Lewis Henry Morgan’s Classification of Family
Lewis Henry Morgan, an American anthropologist and 19th century Classical
Evolutionist, studied the Iroquois Red Indian communities. His famous works include
Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity (1871) and Ancient Society (1877). He is
considered as the father of kinship studies in anthropology.
Morgan envisioned the human society to have passed through three ethnical periods
– Savagery, Barbarism and Civilization. Each of these periods is characterized by a
distinct culture and exhibits a mode of life peculiar to itself. The earliest human
societies were characterized by promiscuous sexual relationships and the role of the
father was unimportant. According to him, the earliest form of grouping was based
on mother-sib (mother and children).
Morgan believes that the human societies were formed along with all the principal
institutions during savagery, developed in barbarism, and matured in civilization. It is
in the same manner that the system of family has evolved through successive forms
and created systems of consanguinity and affinity which are practiced even to the
present times.
The following are the stages through which family has evolved.
1. The Consanguine Family: It was founded upon intermarriage of brothers
and sisters, own and collateral (cousins), in a group. This was the
characteristic feature of savagery.
2. The Punaluan Family: The name is derived from the traditional Hawaiian
relationship of Punalua where the brother-sister incest was prohibited, but
where a group of brothers were married to a group of sisters, own and
collateral. This type of family was founded upon the intermarriage several
sisters, own and collateral, with each other’s husbands, in a group. The joint
husbands need not being necessarily kinsmen of each other. This family was
also founded on the intermarriage of several brothers, own and collateral, with
each other’s wives, in a group; these wives not being necessarily kin to each
other, although often the case in both instances. In each case, the group of
men mere conjointly married to the group of women. This family was also the
characteristic feature of savagery.
3. The Syndasmian or Pairing Family: It was founded upon the marriage
between single pairs, but without giving the right of exclusive cohabitation to
any and freedom of the parties to have relationships outside marriage. The
term is derived from Greek term Syndyazo, which means to pair or to
combine. The marriage continued during the pleasure of the parties. This
family is a characteristic feature of barbarism. The Syndasmian family,
according to Morgan, is the germ that created Monogamian family.
4. The Patriarchal Family: This family was founded upon the marriage of one
man with several wives, with seclusion of the wives from each other. It is
characterized by male authority and polygyny.
5. The Monogamian Family: This family was founded upon marriage between
single pairs with exclusive cohabitation rights. This is a nuclear family which is
preeminently the characteristic feature of civilized societies and essentially
modern.
VAJIRAM & RAVI Page 1
While Morgan attributed the origin of family to an original state of bonding of mother-
sib, Westermarck believed that family emerged due to male possessiveness and
jealousy. In his work The History of Human Marriage (1922) he asserted that with
the growing concept of property, males created the institution of family to protect and
safeguard their property.
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