How can we explain the incest taboo
In all Ancient and modern societies, some form of incest prohibition exists. ... Thus, we can explain the incest taboo in many ways. The ‘incest taboo’ in our own society is evident from the existing laws in place prohibiting the marriage of ‘close relatives’, encompassing blood relatives such as your brother or sister as well as non blood relatives, such as your grandchild’s wife or husband#. ... Therefore, the marriage between a male and female in the same clan is considered as incest, even if the participating adults are very distantly, or not at all, related#. In Chinese societies laws are even stricter, with the marriage to someone who holds the same surname as you, however distantly related, punishable by “sixty blows” and the practice of incest with immediate and non-immediate family members being punishable by death#. ... ”# In this way, the incest taboo can be seen to be a prevention of endogamy, as the result is the encouragement of exogamy. ... # Therefore, according to this argument, the prohibition of incest is simply social common sense. Lévi-Strauss went further to claim that the “incest taboo enables the construction of the kinship system, which would otherwise not exist”#. ... Malinowski argued that if incest was common-place, it would result in “confusion and conflict over role definitions [that] would undermine social order. ... Malinowski also claimed that the incest taboo allowed for the “formation of non-competitive family bonds”#. ... It is argued that relations with non-family members also benefit from the incest taboo. ... If incest was to play a part, and any of the participants were to refuse to marry outside of their family units, these alliances would be threatened.# A more modern explanation for the taboo is the argument that sexual relationships between close kin can result in unhealthy offspring. ... Nevertheless, this does not explain why, for example in English law, some non-blood relatives are not permitted to marry. ... # In this way, the incest taboo cannot be completely explained in biological terms.