CEVAP:

Murdock in particular was criticized for ignoring the alternatives of the nuclear family. For example, Nayar society in Kerala, Southern India is a matrilineal society and has a different set of relationships. In Nayar society, all Nayar girls are ritually married to a man before puberty in the tali-rite, but these tali-husbands do not live with these girls. A girl’s only duty to her tali husband is to attend his funeral and mourn for him. After the puberty, women begin to be visited by a number of men. These men are called “sandbanham husbands”. The sandbanham husband arrives the women’s house after supper, have sexual intercourse with her and has to leave before the next morning. In this relationship, husbands and wives do not form a lifelong union or an economic unit. Sandbanham husbands do not have any duty about child rearing; and their biological fatherhood is not important. If Murdock’s definition of family is accepted, there is no family in Nayar society because husbands and wives do not maintain a sexually approved adult relationship, and they do not live together or cooperate economically. In this case, either Murdock defined family too narrowly or the family is not universal. Providing a detailed description of Nayar society, Kathleen Gayar claims that family does exist in Nayar society and she broadens the definition of the family beyond the definition of Murdock. Furthermore, Murdock has been criticized for not considering whether the functions of the family could be performed by another social institution and for being too optimistic about the family.