Westermarck, Edward

Created: 2026-Mar-02

Bio: (1862–1939) Finnish sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher. Edward Westermarck studied at the University of Helsinki, and lectured at the same university, as well as at the Åbo Akademi University in Turku, and held a chair of sociology at the University of London. He did ethnographic fieldwork, mainly in Morocco, and always attempted to learn native languages and make firsthand observations.

His first and best-known book, which was based on his P. Hd. thesis, is The History of Human Marriage (1891). In it, Westermarck challenged two influential ideas about early human society: that matrilineal systems came before patrilineal ones, and that humanity began in a so-called “primitive horde.” Instead, he proposed that the basic and original social unit was the monogamous nuclear family, led by a protective male. He supported this argument by drawing comparisons with anthropoid monkeys and other animals—such as hippopotamuses, squirrels, and seals—suggesting that similar family structures appear elsewhere in the animal world.

According to Westermarck, this arrangement has a biological and practical foundation. Human children remain dependent for many years and require sustained protection and care. A stable, monogamous family structure, in his view, best met these needs. Forms such as polyandry and polygyny, he argued, developed later and under particular social or environmental circumstances rather than representing the earliest stage of human organization.

Westermarck also offered one of the earliest general explanations for the near-universal prohibition of incest. He proposed what later became known as the “familiarity breeds contempt” hypothesis: individuals who grow up in close domestic proximity during childhood develop a natural aversion to sexual attraction toward one another. Because those raised together are often close relatives, this instinctive avoidance becomes socially codified as the incest taboo.