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Social organization, incest, and fertility in a Kosraen village
Author(s) -
RITTER PHILIP L.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1980.7.4.02a00100
Subject(s) - fertility , kinship , modernization theory , social organization , population , context (archaeology) , taboo , population growth , sociology , historical demography , demography , geography , demographic economics , socioeconomics , economic growth , social science , economics , anthropology , developed country , archaeology
General fertility data from the village of Yewan, Kosrae Island, could be used to argue that a decrease in fertility among younger women is a functional adaptation to population growth and/or modernization. However, an examination of Yewan social organization in light of past historical and demographic events shows that the fertility reduction can be better understood as resulting from (1) the bilateral extension of the incest taboo during a past period of depopulation and [2] the rapid growth of the current population from a few individuals. This case illustrates the complex interrelationships between population and social organization and demonstrates the need to interpret aggregate demographic data in the context of the history and social system of the people involved. [population, kinship and social organization, incest, Oceania]