Kinship and Domestic Life
(Chapter 6)
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
The BIG Questions
 How do cultures create kinship ties
through descent, sharing, and
marriage?
 What is a household and what do
anthropologists study about
household life?
 How are kinship and households
changing?
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
What is Kinship Cross-Culturally?
 What is kinship?
 Kinship is a sense of being related to another
person or persons
 A family is a group of people who consider
themselves related through kinship (can be
by blood, marriage, or adoption)
 A kinship system is the combination of rules
about who are kin and the expected behavior
of kin
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What is the importance of
kinship?
 Is a main way that social life is organized in
all cultures
 The kinship group has a variety of functions…
 Ensures the continuity of the group by
arranging/supporting marriages
 Strives to maintain social order by setting
moral rules and punishing offenders
 Provides for the basic needs of members
by regulating production, consumption, and
distribution
 Ideally provides psychological support
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What is the importance of
kinship?
 Especially in societies where other institutions
such as centralized government, a
professional military, or financial banks are
absent or do not function effectively, in such
societies individuals must depend on a wide
network of kin for support and protection
 Need kin to secure food, shelter, and other
necessities
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Depicting Kinship
 Kinship diagram
 A schematic way of presenting the kinship
relationships of a particular individual
 Starts with a particular individual (ego)
 Genealogy
 A schematic way of presenting a family
tree, constructed by beginning with the
earliest ancestors that can be traced, then
working down to the present
 Does not begin with ego
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Drawing a Kinship Chart:
Symbols for Individuals
female
male
deceased female
deceased male
female “ego” of the diagram
male “ego” of the diagram
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Kinship Relationships
is married to
is cohabiting with
is divorced from
is separated from
adopted-in female
adopted-in male
is descended from
is the sibling of
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Three Ways of Being Kin
 Descent
 Sharing
 Marriage
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Descent
 Descent is the tracing of kinship relationships
through parentage
 Bilateral descent system
 A child is recognized as being related by
descent to both parents
 Most associated with foraging and
industrialism/informatics modes of production
 Unilineal descent system
 Recognizes descent through only one parent,
either the father (patrilineal) or the mother
(matrilineal)
 Most common form of descent (60 percent of
the world’s cultures)
 Most associated with pastoralism, horticulture, and
agricultural modes of production
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Descent
 Which descent system do we have in
the U.S.?
 Bilateral descent system or Unilineal
descent system
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Descent
 Which descent system do we have in the
U.S.?
 Bilateral descent system
 Socially related to both our parents
 Trace ancestry through both our parents
 Some aspects of a patrilineal system
 Women taking on husband’s last name when they
marry
 Children receiving father’s last name
 Father giving away daughter at the wedding
 Some aspects of a matrilineal system
 High divorce rates or female-headed households
 Children often live with mother, take on mother’s last
name
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Bilateral Descent
 Traces kinship from both parents equally to the
child
 Socially related to both the mother and father
 Found in about 40 percent of the world’s
cultures
 Most common among foraging societies and
industrial/informatics societies
 Both rely on a flexible gender division of labor in
which both males and females contribute to
production and exchange relatively equally
 Small family units in these environments are adaptive
and more mobile – more opportunities for surviving
and making a living
 U.S.
 Ju/’hoansi
 Inuit/Eskimo
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Patrilineal Descent
 Kinship is traced through the male line
 Socially related to father
 Found among 45 percent of all cultures
 Common in a variety of different modes
of production
 Most common in areas where men play
the primary role in the production of
food and other resources
 Men are the primary decision makers
and have the most power
 Property is passed down through the
male line
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Patrilineal Descent
•Found among 45% of all
cultures
• Kinship is traced through the
male line
• Males dominate status, power,
and property
•Patriline = purple color in this
diagram
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Patrilineal Descent
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Matrilineal Descent
 Kinship is traced through the female line
 Socially related to mother
 Found among 15 percent of all cultures
 Exists in a variety of modes of production
but is most commonly found in
horticultural societies in which females
play a large role in the production and
distribution of food and other resources
 Often associated with public leadership
positions for women
 Women often control land and resources
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Matrilineal Descent
• Found among 15% of all
cultures
• Kinship is traced through the
female line
• Women control land and
products
• Found in Southeast Asia, the
South Pacific, and in some
parts of Europe and North
America
•Example: the Minangkabau of
Indonesia
•Matriline = purple color in this
diagram
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Matrilineal Descent
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Example of a
matrilineal
culture: the
Minangkabau
of Indonesia
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Residence Rules
 Refer to where a couple moves to after they
decide to cohabit or get married
 Patrilocal
 Matrilocal
 Neolocal
 Ambilocal or Bilocal
 Often follows the prevailing direction of
descent rules, but not always
 Have political, economic, and social
implications
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Residence Rules
 Patrilocal (or virilocal) – marital
residence with or near the husband’s
family
 Often occurs in patrilineal societies
 Patrilineal descent and patrilocal
residence promote the development of
cohesive male-focused lineages that are
associated with frequent local warfare,
which requires the presence of a force of
fighting men on the home front
 Often occurs in societies where men
own/control land and resources
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Residence Rules
 Matrilocal (or uxorilocal) – martial
residence with or near the wife’s family
 Often occurs in matrilineal societies
 Matrilineal descent and matrilocal residence is
often found among groups that engage in longdistance warfare
 Strong female household bonds maintain the
domestic scene while the men are absent on
military campaigns (e.g. precolonial Iroquois of
upstate New York)
 Often occurs in societies where women
own/control land and resources
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Residence Rules
 Neolocal
 Marital residence in a place different from
either the bride’s or groom’s family
 Common in Western industrialized society
 Small family units in these environments are
adaptive and more mobile – more opportunities
for surviving and making a living
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Residence Rules
 Ambilocal or bilocal
 Marital residence in a place near either the
bride’s or groom’s family
 Get to choose which side of the family to live
near
 Common in foraging societies
 Genders have relatively equal power
 More adaptive depending on the available
environmental resources
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Kin through Sharing
 Many cultures emphasize kinship ties
based on acts of sharing and support
 May be either informal or formally certified
 Godparents
 Adoption
 Fostering a child
 Food sharing
 Rice-sharing in Malaysia – people who eat cooked rice
together may be viewed as kin although they are not
blood relatives
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Kinship Through Sharing
In many cultures
people create
kinship through
sharing
Food
sharing
Adoption and
fostering
Godparents
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Two Kinship Naming Systems
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Eskimo Kinship Naming System
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Iroquois Kinship Naming System
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Marriage - Definition
 Marriage exists in all cultures, though it
may take different forms and serve
different functions.
 Marriage is defined as a more or less
stable union, usually between two people,
who may be, but are not necessarily, coresidential, sexually involved with each
other, and procreative with each other.
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Some Functions of Marriage
 To form alliances between or within
different groups or families
 Establish social and economic contracts
 To rear children
 To define social identity of children
 To regulate sexual activity
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Marriage Preferences and Rules
 All cultures have preferences about whom
one should and should not marry and with
whom one should and should not have
sexual intercourse
 All cultures have some sort of rules of
exclusion or incest taboo - a rule
prohibiting marriage or sexual intercourse
between close relatives
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Marriage Preferences
 Also preferences about marrying within or
outside of a particular group
 Endogamy – marriage within a particular
group
 Exogamy – marriage outside a defined group
 A society that practices exogamy at one level
may practice endogamy at another.
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Two Forms of Cousin Marriage
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Is first cousin marriage legal in the
U.S.?
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Is first cousin marriage legal in the
U.S.?
 It is in many states!
 http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=4266
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
But – oh no, you say! If I do that
my children will be horribly
deformed!
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But – oh no, you say! If I do that
my children will be horribly
deformed!
 But not so fast…
 That depends largely on the genetics of the family
 A number of research studies show that risks of
genetic problems are only slightly increased with firstcousin marriage
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Marriage Preferences
 What are some factors involved in spouse
selection in your culture?
 What characteristics would your ideal spouse
have?
 How do you think your family’s idea of an ideal
spouse for you would compare/contrast with
your idea of the ideal spouse?
 Would you be open to the idea of your family
arranging a marriage for you? Why or why not?
 What do you think of arranged marriages based on
your previous knowledge and the NPR articles?
 How are these ideas influenced by your culture?
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Marriage Preferences
 Preferences
 Features such as age, height, looks,
wealth, education, personality
characteristics
 Romantic love in some cultures
 Spouse’s ability to bear children, physical
strength, clan membership, etc. in other
cultures
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Status Considerations in Partner
Selection (Heterosexual Pairing)
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Marriage Gifts
 Most marriages are accompanied by
exchanges of goods or services between
the partners, members of their families, and
friends
 Dowry – transfer of goods and sometimes
money from the bride’s side of the family to the
new married couple for their use
 Brideprice (bridewealth) – transfer of goods
or money from the groom’s family to the bride’s
family
 Bride-service – a type of brideprice which
includes the transfer of labor from the groom to
his parents-in-law for a designated time period
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Major Types of Marriage Gifts
and Exchanges
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Forms of Marriage
 Monogamy – a marriage between two
people
 Heterosexual monogamy is the most
common form of marriage cross-culturally
 In many countries monogamy is the only
legal form of marriage
 Polygamy – a marriage involving multiple
spouses
 A pattern allowed in many cultures
 Are two forms of polygamy…
 Polygyny – marriage of one man with more than
one woman
 Polyandry – marriage of one woman with more
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
than one man
Forms of Marriage
 Monogamy:
marriage between
two people
• Most common form of
marriage cross-culturally
 Polygamy: marriage
with multiple
spouses
– Polygyny: one man
and more than one
woman
– Polyandry: one
woman and more
than one man
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Polygamy Videos

Polygamy in the U.S.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OEaRn3u
Hsc&feature=related (polygamy family
interview 4)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P0bkmia
Nc4
 Estimated between 30,000 and 100,000
polygamists living in the U.S.
 Polygamy amongst the Maasi
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq_cptHuf
TQ&feature=related
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Polygamy Article
The positive effects of legalizing polygamy:
"love is a many splendored thing".
• Author(s):Emily J. Duncan.
• Source:Duke Journal of Gender Law &
Policy 15.2 (August 2008): p315(23).
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Forms of Marriage
 What are some drawbacks and
advantages of polygamy?
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Households
 A household is a person or persons who
occupy a shared living space and who
may or may not be related by kinship
 Can be made up of families but not always
 Residential unit that carries out economic
production and consumption, co-ordinates
work, inheritance, child rearing, provision of
shelter
 Household is often the first place we turn to
have our physical, economic, social, and
psychological needs fulfilled
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Household Types
 Nuclear household
 Domestic group that contains one adult
couple, with or without children
 Most characteristic of the foraging and
industrial/informatics mode of production
 Extended household
 Domestic group that contains more than one
adult married couple
 Constitute a substantial proportion of households
in horticultural, pastoralist, and agricultural
economies
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Household Types
 Single-person or single-parent
household
 Single-person household
 One person living alone
 Single-parent household
 One person living with his/her children
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Household Types
 What are some advantages and
drawbacks of each household type?
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Changing Kinship and
Household Dynamics
 Change in descent
 Decline of matrilineal descent due to
colonialism and globalization
 Males were named as household heads, and
land was registered in their names
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Changing Kinship and Household
Dynamics
 Change in marriage
 Decrease in arranged marriages and
increases in elopements
 Age at time of first marriage is increasing
 Increasing number of marriages between
people of different nations and ethnicities
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Changing Kinship and Household
Dynamics
 Change in marriage
 Marriage crises
 Situations in which people who want to get married
cannot do so for one reason or another
 Increasing desire for the ideal, western-like,
fairy tale wedding ceremonies
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Changing Kinship and Household
Dynamics
 Changing households
 Possibility for decline in extended families in
industrializing areas
 Less nuclear families in the U.S. and
increased diversity in households forms
 In 1950, 60% of U.S. households were nuclear
families with dependent children
 Today only 24% of U.S. households are nuclear
families with dependent children
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Changing Kinship and Household
Dynamics
 Changing households
 International migration
 Increasing intra-household conflict with
international migration
 Or one household member lives and works abroad
temporarily and semi-permanently (often a male)
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
The BIG Questions Revisited
 How do cultures create kinship ties
through descent, sharing, and
marriage?
 What is a household and what do
anthropologists study about
household life?
 How are kinship and households
changing?
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008