Chapter 8 – Marriage Kinship, & Families
Nuclear family – mom dad kids = 1/4th of American homes
o Impermanent – lasts only as long as parents and children are together
o Important among industrial nations and foragers
Family of orientation – our parents
Family of procreation – the family we make with a romantic partner
Extended fam – 3+ generations
Descent groups – permanent social unit whos members claim common ancestry
o An ascribed status
Kinship – culturally constructed
Family – a group of people who are considered to be related in some way, such as ‘blood’; or who live
together (some do not)
Example: Yugoslavia
o Muslims in Bosnia lacked autonomy
o Many families lived in extended household called “zadruga”
o Headed by male and his senior wife
o Included both married and unmarried sons/daughters
o They all shared possessions
o Called “PATRILOCAL” extended family
o Successive meal setting for men, women, children
o Kids disciplined by adult
o When they break up kids under 7 go with mom, older kids can choose a parent
Example: Nayer
o Malabar Coast, S. India
o Matrilineal (descent traced only thru females)
o Family compounds called “tarawads”
o Several buildings, temple, granary, well, orchards/gardens, land holdings
o Headed by senior woman
o Matrikin – matrilineal relatives
o Marriage – coming of age ritual
o Women could have multiple sexual partners
o Children not considered biological from father, only mom
o Child care responsibility of TARAWAD
Neolocality – after marriage couples are expected to establish a new home of their own
Collateral household – includes siblings and their spouses+kids
Changing family structure .. many reasons… women working more now…delaying marriage…job
demands compete with relationships
Divorce rate risen
23 million American’s divorced in 2007
o about half as many new divorces as there are new marriage (50% divorce rate)
1 parents families growing – more American living without a spouse than with one
Canada and US – general trend of smaller families and living units
Foraging families – either reside with husband or wives relatives, may move from 1 band to another
many times
Patrilineal descent: lifetime membership in their fathers group, include only children of the groups
men
o Much more common
Matrilineal descent – people join the mothers group automatically at birth, include only children of the
group’s women
Unilineal – descent rule uses only 1 line – either male/female
Descent groups may be lineages (demonstrated descent) or clans (stipulated descent)
o Members descend from the same apical ancestor – the person who stands at the top of the
common genealogy
o Top ancestor can even be an animal or plant (called totem)
o Societies: horticulture, pastorialism, agriculture