Alliance theory is an anthropological theory of kinship holding that marriage functions as a structured exchange of spouses between descent groups, founded on the incest taboo, whose universal prohibition pushes human groups toward exogamy and thereby toward alliance with outside groups. It originates in Claude Levi-Strauss's Elementary Structures of Kinship (1949) and stands explicitly in opposition to the functionalist, descent-centered theory associated with A. R. Radcliffe-Brown. Levi-Strauss found that a wide range of historically unrelated cultures shared a rule that individuals should marry their cross-cousin, children of siblings of the opposite sex, and read this convergence as evidence for marriage exchange as a general structural mechanism rather than a series of unrelated local customs.
Facts
Core ClaimSourced to the subject's own accountMarriage systems are best explained as structured networks of exchange between descent groups, driven by the universal incest taboo's push toward exogamy, rather than as a byproduct of descent and inheritance rules considered on their own; the recurrence of cross-cousin marriage rules across unrelated cultures is treated as direct evidence for this exchange-based structure. 1 Origin YearSourced to the subject's own account Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Alliance theory treats the cross-cultural preference for cross-cousin marriage as its central evidence for marriage-as-exchange.
Both are exchange-logic accounts of social relations; the exchange-theory literature itself names Claude Levi-Strauss, already Alliance Theory's developer on this atlas, among its contributors, applying the same reciprocity logic to kinship exchange rather than everyday relationships generally.
Critiqued Here
Alliance theory was formulated explicitly in opposition to Radcliffe-Brown's functionalist, descent-centered account of kinship, represented on this atlas by Structural Functionalism.
Developed By
Sources
Open Questions (1 open question)
Does Claude Levi-Strauss's alliance theory, which explains kinship systems as structured networks of marriage exchange between descent groups, better account for practices like cross-cousin marriage than the rival descent-centered, functionalist theory associated with A. R. Radcliffe-Brown?
Alliance theory finds its origins in Claude Levi-Strauss's Elementary Structures of Kinship (1949) and is stated explicitly in opposition to the functionalist theory of Radcliffe-Brown. The two frameworks explain the same recurring pattern, the cross-cultural preference for cross-cousin marriage, through incompatible mechanisms: exchange between descent groups versus the internal logic of descent and inheritance rules, and anthropology has not settled which framework better explains kinship systems generally.
What would resolve this A cross-cultural test capable of distinguishing exchange-driven from descent-driven kinship organization would need comparative ethnographic data across many historically unrelated kinship systems that the two frameworks predict differently, and both sides have so far read the same ethnographic record as supporting their own account, which is why this remains an interpretive rather than a narrowly empirical dispute.
Social and Cultural AnthropologyWikipedia: Alliance Theory
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.