Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1944, Page 319

A FINNISH SOCIOLOGIST
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Karsten further is not inclined to accept unreservedly the psy-
chological arguments advanced by Westermarck against the
promiscuity theory, as for example the appeal to male jealousy
as an opposing factor to group-marriage. In this respect Karsten’s
own observations among the monogamous Choroti Indians are
not without interest.
Karsten deals at great length with the different forms of
marriage and stresses the enormous proportions attained by the
purchase of brides in low stages of culture, a custom so wide-
spread that there is much greater reason to regard purchase as
a universal stage in the social development of mankind than
the forcible carrying-off of brides. For Westermarck’s theory
regarding the general dislike for marriage between near relatives,
found also at low stages of civilization, Karsten substitutes an-
other, “magic” explanation. He derives it from the fear of in-
jurious effects from incestuous relations in combination with the
belief in evil spirits. Primitive superstition would thus have been
capable of anticipating and applying scientific truths thousands
of years before they were discovered by cultured peoples! Kar-
sten’s theory is interesting even if it is still of a hypothetical
character. In regard also to many wedding rites interpreted by
Westermarck in terms of homeopathic magic, Karsten displays
a tendency to adduce magic causes as an explanation. He compares
these rites with similar burial rites intended to protect the living
against the death taboo. According to Karsten many of the wed-
ding rites, too, denote protection against evil influences, thus, for
example, where a goblet used at a wedding is filled with a
magic beverage to be drunk on the occasion. Our own custom
of drinking the wedded couple’s health in intoxicating liquor
harks back to the conception found among primitive peoples
of a magic power in the fermented drink, which protects those
who consume it from evil influences of every kind.s
Karsten further deals critically with the theories advanced
by Heinrich Schurtz in Altersklassen und Mannerbunde (1902)
regarding age-classes and male societies, and finds that Schurtz
has generalized on the basis of his observations beyond the
evidence. Organizations of this type have by no means had the
same origin everywhere, nor is there any question of a universal
appearance of these male leagues. In German science the tendency
has been to build further on Schurtz. Thus Eduard Meyer, the
well-known historian, propounded the bold theory that state-