Untitled Quiz

Study Notes

Unit 6: Kinship, Marriage, and the Household

Kinship refers to relationships based on blood or marriage.
Society defines which kinship relations are most important.
Types of kinship include:
- Fictive kinship: relationships formed outside blood or marriage ties.
- Consanguineal kinship: relationships based on bloodline.
- Affinal kinship: relationships based on marriage.
Kinship can refer to patterns of social relationships or the study of social relationships in various cultures.
Kinship by blood:
- Descent: Membership determined by common descent from an ancestor (real or mythical).
  - Unilineal descent: Group membership based on either the mother's or father's line, but not both.
    - Matrilineal descent: Tracing lineage through the female line.
    - Patrilineal descent: Tracing lineage through the male line.
- Cognatic descent: Descendents of a common ancestor through any combination of male and female linkages.
Kinship by marriage:
- Marriage: A formal institution that establishes the rights, duties, and privileges of spouses and their extended families, as well as their role in society.
Types of marriage:
- Polygamy: A marriage system where a man or woman can have multiple spouses.
  - Polygyny: One man with multiple wives.
  - Polyandry: One woman with multiple husbands.
- Monogamy: A marriage with one spouse.
  - Serial monogamy: Individuals can marry again after a previous marriage ends (death or divorce), but only one spouse at a time.
- Group marriage: A marriage system where two or more women have multiple men as husbands and children belong to the whole group
Kinship by ritual:
- Ritual kinship (such as godparents or fraternal orders) strengthens social connections in certain cultures. Parents often choose godparents for children's baptisms and marriages.
Variation in family patterns
- Based on internal organization:
  - Conjugal family: This is a nuclear family (adult and their children). Family relationships are centered on emotional bonds. Spouses and children are prioritized, relatives less important. Marriage is important.
  - Extended family: This expands past the nuclear family to include aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Multiple nuclear families may live together.
- Based on origin:
  - Family of orientation: This is the family where one grows up.
  - Family of procreation: This is the family created by marriage and children.
- Based on descent:
  - Patrilineal family: Tracing lineage through the father's side.
  - Matrilineal family: Tracing lineage through the mother's side.
  - Bilateral family: Tracing lineage through both parents' sides.
- Based on power:
  - Patriarchal family: Authority rests with the oldest male.
  - Matriarchal family: Authority rests with the oldest female.
  - Egalitarian family: Husband and wife share power equally.
- Based on residence:
  - Patrilocal: Newly married couple lives with or near the groom's family.
  - Matrilocal: Newly married couple lives with or near the bride's family.
  - Bilocal: Newly married couple may choose to live with either the groom's or bride's family.
  - Neolocal: Newly married couple lives independently from both sets of parents.
  - Avunculocal: Newly married couple lives with or near the maternal uncle of the groom.
Politics of kinship:
- Kinship politics is based on the principle that family connections are more important than other affiliations.
- Power is distributed within families, not seized.
The concept of kinship politics recognizes the potential for conflict, adversity, and betrayal in political systems, something known as the Brutus syndrome.