Incest avoidance, the incest taboo, and social cohesion: revisiting Westermarck and the case of the Israeli kibbutzim.
During the past 50 years, a consensus has been forming around Edward Westermarck's idea that incest avoidance results from an aversion that develops when individuals are brought up in propinquity. The argument here presented counters this emerging consensus. Reexamining the case of the Israeli kibbutzim, the authors show that individuals who grew up in the kibbutzim's communal education system were in fact often attracted to their peers, and only rarely did they develop sexual aversion toward these peers. This article offers an alternative explanation to the problem of incest avoidance and the incest taboo, one that brings sociological factors back into the picture.
Department of Sociology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-4356, USA. eshor@ic.sunysb.edu
Eran
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Shor
Dalit
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Simchai
D000328:Adult; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007179:Incest / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012931:Social Environment; D013609:Taboo