Author Description

A survey of twelve family systems in twelve cultural and historical settings throughout the world. Different societies in different ages have worked out different ways of handling problems of marriage, child rearing, sex regulation, kinship responsiblities, etc. In this engrosing thoroughly readable book, the cultural heritage of the American family system is traced back through seven different systems, showing a sequence of historical influences. Five other systems those of the Toda, the Hopi, the Baganda, the pre-revolutionary Chinese, and that of the kibbutz-offer a contrast with the American family and portray the wide range of variation in forms of family life. 314 pages