Marriage & Kinship

Kinship  Relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent.  Kinship system includes people related both by descent and marriage

Kinship Patterns  A network of people who are related by marriage, blood, or social practice  Kinship is a means by which societies can socialize children and transmit culture from one generation to the next  Kinship creates complex social bonds  Affinity - Human kinship relations through marriage

Incest Taboo  All known human societies prohibit sexual relations between persons who are classified as close blood kin.  Cultural variations  Sanctions against violations of the incest prohibition are not universally strong

Why is the Incest prohibition universal?  Social advantage of the rule  Expansion of the group through inclusion of new members  Forging of alliances across kin boundaries  Functionalist Explanation  Widespread incest would lead to biological degeneration through transmission of inheritable disease

Marriage  Two individuals involved in a socially approved relationship  Intimate, mutual long-term obligations  Fulfilled customary, ceremonial, or legal requirements

Functionalism and the Family The Family Satisfies Common Social Functions  Socialization  Family is responsible for primary care and early learning  Birth  Regulates sexual activity  Choosing mates and perpetuating population  Economic  Assigning assets  Important economic production and consumption unit  Support and comfort  Help with problems  Social placement  Children inherit status and class of parents

Romantic Love  An emotional identification between two individuals  Intense  Convinced they cannot live without each other  Not considered important for marriage until 20 th century  An important incentive to marry  Love provides a source of support  Strong commitment to each other

Types of Families  Nuclear Family: a social unit composed of a husband, a wife, and their children  Family orientation: family to which one was born  Blended family: spouses and their children from former marriages live as a single nuclear family  Binuclear family: divorced parents form separate households; children divide their time with each  Extended Family  Composed of two or more generations of kin that functions as an independent social and economic unit

 Endogamy  one marries inside the group.  Exogamy  one marries outside the group.  Most human groups are both endogamous and exogamous to varying degrees  Expected to marry ‘one’s’ own kind, but not someone classified as a close relative

Inheritance & Succession  Kinship connected with inheritance and succession.  Both institutions deal with transmission of resources from one generation to the next.  Inheritance  transmission of property  Succession  transmission of office, specified rights, and duties as an ascribed status

Six possible principles for transmission of kin group membership and resources  Patrlineal – transmission of membership and / or resources takes place only through the father’s lineage  Matrilineal – transmission of membership and / or resources takes place only through the mother’s lineage  Double – some resources are transmitted through the father’s lineage, others through the mother’s lineage. The two lineages are kept separate  Cognatic – resources can be transmitted through kin on both mother’s and father’s side (bilaterally)  Parallel – rare variety whereby men transmit to their sons and women to their daughters  Crossing or Alternating - rare variety which represents the opposite of the previous one: men transmit to their daughters, women to their sons

Clans & Lineages  Lineage consists of a person who can indicate, by stating all the intermediate links, common descent from a shared ancestor  Clan encompasses people who assume shared descent from an ancestor without being able to enumerate all of these links

 Monogamy – individual has only one spouse at a time  Polygyny – a system where a man can have several wives  Polyandry – where a woman can have several husbands  Marriage is very commonly perceived as a relationship between groups  Divorce occurs in most societies in the world  About 30 percent of first marriages in the US end in divorce.

Polygyny Polygyny is the preferred form of marriage in 83.6 percent of human societies. It is especially common in frontiers, areas of internal warfare, and where fraternal work groups are the basis of subsistence

Levirate Marriage  Polygyny is often associated with the custom of the levirate, in which a close relative is expected to marry a man’s widow - The levirate produces offspring for the deceased man - It also provides for the economic welfare of the widow.

Polyandry  Common where the subsistence base is highly limited and increased family size is detrimental  Practiced in about half a percent of societies.

Household and postmarital residence rules - Virilocality (patrilocality) Living with or by the husbands parents Practiced in about 67 percent of societies, especially where men predominate in food production and where internal warfare is common.  Matrilocality  Living with or by the wife’s parents - found in about 15 percent of societies, particularly those where women are the main food producers

 Bilocality  Spouses live separately from each other - practiced in about 5 to 10 percent of societies, where flexibility in residence choice is beneficial  Neolocality - Resides separately from both sets of parents – practiced in about 5 percent of societies, where independent nuclear families are most adaptive

Dowry & Bridewealth  Dowry – bride brings gifts from her family into the marriage. Seen as compensation to the man’s family for undertaking to support the woman economically  Costs associated with having daughters marry are a main cause of the high rates of female infanticide in India  Bridewealth (Bride-price) – groom’s kin is obliged to transfer resources to the bride’s kin in return for his rights to her labor and reproductive powers  Establishes the rights of the man to the woman and her children