Cultural correlates of the regulation of premarital sex behavior

Process and Pattern in Culture: Essays in Honor of Julian H. Steward • Aldine • Chicago • Published In • Pages: 399-410 •
By Murdock, George Peter

Abstract

This chapter examines the variables that favor restrictive premarital sex norms. Findings indicate that subsistence economy, technology, population size, political integration, belief in a high god, and residence are all correlated with premarital sex norms.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
OtherOther Researchers
Ethnographic Atlas (EA)

Hypotheses (6)

HypothesisSupported
"Complexity of techniques in subsistence economy . . . favors the development of restrictive norms of premarital sex behavior" (402)Supported
"Complex . . . technological activities, metal working with the application of fire . . . and weaving (with the use of loom or frame) [favors the development of restrictive premarital sex behavior]" (402)Supported
"Societies with local communities having large populations . . . are characterized by restrictive sexual norms. . . . Where local groups are small in size . . . norms of premarital sex behavior tend strongly to be permissive" (404)Supported
"Logically, we might expect to find restrictive norms of premarital sex behavior with political complexity and permissive norms with simple political systems" (405)Supported
"The evidence . . . clearly demonstrates an association between norms of premarital sex behavior and beliefs concerning a high god" (406-407)Supported
"[There is] modest support [for] the widely held assumption that patrilocal residence and the features commonly associated there with . . . Produce a situation conducive to an insistence on virginity in unmarried women" (407)Supported
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: mas  Megan Farrer