Primeval Kinship: How Pair-Bonding Gave Birth to Human Society

by Chapais

At some point in the course of evolution―from a primeval social organization of early hominids―all human societies, past and present, would emerge. In this account of the dawn of human society, Bernard Chapais shows that our knowledge about kinship and society in nonhuman primates supports, and informs, ideas first put forward by the distinguished social anthropologist, Claude Lévi-Strauss.

Chapais contends that only a few evolutionary steps were required to bridge the gap between the kinship structures of our closest relatives―chimpanzees and bonobos―and the human kinship configuration. The pivotal event, the author proposes, was the evolution of sexual alliances. Pair-bonding transformed a social organization loosely based on kinship into one exhibiting the strong hold of kinship and affinity. The implication is that the gap between chimpanzee societies and pre-linguistic hominid societies is narrower than we might think.

Many books on kinship have been written by social anthropologists, but Primeval Kinship is the first book dedicated to the evolutionary origins of human kinship. And perhaps equally important, it is the first book to suggest that the study of kinship and social organization can provide a link between social and biological anthropology.

Genres: Anthropology, Science, Evolution, Nonfiction

368 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2008

Reviews

[Fred R · Rating 4 out of 5]

For what it is I think it's very well done, but it'a little too narrow and too theoretical for my taste. Chapais argues that, given certain social structures, the addition of pair-bonding (with the paternal recognition that goes along with it) allows for a vastly expanded social web. For patrilocal species (such as our close relative, the chimpanzee), to lack pair-bonding and paternal recognition means that basically the only elemental unit of social relation you can have is mother-child. Add in pair-bonding, and everything opens up. This then allows for social bonding across groups, which brings us to the basic prehistoric tribe, a social structure that Chapais argues can be developed even without language. Despite the paucity of evidence, the logic is fairly convincing.

[Cem Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

En son okuduğum antropoloji kitabı oldu. Aslında uzun süredir çözmeye çalıştığım bir konu hakkında okuduğum kitaplar serisinin bir parçası oldu. Bu kitapla ilgili oldukça uzun bir inceleme yazısı yazdım. Hala da yazmaya devam etmeye çalışıyorum. Araya başka bir proje girince ara vermek zorunda kaldım umarım tekrar bir motivasyon bulur ve yazmaya devam ederim.
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[Corri Parsley]

I'm not going to rate because this was for school.

[Melissa Kidd · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's that time of year again where I'm finally finishing my textbooks. This one was a kicker. The information is fantastic, new and far-reaching on the research scale. My problem? That I was forced to read it in the first place - I don't like to read when someone tells me I have to read. It was also full of anthropological jargon. My Anth. jargon is fairly good, but I had to really concentrate to get through this book. But again, material-wise, I'm positive this is a very very important book. I love evolution so when I did finally get down to the basic formula that Chapais was spelling out, it was a treat. Definitely only a book for those in the field.