Development of Monogamy

As time passed there were limits placed on the form of group marriage that predominated. Marriages between cousine, between parents and children, between brothers and sisters were gradually prohibited as they produced a poorer stock. A form of pairing family slowly evolved. At the same time techniques of production developed. There was the introduction of cattle breeding, the use and adaption of metals, weaving and field cultivation. The tribe passed from the stage of complete subsistence production, gradually making more then was needed to just survive. There was the beginning of division in order to specialise some people or groups concentrating on one area, some on another. Most significantly the concept of private property developed; no longer did the tribe own everything communually As some men became more powerful and influential because they were more skilful in hunting or farming or were better warriors they began to make private claims. With improved production techniques and more property some men became comparatively richer—and other did not. There were now substantial divisions between men based on their relation to the means of production.

Where were the women while all this went on? The very important role that women played in providing a stable food supply while men went out hunting in search of game was overtaken by more advanced methods of production which the men controlled. Their loss of equality in the economic field was soon matched socially. Because of the type of group marriage that prevailed those men who had property could not pass it down to their own children. Instead it was passed on to members of his group—his brothers and sisters and to his sisters children and descendants. To stop the tracing of lineage through the mother monogamy was developed. In a monogamous relationship a woman could only have intercourse with her husband and therefore the children she bore would assuredly be his. In this way the central role women had in society was completely changed. This singled the emergence of the family as we know it.