BACHOFEN, Johann Jakob.

£1,250 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

"Über das Weiberrecht." First edition of the basis for his seminal Das Mutterrecht (1861), a foundational text of social anthropology. Bachofen argued that matriarchy preceded patriarchy in the development of human society. He here focuses on Ancient Greece, particularly Aeschylus's Eumenides."From this premise Bachofen (1815-1887) developed a whole evolutionary system. He maintained that feminine rule was not the earliest stage of social organization but arose as a reform superseding a still earlier stage of promiscuity. He attributed this development to the cult of female deities and to woman's fundamental religiosity... His observations on woman's social position influenced Marxist doctrine and helped eventually to lead to a complete change of view in sociological study and law" (PMM).

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