[108] Friedrichs, "Familienstufen und Eheformen," ZVR., X, 190, 191, rejects the use of Mutterrecht as being practically of "no significance," preferring Matriarchat (from ἄρχειν = "to lead") to denote the uterine system of relationship; and Gynaikokratie, "gynocracy" (from κρατεĩν = "to rule") to express the idea of the domination of women over men. "Gynocracy" is used to express this idea by the Jesuit Lafitau (Mœurs des sauvages, 1724), borrowed from Strabo (Geogr., lib. iii); Peschel, Races of Man, 234; Ploss, Das Kind, II, 393. Mucke, Horde und Familie, 108 ff., 114 ff., 174 ff., passim, rejects the use of Mutterrecht and Vaterrecht, and adopts the terms "gynocratic" and "androcratic" family; but these designations had already been employed by other writers, e. g., by Ploss, op. cit., II, 393-96. "Metrocracy" also appears: Westermarck, Human Marriage, 98.
But Dargun's use of Mutterrecht and Vaterrecht to express maternal or paternal kinship, and Matriarchat and Patriarchat to express maternal or paternal power, seems preferable, in order to avoid confusing the two conceptions; see above, chap. i, p. 21. Compare further Grosse, Die Formen der Familie, 11, who uses Mutterfolge and Vaterfolge respectively as opposed to Matriarchat and Patriarchat; also Hellwald, Die mensch. Familie, 122-24, who gives definitions of "marriage" and "family;" and Westermarck, "Le matriarcat," Annales, 115 ff., who shows that in practice writers have used "matriarchate" in three senses.
[109] Les origines du mariage, 302-28.
[110] Lippert, Geschichte der Familie, 17; Unger, Die Ehe, 9. See also Gumplowicz, Grundriss der Sociologie, Abschnitt III, who holds that a period of gynocracy preceded the androcratic stage; Barazetti, in ZVR., IX, 304-7. See also Gage, Woman, Church, and State, 13 ff.
[111] Kautsky, "Die Entstehung der Ehe und Familie," Kosmos, XII, 343, 344.
[112] Peschel, Races of Man, 233, 234.
[113] Tylor, Method of Investigating Institutions, 252.
[114] Letourneau, in Annales de l'institut international, 155: "Le mot [matriarcat] doit disparaître, parceque la chose n'a jamais existé."
[115] Hellwald, Die mensch. Familie, 213 ff. But this author (112 ff., 116) shows that among primitive men the sexes were not fully differentiated; so that women often possessed "amazonian" characteristics.
[116] Grosse, Die Formen der Familie, 48, 161 ff., 176 ff., 183. According to Grosse, among the lowest existing races patriarchalism prevails. Examples of women exercising political authority in the clan (Sippe) are exceedingly rare, although such may be found occasionally, as among the Huron and Iroquois, and some other peoples.