J. D. Unwin
Joseph Daniel Unwin MC (1895–1936) was an English ethnologist and social anthropologist at Oxford University and Cambridge University.
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Contributions to anthropology
In Sex and Culture (1934), Unwin studied 80 primitive tribes and 6 known civilizations through 5,000 years of history and claimed there was a positive correlation between the cultural achievement of a people and the sexual restraint they observe.[1] Aldous Huxley described Sex and Culture as "a work of the highest importance".[2]
According to Unwin, after a nation becomes prosperous it becomes increasingly liberal with regard to sexual morality and as a result loses its cohesion, its impetus and its purpose. The effect, says the author, is irrevocable.[3] Unwin also claimed that legal equality between women and men was a necessary prerequisite to absolute monogamy.[4]
Works
- Sexual Regulations and Human Behaviour. London: Williams & Norgate ltd., 1933.
- Sex and Culture. London: Oxford University Press, 1934.
- The Scandal of Imprisonment for Debt. London: Simpkin Marshall Limited, 1935.
- Sexual Regulations and Cultural Behaviour. London: Oxford University Press, 1935.
- Sex Compatibility in Marriage. New York: Rensselaer, 1939.
- Hopousia: Or, The Sexual and Economic Foundations of a New Society, with and introduction by Aldous Huxley. New York: Oskar Piest, 1940.
- Our Economic Problems and Their Solution (An Extract from "Hopousia.") London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1944.
Selected articles
- "Monogamy as a Condition of Social Energy,” The Hibbert Journal, Vol. XXV, 1927.
- "The Classificatory System of Relationship," Man, Vol. XXIX, Sep., 1929.
- "Kinship," Man, Vol. XXX, Apr., 1930.
- "Reply to Dr. Morant's 'Cultural Anthropology and Statistics'," Man, Vol. XXXV, Mar., 1935.
Other
- Dark Rapture: The Sex-life of the African Negro, with an Introduction by J. D. Unwin. New York: Walden Publication, 1939.
See also
- Bronisław Malinowski
- Pitirim Sorokin
- Sigmund Freud
References
- "Any human society is free to choose either to display great energy or to enjoy sexual freedom; the evidence is that it cannot do both for more than one generation." Unwin, J. D. (1934) Sex and Culture. London: Oxford University Press, p. 412.
- Huxley, Aldous (1946). "Ethics". Ends and Means. London: Chatto & Windus. pp. 311–312.
- Unwin, J. D. (1927). "Monogamy as a Condition of Social Energy,” The Hibbert Journal, Vol. XXV, p. 662.
- Unwin, J. D. Sex and culture, page 431-432.
Further reading
- Firth, Raymond (1936). "Sex and Culture," Africa, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 126–129.
- Morant, G. M. (1935). "Cultural Anthropology and Statistics; A One-Sided Review of 'Sex and Culture'," Man, Vol. 35, pp. 34–39.
- Yancey, Philip (December 12, 1994). "The Lost Sex Study". Christianity Today. Retrieved September 23, 2017.