Kinship and Marriage
Human organization
Culture and society are tied closely together
• People share culture
• They are members of societal organizations
• But their reasons for organizational practices are often supported by cultural beliefs
and ideologies
Anthropologist Marvin Harris saw economy and environment as
greatly influencing marriage and other social organization strategies
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The lowest level he called the infrastructure – this includes a group’s subsistence strategy
for making a living from its environment. (Foraging, horticulture, agriculture,
industrialization, etc.)
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The middle level he called the social structure – this includes the ways societies organize
themselves through kinship, gender roles, politics, systems of work and systems of
collaboration or trade, etc.
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The top level he called the superstructure – this includes the ideational concerns of culture,
its social values, religion, myth, art, norms etc.
Infrastructure
Because the infrastructure covers a group’s basic survival needs for food, water, shelter, etc., it
is the foundation of any culture/society. The infrastructure includes the environment that a
group is part of that puts limitations on how a group can make its living. The infrastructure
includes the strategies that people use to gain access to resources. Hunters and gatherers will
have strategies than agriculturalists, for example, but environmental factors will influence how
hunting and gathering is practiced or how agriculture is accomplished.
Social structure
Harris pointed out that the social systems and the ways that societies organize themselves
springs out of the infrastructure. People will organize themselves through kinship systems and
political systems that support the ways they make a living. So agriculturalists, for example, are
often concerned with having enough male kinsmen working together to keep the farm going.
Their kinship systems often involve keeping brothers and uncles together on a farm. The men
marry women who leave their families and go to live with their husband’s family. (This is called
patrilocal residence because the couple lives with the groom’s family.) Agricultural systems
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around the world are largely patrilocal, patrilineal, and patriarchal because of the economic
advantage of keeping male relatives together to do the heavy work.
We will be talking more about this next week when we begin to discuss economic systems. For
now, keep in mind that kinship systems likely support the economic structures that are in place.
Superstructure
Harris also talked about the superstructure that includes the ideologies, beliefs, religious
doctrines etc. of a culture/society. The superstructure provides people with the reasons for
going along with the kinship and political systems that support the economic systems. People
believe that their kinship systems are important and right because they believe they are moral.
People often believe that a higher power (God) has created the rules and reasons for following
the laws and customs about marriage and family.
It is the superstructure, the ideologies, that provide the reasons for following social system
expectations, which hold together the social systems, which hold together the economic
systems.
When the infrastructure (economy technology) changes, the social
organizations change to support the changing economy.
The superstructure (ideologies and beliefs) is usually the last to change
in response to economic changes.
Harris and others would likely point out that some religious and
ideological systems, which ‘evolved’ from a previous economic
foundation, can be inconsistent or incompatible with emerging
economic systems and the social systems that support them.
We will talk more about this when we discuss the article about bride
burning in India.
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Kinship is a primary way that societies organize
themselves
• Kinship strategies (social structure) are often closely related to subsistence
strategies (infrastructure).
• There are strong patterns but not universal.
Types of descent
• Foragers were/are often bilateral
Bilateral descent means that an individual (ego) can inherit property from both her/his mother’s or father’s side of
the family. Bonds and other kinds of connections can be with mother’s kin and father’s kin. The United States
primarily practices bilateral descent.
• Horticulturalists were/are often matrilineal but many were/are patrilineal
Matrilineal descent is traced through ancestors in the female line. Examples include the Hopi and the Tlingit.
• Pastoralists were/are primarily patrilineal
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Patrlineal descent is traced through ancestors in the male line. Examples are most of India and China.
• Agriculturalists have tended to be patrilineal
Awlad ‘Ali Bedouin Tribes
Egypt, Libya and the Western Desert
(From the fieldwork of Lila Abu-Lughod and her book Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a
Bedouin Society. University of California Press. 2000.)
The Bedouins of the Western Desert of Egypt and Libya have long herded camels, sheep and
goats. They are pastoralists. As with most pastoralists in the world, governments are working
hard to contain and assimilate them. Pastoralists generally move around as nomads to where
there is food for their animals. They mostly do not exhibit much loyalty to a governmental
entity and are highly independent. In that sense, they irritate governmental leaders.
The Bedouin tribes with whom Abu-Lughod did her studies were forced to be more sedentary.
However, they maintain strong Bedouin identity and consider themselves distinct from nonBedouins
The Awlad ‘Ali are patrilineal, patrilocal, and patriarchal. A woman leaves her family of origin to
live with her husband’s family. She will maintain her allegiance to her father’s blood line rather
than her husband’s blood line. Her children belong to her husband’s family and not her own.
Blood is the basis of Awlad ‘Ali identity
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Nobility of origin (blood)
Honor
Sincerity
Generosity (especially honoring guests)
They value:
• Fearlessness and courage are valued even though tribal warfare is gone
• Values of the warrior
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For pastoralists, male upper body strength is important. Groups who rely on large animals as
their resource base often need men to work together. Loyalty is necessary for this economic
strategy to be successful. This means that sons, brothers, uncles, fathers, etc. must believe that
they are connected strongly to each other and that their loyalty to their male relatives is of
utmost importance. Anything that might distract them from their responsibilities to the male
family group could be dangerous to the survival of the group.
For Bedouins, their religious and moral ideologies are deeply connected to upholding a social
system that makes survival possible in their ecological and economic environment. It is,
perhaps, not the only system that would work in their environment, but it is a system that
has evolved over many centuries.
The Awlad ‘Ali believe that morality is what most distinguishes them from and makes them
superior to other peoples.
At the heart of their moral system are the values of honor and modesty.
Code of honor
(ancestry/origin/nobility)
- moral character is believed to be passed through a blood line
- that means if you do something to shame your family, you have tainted the entire blood
line and the moral integrity of your whole family, not just your own reputation.
They value generosity, honesty, sincerity, loyalty to friends, keeping one’s word
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Even more important is the complex of values connected with independence.
- being free implies strength to stand alone and freedom from domination
- this freedom is won through tough assertiveness, fearlessness, and pride
- it is won through self control
Weaknesses in any of these areas disqualifies someone for positions of responsibility and
respect. If you cannot show your ability to be autonomous and fearless, you are put in a
position of dependency or vulnerability to domination by others
A real man stands alone and fears nothing
Like a falcon
Courage of the warrior ethic
The real man is not afraid of being alone at night despite the risk of confrontation with wild
animals and spirits in the open desert.
Fear of anyone or anything implies that it has control over you.
As such, men who are driven by sexual desire are considered fools. A woman and an emotion
have control over the man. A man who is ‘in love’ weakens his allegiance to his male leaders
and his male cohorts.
Greater contempt is reserved for the man who admits dependence on a particular woman. This
is a sign of weakness that permits the proper power relations between the sexes to be
reversed.
When a man is really something, he pays no heed to women
A man forfeits control and loses honor either through a general lack of assertiveness vis a vis
women – almost a personality defect – or through excessive attachment to one woman that
leads to fear of losing or alienating her.
If a man becomes overly attached to a woman he is dishonored.
It shows that one is controlled by another person.
The most supreme value is autonomy in the code of honor. Those who cannot realize
autonomy and self mastery can achieve some respect and honor through the
modesty code
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In Bedouin society it is the elder men who make the decisions and have ultimate control over
resources. Eventually their sons will have achieved independence and self mastery and will be
the leaders. The elder men’s authority and the primary concern of men to honor their
bloodline responsibilities means that men will be bound together to defend the group and the
animals when necessary. Anything that could weaken that loyalty is a threat to the entire
group, including attachments to women.
Independence and self mastery are the way to honor. Women can never
achieve autonomy or self mastery. Their choice for respect and honor is
through the modesty code.
Why women cannot achieve autonomy and self mastery:
• Women have little control over sexuality and reproduction
• Men want to control them because of their value as reproducers
• So through sexuality and pregnancy, women lose control over their own bodies
• A woman’s children make her more dependent on her husband and increasingly under his
control
• Her choice is to attain some measure of honor through modesty
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1930s Bedouin bride in Egypt
Blood relations are given priority
• Even if a man very much loves his wife, it is shameful to value marital ties over blood ties
• He cannot let anyone know that he loves his wife
• Love ties between a man and a woman are connected with loss of self mastery and
autonomy
• Modesty requires that men and women express lack of interest in sexuality
• A woman retains her tribal affiliation throughout her life and should side with her own kin in
disputes with her husband’s kin
Sexuality is a threat to the social order in almost any society
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Bedouin love matches are traditionally opposed on principal
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They violate the ideal of familial control over marriage
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They represent individual initiatives and defiance of the system
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The paternal first cousin of a girl is ultimately responsible for preventing a love match
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Custom gives him the right to claim her in marriage
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His kinsmen pressure him to preserve the kin group’s honor
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She has behaved immodestly and threatens the honor of the kin group
Hopefully this example helps you better understand the connections between economic
strategies, social systems, and moral systems as part of group survival.
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