescriptive cross-cousin marriage
section and subsection systems
characterizedBy direct regulation of marriage choice
obligatory spouse categories
positive marriage rules
prescriptive marriage rules
contrastedWith complex structures
coreIdea fundamental kinship patterns that organize marriage rules and social relations
critiquedBy descent theorists
critiquedFor limited applicability to modern complex societies
overemphasis on formal rules
definedBy Claude Lévi-Strauss NERFINISHED
field kinship studies
social anthropology
structural anthropology
focusesOn circulation of women as signs
marriage as exchange
relations between kin groups rather than biological descent
includesSubtype complex forms of generalized exchange
generalized exchange systems
restricted exchange systems
influenced French structuralism in the social sciences
later kinship theory
influencedBy linguistic structuralism
involves alliance formation between groups
exchange of women between kin groups
incest prohibitions
rules of endogamy
rules of exogamy
keyConcept circulating connubium
cross-cousin marriage
reciprocity in marriage exchange
symmetry and asymmetry in alliance
publicationYearOfKeyWork 1949
relatedConcept complex structures of kinship
exchange theory of kinship
incest taboo
marriage alliance
theoreticalBasis alliance theory of kinship
structuralism

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

The Elementary Structures of Kinship keyConcept elementary structures