Culture Patterns are Dissimilar Means to the Attainment of
Similar Ends. -- We return to the question propounded at the begin-
ning of the preceding chapter. What causes the Trobrianders to have
a family system so different from the Americans? We have now, it is
hoped, dispelled from our minds the old idea that the difference is
one of inborn or constitutional nature. Rather, the difference is
cultural. It is the result of their differing histories, of their differing
circumstances of invention, diffusion, and migration.

But another side of the picture must not be overlooked. First, both
peoples, and indeed all peoples, have some family system. Second,
all family systems, however different, satisfy certain basic and uni-
versal human nees: the care and feeding of the young child, sex
desire, continuity of affection, intimate co-dwelling companionship.
In other words, there are certain subeultural, universal behavior
patterns, interaction patterns, and values, beneath the variety of
culture patterns. We may picture the several cultures of the world's
peoples as houses built upon similar foundations but with greatly
varying superstructures.

Culture the Servant of Biology, yet Varies Independently of
Biology. -- Does the above picture mean that man satisfies his basic
needs in the cellar of his culture-house, so to speak, and that the
upper stories of the house are unessential to his life? Are the vari-
ations in the superstructure the plaything of imitation and chance
innovation, without relation to basic human needs?

No, the varied cultural patterns, as well as the more uniform sub-
cultural patterns of human activity, satisfy human wishes. They may
vary widely, but human needs fix limits to their variation. Culture
does not exist independently in its own right; it is the servant of
individual human beings. Its function, in other words, is biological.
How is it possible to reconcile this statement with the idea given in
the last two chapters that culture is external to man and varies from

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