The primary function of the family is to reproduce society, both biologically through procreation

and socially through socialization. Given these functions, the individual’s experience of his or
her family shifts over time. From the perspective of children, the family is a family of
orientation: the family functions to locate children socially, and plays a major role in their
socialization. From the point of view of the parent(s), the family is a family of procreation: The
family functions to produce and socialize children. In some cultures, marriage imposes upon
women the obligation to bear children. In northern Ghana, for example, payment of bridewealth,
which is an amount of money, wealth, or property paid to the bride’s parents by the groom’s
family, signifies a woman’s requirement to bear children, and women using birth control face
substantial threats of physical abuse and reprisals.

Producing offspring is not the only function of the family. Marriage sometimes establishes the
legal father of a woman’s child; establishes the legal mother of a man’s child; gives the husband
or his family control over the wife’s sexual services, labor, and/or property; gives the wife or her
family control over the husband’s sexual services, labor, and/or property; establishes a joint fund
of property for the benefit of children; establishes a relationship between the families of the
husband and wife. None of these functions are universal, nor are all of them inherent to any one
society. In societies with a sexual division of labor, marriage, and the resulting relationship
between a husband and wife, is necessary for the formation of an economically productive
household. In modern societies, marriage entails particular rights and privileges which encourage
the formation of new families even when there is no intention of having children.

In most societies, marriage between brothers and sisters is forbidden. In many societies, marriage
between some first cousins is preferred, while at the other extreme, the medieval Catholic
Church prohibited marriage even between distant cousins. The present day Catholic Church still
maintains a standard of required distance for marriage.

These sorts of restrictions can be classified as an incest taboo, which is a cultural norm or rule
that forbids sexual relations between family members and relatives. Incest taboo may serve to
promote social solidarity and is a form of exogamy. Exogamy can be broadly defined as a social
arrangement according to which marriages can only occur with members outside of one’s social
group. One exception to this pattern is in ancient Egypt, where marriage between brothers and
sisters was permitted in the royal family, as it was also the case in Hawaii and among the Inca.
This privilege was denied commoners and may have served to concentrate wealth and power in
one family.