SH1661
Group Members:
Section:
Date:
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Family Picture
Cultural, Social, and Political Institutions
Directions: Read the description of your assigned post-marital residence rule. Using your materials,
illustrate how each rule applies after marriage. (20 points)
Group 1: Neolocal Residence
This system is determined by a rule that each spouse leaves his/her family of origin and jointly forms a
new household, which develops as nuclear family. This is the basic pattern in modern industrial societies.
Group 2: Patrilocal Residence
It specifies that, upon marriage, a man remains in his father's household while his wife leaves her family
to move in with him. As children are born, they are added to the paternal unit. The result is a patrilocal
extended family, in which three (3) or more generations of related men live together to form a shallow
patrilineage. An alternate designation, virilocal, refers to a simpler rule that a wife must move to her
husband's residence.
Group 3: Matrilocal Residence
It specifies that, upon marriage, a woman remains in her mother's household while her husband leaves his
family to move in with her. As children are born, they are added to the maternal unit. The result is a
matrilocal extended family, in which three (3) or more generations of related women live together to form
a shallow matrilineage. An alternate designation, uxorilocal, refers to a simpler rule that a husband must
move to his wife's residence.
Group 4: Matrifocal Residence
It consists of a woman and her children, and sometimes her daughter's children, without coresident
husbands or other adult men. This pattern is not usually an expression of a rule or cultural preference, but
results from economic conditions in which a man is unable to support a family. The household form is
different from a matrilocal one, in which wives and husbands are coresident.
Group 5: Avunculocal Residence
It is more complicated than the other rules, since two (2) residences changes are involved. Household
formation begins with a virilocal rule, placing a married woman in her husband's household, where their
children are raised. Upon reaching maturity, the men must relocate to their mother's brother's household,
the actual avunculocal move. The result is an avunculocal extended family consisting of one (1) or more
elder men, their sister's sons, and the wives and underage children of all the married men.
Group 6: Ambilocal Residence
In an ambilocal pattern, a married couple decides whether to join either the husband's or the wife's
household of origin. According to the choice made in the previous generations, they may reside with either
spouse's father or mother. The result is an ambilocal extended family.
Group 7: Natalocal Residence
It specifies that each partner remains with their own families of residence after marriage. If children remain
in their mother's household, the result will be the formation of domestic matrilineages to which all male
and female residents belong.
Reference:
Schwimmer, Brian. (2003). Residence rules. Retrieved from
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/residence/rules.html
06 Activity 1
*Property of STI
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