ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that in some respects, the History of Euro-American tradition of kinship and gender is not unique; in fact, it has shared many important features with the Asian tradition. It explains the relatively restricted ties of kinship and lack of corporate descent groups in Euro-American societies. The chapter explores the work of anthropologist Jack Goody, who draws several links between European and Asian patterns of marriage. Goody has noted some general contrasts between the societies of sub-Saharan Africa and those of Europe and Asia. Robin Fox suggests that the wider ties of European kinship were broken down with the rise of the modern state. Just as Gottlieb and others assert that families of the European past were in some ways not so different from modern ones, Stephanie Coontz makes a similar point regarding North American families. Initially, marriages followed the general European pattern of dowry and parental control.
