12.1

 Most universal institution is the family  Make up of the family varies from culture to culture  All families follow similar organizational patterns and fulfill common functions

 Family: group of people who are related by marriage, blood, or adoption and who often live together and share economic resources  Family Forms:  Nuclear: one or both parents and the children  Family of Orientation: nuclear family in which one is born or adopted– brothers, sisters, and parents  Family of Procreation: spouse and their children  Extended Family: one or more generations

 Kinship: network of people related by marriage, birth, or adoption  200 possible categories of relatives  Primary: closest relatives—orientation and procreation; mother, father, sister, brother, spouse, daughter and son  Secondary: primary relatives of primary relationships; grandparents, grandchildren, in-laws, aunts uncles, nieces and nephews  Tertiary: primary relatives of secondary relationships; great- grandparents, great grand-children etc

 Family Organization is determined by how a society or group within a society answers four questions: 1. How many marriage partners may a person have? 2. Who will live with whom? 3. How will family membership be determined? 4. Who will make the decisions in the family?

 Marriage Partners:  monogamy: marriage of one man to one women  Polygamy: marriage with multiple partners Two forms: polygyny: man is permitted to more than one women– preindustrial societies with large areas of land for farming ; polyandry- women marry more than one man—found primarily in Asia-extreme poverty and shortage of women

 Residential Patterns: where will individuals live once they are married  Patrilocality: live with or near the husbands parents; most common around the world  Matrilocality: live with or near the wife’s parents  Bilocality: choose whether they will live near near either parents  Neolocality: free to set up a residence apart from both sets of parents—industrialized societies

 Descent Patterns: how individuals trace their kinship  Patrilineal Descent: trace kinship through the father’s family; preindustrial societies; property is passed from father to son  Matrilineal Descent: trace kinship through the mother’s family; less common  Bilateral Descent: kinship is traced through both parents, and property can be inherited from either side of the family Rules for decent are important for smooth operation of soceity- establish who is eligible to inherit property

 Authority Patterns: three possible patterns oif authority  Patriarchy: father holds most of the authority Vast majorities of societies  Matriarchy: mother holds most of the authority Very rare- true authority lies with mother’s brothers  Egalitarian: mother and father share the authority Most industrialized societies including the United States are moving in this direction

 Regulation of Sexual Activity:  Enforce incest taboo: forbidding sexual relations or marriages between certain relatives; taboo is universal, but relatives vary from society to society United States: person cannot marry parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces or nephews; 26 states do allow first cousin marriages  Reproduction: decide the norms of who is eligible to marry, bear children and the appropriate number of children and the rights and responsibilities of parents

 Socialization:  Family is the first agent of socialization that children encounter  Learn values and norms of society  Parents and siblings serve as first role models  Economic and Emotional Security:  Family acts the basic economic unit  Labor is divided among the genders  Division of labor based on age  Family: most intimate and basic primary group– guide the individuals psychological development and provide a loving and caring environment