Goody's argument linking European marriage and family forms with the
growth of the Church is criticized as teleological It is argued instead that early Church pro
hibitions, rather than reflecting churchly institutional designs, served as instruments through
which powerful members of kin groups reduced the claims of their kinsmen upon property;
this facilitated their using that property to consolidate the effective fighting units.
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Davis, N.1985. Review of The Development of the Family and Marriage in Europe, by Jack Goody. American Ethnologist12:149-151.
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Kirchhoff, P.1955. "The Principles of Clanship in Human Society." DavidsonJournal of Anthropology1:1-10.
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Leach, E.1954. Political Systems of Highland Burma. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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Wolf, E.R.1982. Europe and the People Without History. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
