Kinship
The system of meaning and power that cultures create to determine who is related to whom & to define their mutual expectations, rights & responsibilities
-typically blood/ biologically family related or marriage but not always- modern day tech changes definition
-Kinship= continuum of life
-The creation of relatives (humans living in/ connecting to groups together through generations)
* Enforces group identity
*Can change with enviro/ external pressure
*Affected by migration & politics & time-space compression & medical technology
* Modern kinship= more fluid & maintained through flexibility & creativity
* Rapidly changing: Personal choice over biology
*Choice, flexibility & fluidity"
* Marriage, family, kinship = cultural constructs that are subject to change
Nuclear Family
Kinship unit of mother, father & children (siblings)
* Not universal- limited to white middle class Americans
Descent groups
A kinship group in which primary relationships (blood relatives) are traced through consanguineous (blood relatives)
- Long chains of connections from parents to children that reach back generations to a common ancestor/ group of ancestors
-2 Types:
1. Lineage & 2. Clans
Lineage
A type of descent group that traces genealogical connection through generations by linking persons to a founding ancestor
Clans
A type of descent group based on a claim to a founding ancestor but lacking genealogical documentation
Types of Descent lineage groups
-Matrilineal- Constructing descent group through mother's side of family
-Patrilineal- Father's side of family
-Unilineal- Kinship built by either mom or dad's side
-Ambilineal (Bilateral)- Trace kinship through both mother & father
Nuer
EE Pritchard study of Sudan tribe
Kinship:
Practiced polygamy
Patrilineal, exogamous, cattle economy
*Patrilineal kinship= basis for Nuer politics&economy
*Bilateral (marriage kinship) also important
* External pressures of conflict= strengthened Nuer kinship & marriage patterns of community as whole to defend self against outside conditions
Exogamous
Marriage within kinship group= not permitted
Kinship Patterns:
Eskimo, Hawaiian, Sudanese, Omaha, Crow & Iroquois- 6 ways/models of organizing relatives
Start w/ ego's generation
*Societies don't always match models exactly
* Bilateral(marriage) kinship can often be equally as important
* Can change over time due to external pressures & loss of ancestor/ generational info
Chinese Kinship
Cultural Revolution:Chinese cleansing destroyed generational records & lost kinship ties
* Affected by politics (cultural rev.) & migration
Affinal Relationships
A kinship relationship established through marriage and/or alliance, not through biology or common descent
Marriage
A socially recognized relationship that may involve physical and emotional intimacy as well as legal rights to property & inheritance
Arranged Marriage
Marriage orchestrated by the families of the involved parties
- Symbol of commitment & social obligation to a larger group over personal satisfaction/fulfillment
Companionate Marriage
Marriage built on love, intimacy & personal choice rather than social obligation
(love marriage)
* Found comparatively more in youth culture
Polygamy
Marriage between 1 man & 2 or more women
Polyandry
Marriage between 1 woman & 2 or more men
Monogamy
A relationship between only 2 partners
-Serial monogamy= monogamous marriages follow one another (divorce & remarriage)
Incest taboo
-Cultural rules that forbid sexual relations with certain close relatives (nuclear family)
-US allows for marriage of 1st & 2nd cousins, but not half-siblings
-Freud &Malinowski theory: Incest taboos developed to protect family units from sexual competitiveness and jealousy, which would disrupt cooperation
- Universally exist, yet widely different, & no original origin explanation
Cross cousins
Children of mother's brother or father's sister (opposite gendered siblings)
-Preferred marriage partners
Parallel Cousins
Children of father's brother or mother's sister (same gendered siblings)
Exogamy
Marriage to someone outside of kinship group
Endogamy
Marriage to someone inside the kinship group
Kindred exogamy
Practiced in US
Avoiding marriage to certain relatives by power of tradition, force or law
Racial Endogamy
People stick to same race when marrying
Bridewealth
The gift of goods or money from the groom's family to the bride's family as part of the marriage process (legitimizes marriage & establishes relationship between groups)
- Opposite of Dowry
-Transfers rights & legitimizes alliances
Dowry
-Opposite of Bridewealth
-The gift of goods or money from the bride's family to the groom's family as part of the marriage process
-(legitimizes marriage & establishes relationship between groups)
-Common in India, typically a woman's inheritance to set up household
-Transfers rights & legitimizes alliances
Non- biological/ marriage Kinship
-Malay Villagers (Malaysia): Kinship acquired through life by living & eating with family in tribe- blood becomes more or less similar as people move in & out of kinship home; Household= form of kinship
- Chicago Poverty: Kinship based off mutual reciprocity- helping each other survive/ support/ take if each other & children/ families in slums; Bond through structural poverty & unemployment; build lifelines of survival through extended kin networks
-Nationalism/ Citizenship Kinship: Jewish line of descent/ birthright
Fictive Kin
Those who became kin
Not biological kin
Family of Orientation
The family group in which one is born, grows up & develops life skills (Original family/ kin)
-Expected to detach when reached adulthood & find a mate& create a new nuclear family of procreation
Family of Procreation
The family group created when one reproduces and within which one rears children
- New, chosen kin/ family group
- Produce & raise own children
US Kinship
-Family of Orientation/ Procreation= Detachable families- focus on ideals/ extremely adapted to culture of economic success & independence; focus on mobility over geographic stability & intergenerational continuity
- Rapidly changing- biology less important, key in personal choice
- Nuclear family= not universal- limited to white middle class
Changes in Modern Kinship
-Medical Technology: Greater reproductive medical technologies becoming increasingly specialized= the implication for cultural constructs sich as family and kinship to become progressively more complex
-Open sexuality/ same-sex marriage
-Economics/political pressure/ events
-Migration/ time-space compression
**Choice, flexibility & fluidity"
* Marriage, family, kinship = cultural constructs that are subject to change