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== Cultural patterns of child-preference ==
Nowadays in the western world, parents commonly show favoritism towards daughters and later-born sons,<ref>Birth order, sex of child, and perceptions of parental favoritism Catherine A. Salmona, Todd K. Shackelfordb, Richard L. Michalski http://www.toddkshackelford.com/downloads/Salmon-Shackelford-Michalski-PAID-2012.pdf</ref><ref>Perceived parental favoritism, closeness to kin, and the rebel of the family The effects of birth order and sex Percy A. Rohdea,*, Klaus Atzwangerb,c, Marina Butovskayad, Ada Lamperte, Iver Mysterudf, Angeles Sanchez-Andresg, Frank J. Sulloway http://sulloway.org/Rohde2003.pdf</ref><ref>Correlates of Perceived Parental Favoritism http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00221325.1985.9923447</ref> As regards only parent-son relationships, mothers usually show favoritism towards the first and the last son; their greatest expectation for the first son is that he continues the family line, while their greatest expectation for the last son is that he cares for her during her old age. Fathers, on the other hand, show more favoritism towards a son the later he has been born in comparison to his brothers. However, these tendencies aren't reflected in current inheritance practices, which have lost much of their past importance and are now generally egalitarian, and familial practices in general do not reflect significant sex or birth order biases. Familial or social feelings against firstborn sons have been explained as a consequence of the idea that the eldest son, being the foremost representative of the following generation, is also the one who symbolically "kills" the older generation. Mary W. Helms writes in "Access to Origins: Affines, Ancestors, and Aristocrats": "parents … may view their firstborn with considerable ambivalence given that this child is incontrovertible evidence that their own personal and social prominence will one day be usurped by the next generation. In such settings, firstborns … may be forced to stand apart from parents and be treated with considerable coldness".<ref>Access to Origins: Affines, Ancestors, and Aristocrats Written by Mary W. Helms http://books.google.es/books?id=KWTqgrZQgwQC&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=%22The+hierarchical+basis+for+the+relations+among%22&source=bl&ots=HksqVR85o7&sig=8c8KgJBd6bcaU8jO2i97o7IEpOw&hl=es&sa=X&ei=-2ukUvfAA-nE0QW2poCQCQ&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22The%20hierarchical%20basis%20for%20the%20relations%20among%22&f=false</ref> (See also Robert A. Paul's work on the [[Sherpas]]<ref>The Sherpas of Nepal in the Tibetan cultural context by Robert A. Paul https://openlibrary.org/search?author_key=OL447372A&subject_facet=Civilization&title=The+Sherpas+of+Nepal</ref>. Customs of ultimogeniture have been explained as a consequence of the farmers' desire to postpone a few years their age of retirement due to feelings of being "early dethroned" if they chose their eldest sons as successors. This line of superstitious thinking has been linked to the preeminence of lastborn siblings in popular [[myth]] and [[folklore]] around the world. Thus in some cultures that practice male primogeniture there are ambiguous, contradictory feelings towards lastborns. (see for example Walter H. Sangree's investigations about the [[Tiriki]] tribe in Kenya).<ref>The 'Last Born' (Muxogosi) and Complementary Filiation in Tiriki, Kenya http://hdl.handle.net/1802/6872</ref> Yet in all societies that practice infanticide, it is the youngest of the infants of the same sex who is invariably killed<ref>Daly, M., & Wilson, M. (1984). A sociobiological analysis of human infanticide. In G. Hausfater, S. B. Hrdy (Eds.),Infanticide: Comparative and evolutionary perspectives (pp. 487-502). New York, NY: Aldine de Gruyter</ref><ref>Daly, M., & Wilson, M. (1988). Homicide</ref> (see for example the evidence of population control among peasant families in Tokugawa Japan, where families killed the children born of the sex that was overrepresented among previous births after the birth of the second child, such that a couple who had two children and both were male would kill the next child if he was also a boy, for example,<ref>Population History and the Family: A Journal of Interdisciplinary History Reader
edited by Robert I. Rotberg http://books.google.es/books?id=OiQM-GIe69kC&pg=PA173&lpg=PA173&dq=%22peasant+families%22+%22population+control%22+%22Japan%22&source=bl&ots=axUyUcc-NR&sig=T6RUhpKmZk16HD53IokvvHSQaqQ&hl=es&sa=X&ei=SP3DUe-uKo-I7AbvioGwDw&ved=0CFUQ6AEwBQ</ref><ref>Mabiki: Infanticide and Population Growth in Eastern Japan, 1660-1950 Written By Fabian Drixler http://books.google.es/books?id=B25xmcnCV6oC&pg=PA229&lpg=PA229&dq=%22Subcultures+of+infanticide+in+the+1930s%22&source=bl&ots=l0s-aQ9kF3&sig=_vy12VLxJaNSU6rY09afFJYhrJU&hl=es&sa=X&ei=tebcUs7yDKiP7AbYpIHYAQ&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Subcultures%20of%20infanticide%20in%20the%201930s%22&f=false</ref><ref>Nakahara. Family Planning and Population in a Japanese Village, 1717-1830. by Thomas C. Smith http://www.jstor.org/stable/2384204</ref> or among contemporary Karo [[Batak]], who do the same<ref name="faculty.washington.edu" />). The true objective of [[infanticide]] seems to be always population control, as shown for example by archaeological evidence regarding Child Sacrifice in Carthage, where youngest sons sons were customarily sacrificed to the Gods according to Lawrence E. Stager.<ref>Child Sacrifice at Carthage: Religious Rite or Population Control. Biblical Archaeology Review 10,1 (1984): 30-51 (with Lawrence E. Stager). http://www.academia.edu/2298111/Child_Sacrifice_at_Carthage_Religious_Rite_or_Population_Control._Biblical_Archaeology_Review_10_1_1984_30-51_with_Lawrence_E._Stager_</ref> He writes that this was done because even where primogeniture was the rule, family claims of one sort or another could easily dilute the family patrimony. However, according to Laiu Facchai, [[Phoenicians]] were the Semitic people among whom male primogeniture was strongest.<ref>Primogeniture in the Old Testament : towards a theological-ethical understanding of patriarchy in Ancient Israel Fachhai, http://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10019.1/17750/Fachhai_primogeniture_2007.pdf?sequence=1</ref>
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