Kinship Dynamics: Family Structures and Relationships

• Kinship dynamics concerns itself with family structures and relationships.
• It is a web of social relationships vital to all humans in all societies.

Kinship Defined

• It involves a sense of relatedness to others.
• It is guided by rules, even laws, and is viewed as natural rather than cultural.
• Cultures have varying definitions of "blood relatives".
• Study of it entails the study of: mating, gestation, parenthood, socialization, and sibling relationships.
• It includes relationships formed through blood or marriage.
• It ensures generational continuity and defines groups for mutual aid.

Descent Groups Defined

• Descent groups are affiliations between parents and children.
• Descent groups organize domestic life, transfer property, enculturate children and settle disputes.

Principles of Classifying Kin

• Classifying kinship involves factors include: generation, relative age, gender, lineality, collaterality, consanguineal vs. affinal kin, sex of linking relative, and side of the family.

Kin Types vs. Kin Terms

• Kin types are the anthropological definitions of kinship categories and are culture-free (ETIC).
• Kin types are based on biological relationships, defining objective relationships.
• Kin terms are labels for kinship categories and are culture-specific (EMIC).
• In simpler terms, kin terms is how people address one another.

Kin Types

• A kin type designates each individual relationship such as: mother, father, and siblings.
• Each relationship between kin is described by a sequence of primary components showing biological relationships.

Kin Type Examples

• Mother = M
• Father = F
• Sister = Z
• Brother = B
• Daughter = D
• Son = S
• Husband = H
• Wife = W
• Mother's Sister = MZ
• Mother's Sister's Daughter = MZD
• Sister's Son = ZS

Kin Terms

• Kin terms are culture specific e.g. uncle, cousin, and grandfather are English terms that are not kin types if relationships include more than one
• Kin categories are not exclusive to biological relations.

English Kin Terms

• Father is F
• Uncle is FB, MB
• Brother is B
• Cousin is FBS, FBD, FZS, FZD MBS, MBD, MZS, MZD FFBSS, Etc.
• Son is S
• Nephew is BS, ZS

Kinship Characteristics (Symbols)

• Female: Circle
• Male: Triangle
• Deceased Female: Circle with an X
• Deceased Male: Triangle with an X
• Female "Ego": Solid Circle
• Male "Ego": Solid Triangle
• "Ego" is you, self, or reference point.
• Married to: =
• Cohabiting with: ≠
• Divorced from: a slashed ≠
• Separated from: a slashed =
• Adopted-in female: Circle with a smaller circle inside
• Adopted-in male: Triangle with a smaller triangle inside
• Is descended from: |
• Is the sibling of: ⅃

Lineal vs. Collateral Kin

• Provided is a visual chart of Lineal and Collateral Kin

Kinship Classification and Culture

• It outlines rights and obligations
• Specifies interpersonal conduct
• Determines the social groups formed and regulates marriage and inheritance.

Types of Family (based on)

• Based on birth: family of orientation and procreation
• Based on marriage: includes monogamous, polygynous, and polyandrous
• Based on residence: includes matrilocal, patrilocal, and changing residence.
• Based on ancestry: includes matrilineal and patrilineal ancestry
• Based on relation: relations include conjugal or consanguine
• Based on authority: authority is matriarchal or patriarchal
• Based on of size or structure: structures are nuclear, joint, or extended

Family of Orientation

• This orients one to the world and imparts knowledge of how family functions.

Family of Procreation

• This is a family you create as you become an adult.

Additional Family Structures

• Extended family: Close relatives live together, sharing responsibilities and expenses.
• Procreation family: Where an individual sets up after marriage and begins living with in-laws.
• Nuclear family: A small group consisting of a husband, wife, and children (natural or adopted).
• Complex family: An extended family that includes three or more adult members living together with their children.
• Step family: Adults who have separated and remarried, bringing children together to form a new nuclear group.
• Single parent family: Consists of one parent and their children.
• Foster family: One or more parents provide temporary guardianship for one or more children.
• Childless family: A couple with no children.
• Adopted family: A couple adopts a child with whom they share no genetic relation. Traditional family: The father is the financial provider, and the mother takes care of the family.