Family life, so far as it is merely on the basis of instinct, takes its
place with other agencies favored by natural selection which make for
more rational and social existence. Various instincts are more or less
at work. The sex instinct brings the man and the woman together. The
instinct of jealousy, and the property or possessing instinct, may
foster exclusive and permanent relations. The parental instinct and
affection bind the parents together and thus contribute to the formation
of the social group described in the preceding chapter. Considering now
the more immediate relations of husband and wife, parents and children,
rather than the more general group relations, we call attention to some
of the most obvious aspects, leaving fuller treatment for Part III. The
idealizing influences of the sex instinct, when this is subject to the
general influences found in group life, is familiar. Lyric song is a
higher form of its manifestation, but even a mute lover may be
stimulated to fine thoughts or brave deeds. Courtship further implies an
adaptation, an effort to please, which is a strong socializing force. If
"all the world loves a lover," it must be because the lover is on the
whole a likable rôle. But other forces come in. Sex love is intense, but
so far as it is purely instinctive it may be transitory. Family life
needed more permanence than sex attraction could provide, and before the
powerful sanctions of religion, society, and morals were sufficient to
secure permanence, it is probable that the property interest of the
husband was largely effective in building up a family life, requiring
fidelity to the married relation on the part of the wife.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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