ABSTRACT
Analysis of the factors which do actually regulate marriage in this community shows that normally kinship plays a very small part. Such family discussion and individual choice m the assumption of new relationships is of frequent occurrence in Tikopia society. In other words, the application of the classificatory system is not a blind following out of the one status by all members of the same class, but involves the principle of selection and differentiation with reference to individual cases. The attitude of Tikopia towards the marriage of close kin naturally varies somewhat according to personal situation. One who has married a distant relative is strong in his disapproval, while one whose marriage closely approaches the prohibited degree is apt to be more temperate in his opinions. The process just illustrated amounts to a correction by the ordinary avenue of marriage, of discrepancies between the kinship status of people when contrasted with their respective ages.
