Kinship, Family, and Marriage Overview and learning outcomes Types of families, marriages and kinship How are we related to one another? Are biology and marriage the only basis for kinship? Descent patterns Is a country like one big family? How is kinship changing in the US?

Class survey Work with a partner to briefly analyze some marital and kinship patterns in your extended family: Average age of marriage (compare grandparents, parents and children’s generation if known) Any married couples that stayed living with the parents after getting married? Number of children per couple (max.) Frequency of divorce (% divorced couples in extended family) and remarriage Grandparents residing with their children’s or grandchildren’s family or independently Same-sex legal unions or marriages Same-sex couples with children through IVF, surrogacy, or adoption Interracial, intercultural or interfaith marriages

Recent changes in American families 23% of Americans live in nuclear families (avg. 2.6 people per hh; 3.1 persons per family) Increase in women joining workforce Higher median age of 1st marriage (25.3 for women / 27.1 for men) Higher divorce rate (> 50%) More single parent families (x 4 since 1970) Percentage of married adults has decreased Smaller families/living units

Nuclear & extended families Nuclear family - parents & their children; widespread but not universal Extended family – related nuclear families What is the dominant concept of kin group in the US? Incest taboo – nearly universal among nuclear families worldwide

Family organization in industrial societies Mainly nuclear Neolocality - married couples expected to establish new place of residence Expanded family households enables pooling of financial and other resources Collateral household = siblings and their spouses & children

Kinship by genealogy: descent groups Descent group - permanent social unit whose members claim common ancestry 2 types of unilineal descent: Patrilineal (father’s group) - more common Matrilineal (mother’s group) – e.g., Ashanti in Ghana, Hopi in Arizona Bilateral descent – traced through both genders (common in which society?) Lineage - descent group with demonstrated apical ancestor Clan - descent group with assumed apical ancestor Totem - nonhuman ancestor (animal/plant)

Marriage rules Exogamy - marrying outside the group (increases social and biological diversity) Endogamy - marrying within the group Rules for marrying within the group vary cross-culturally (e.g., incest prohibitions)

Marital residence patterns Patrilocal - married couples live with husband’s community (common in Arab societies) Matrilocal - Married couples live with wife’s community Ambilocal – Couple chooses which parents to live with Neolocal – couple forms a new household on their own

How Are We Related to One Another? Descent The Nuer of Southern Sudan Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company

Marital rights Establish legal parenthood Rights to spouse’s property Establish joint property for benefit of children Establish relationship of affinity with in-laws Rights to spouse’s labor Exclusive sexuality (not always mutual)

Marriage in non-industrial societies Marriage as a social alliance Bridewealth - customary gift from husband and his kin to wife and her kin; insurance against divorce (more common) Brideservice - groom must work for bride’s family Dowry - wife’s group provides substantial gifts to husband’s family; less common Which one correlates more with high or low status for women?

Plural marriages Polygamy - more than 1 spouse (man or woman) Polygyny - man has more than 1 wife Polyandry - woman has more than 1 husband (rare – less than 1% of world: parts of South Asia such as the Himalayas where men are often absent from family for work) Group marriage (rare) – several men and women married simultaneously to one another

Divorce: nonindustrial groups Alliance marriages are harder to break up than individual choice marriages Bridewealth discourages divorce (why?) Replacement marriages preserve group alliances Divorce is harder in patrilocal societies if women have to leave their children

Divorce: Western society Multiple reasons; high incidence Largest increase between 1960-1980 (doubled) U.S. – approx. half of all marriages end in divorce settled through court system or mediation. Creation of family subunits with step and half siblings