Illegitimacy and Social Structures
Hendrix, Lewellyn
Sanctions for illegitimacy vary enormously across cultures and are linked to social structure. Some societies handle non-marital births in a relaxed way, others use restitutive sanctions, and others repressive sanctions. This study of 122 non-industrial societies shows that the regulation of illegitimacy is more varied than any particular theory suggests and aims to test a variety of possible factors in the social regulation of illegitimacy.