Elements of Folk Psychology: Outline of a Psychological History of the Development of MankindWundt, Wilhelm Max
Science
Elements of Folk Psychology: Outline of a Psychological History of the Development of Mankind
Wundt, Wilhelm Max
Ethnopsychology
times calls his chief wife 'favourite,' it is merely another indication
that this form of polygyny developed from monogamy, since, according
to the old custom, there was but _one_ chief wife. Here, however, the
chief wife is no longer necessarily the wife belonging to a man's own
tribe, as was the case among the ancient Israelites; the favour of the
master determines which wife shall be given the privileged place.
Thus, from whatever angle we view group-marriage, its polygyny and
its polyandry seem to rest on monogamy. This is true also of forms
of group-marriage other than those mentioned above. Where the theft
of women still continues to be a practice more serious than are the
somewhat playful survivals that occur in the marriage ceremonies of
cultural peoples, the one who wishes to steal a wife not infrequently
secures confederates for his undertaking. Custom then commonly gives
these companions a certain right to the stolen woman. This right, of
course, is for the most part temporary, but it may nevertheless come
to approximate the conditions of group-marriage in case the first man
assists his confederates in the same way in which they have aided him.
There is still another and a related motive that may lead to the same
result. When a woman enters into marriage with a man of a certain
tribe, she at once enters into very close relations with the tribe
itself. Where tribal association has gained a preponderant importance,
custom sometimes grants to all the male members of the tribe certain
transient rights with respect to the woman on the occasion of her
marriage. This occurs particularly when the man and woman belong to
different tribes--that is, in the case of exogamy, an institution
characteristic of the totemic age and to be considered later. For,
the lively consciousness of kinship differences naturally tends to
strengthen the right of appropriation belonging to the entire tribe.
A similar thought is reflected in the mediæval _jus primæ noctis_ of
certain provinces of France and Scotland, except that in place of the
right of the kinship group to the possession of the individual we here
find the authority of the lord over his vassals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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