Sex, Kinship, Marriage and the Family
Social Differentiation
•
Models for -- the structure that underlies the many manifestations
–
3 basic models for
•
Incest, endogamy, exogamy
•
Models of – the many manifestations
– marriage systems and kinds of family, kin terms & kinship classifications are the ways
(among others) people categorize and label the fundamental models for social relationships
Incest taboo
•
The prohibition of sexual relations between specified individuals, usually parent-child and sibling relations at a minimum
•
All cultures have an incest taboo
•
The absence of a rule among other primates suggests perhaps an adaptive response for humans
Explanations for Incest Taboo
•
Genetic – protective measure, shielding humans from disastrous genetic results of incestuous marriages
•
Instinctive genetically programmed horror
•
Freud’s Oedipus complex
–
Son attracted to mother, feels jealousy & hostility toward father
–
Son must control or suppress feelings to become an adult & keep harmony in the family
–
Electra complex for women
Social Explanation – Levi-Strauss
•
Incest promotes exogamy
– Seeking a mate outside one’s own group
–
Seeking others to become us
– Denotes “them” vs. “us”
–
Establishes & maintains alliances
–
Promotes genetic admixture & variation
–
Preserves family roles
•
Guards against socially destructive conflict
The Incest Taboo: The Threshold of Culture
•
Levi-Strauss: the incest taboo is “in origin neither purely cultural nor purely natural, nor is a composite mixture of elements from both nature and culture. It is the fundamental step because of which, by which, but above all in which, the transition from nature to culture is accomplished.”
– “It brings about and is in itself the advent of a new order.”
Incest taboo, Exogamy, Endogamy
•
Exogamy – seeking people to have sexual relations outside one’s group
–
Seeking others to become us

•
Endogamy – mating or marriage within a group to which one belongs
–
Most societies are endogamous groups
•
Exogamy & incest imply endogamy
•
3 basic models for (structures which lie underneath)
Endogamy Implies Exogamy
•
Exogamy links groups together
•
Endogamy keeps groups apart
•
Rules of endogamy help maintain social, economic, & political distinctions & preserve limitations to the access of wealth & resources
Examples of Endogamy
•
Caste in India – membership is ascribed & lifelong
–
Intercaste sexual union = impurity for higher caste partner
–
Men can undo with prayer & bath
–
Women are defiled for life
–
Lower caste women can move up -- hypergamy
Examples of Endogamy
•
United States – “race” or ethnic affiliation is caste-like & endogamous
•
Hawaii, Bali, ancient Egypt, European Royalty
–
Royal incest & caste endogamy
Anthropologists separate marriage from family and family from household
• descent group = who one is related to beyond marriage
• marriage = rules of sexual access
• family = smallest, organized unit of kin and non-kin who interact daily, providing for the domestic needs of children and ensuring their survival
• household = site of reproduction
• family may be spread over more than one household anthropological concern with REPRODUCTION in 3 different senses
• reproduction of humans through birthing babies
• reproduction of culturally competent humans
• reproduction of social order order of discussion
• kinship systems
– including kin terms
• marriage
• family
• household kinship and descent
• kinship as an idiom
– a way of expressing social relations and the exchanges, rights, and obligations implied
• selective

– each system emphasizes different relations
• kinship principles define social groups
– produces forms of social stratification
• locate people within those groups
• position people and groups in relation to one another both in space and time
Kinship Patterns
•
Relations of descent (endogamy)
–
Consanguineal relationships (sanguine = red)
•
Relations of blood
•
Relations of alliance (exogamy)
–
Affinal relationships (affinity)
–
Through marriage (in-laws)
Kinship & Descent
•
For many societies kinship & descent lines are the main way people organize themselves
•
The relationships we establish with others and within our biological group and outside our group are coded in kin terms kin terms
• sometimes mark specific relationships, sometimes lump together several genealogical relations
• lineal relatives - ancestor, descendent on direct line of descent to or from ego
• collateral kin - all other biological kin, siblings, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles
• affines - relatives by marriage kinship diagram
Descent
• relations of blood
– imply relations of time
• relationship to ego
UNILINEAL DESCENT (unilateral)
• descent group membership figured exclusively through male or female side
• matrilineal descent
• patrilineal descent
Matrilineal and Patrilineal Kin
•
Patrilineal , or agnatic , relatives are identified by tracing descent exclusively through males from a founding male ancestor.
•
Matrilineal , or uterine , relatives are identified by tracing descent exclusively through females from a founding female ancestor.

Patrilineage -- male ego
Patrilineage – female ego so patrilineality = patriarchy
• matrilineality does NOT = matriarchy
• the Hopi
• effect of colonialism cross relatives
• kin on each side, who are neither patrilineal or matrilineal
• cross cousins are of particular importance, especially for some marriage systems
•
Cross cousins can be identified as the children of opposite sexed siblings (of a brother and sister) and parallel cousins as the children of same sexed siblings (of two brothers or two sisters).
Unilineal Descent
•
Patrilineal systems are much more common than matrilineal ones, occurring at roughly twice the incidence
• the "tribes" of Israel were patrilineages and ancient Greek and Roman family organization.
•
Matrilineal systems are less frequent but are still ethnographically important.
– West African Ashanti kingdom developed within a matrilineal society
– heir to the throne is not the king's (Asantehene's) own child but his sister's son
– Early British emissaries to Ashanti learned about this family system the hard way
– supported several of the Asantehene's sons to be educated in England only to realize that the allies they had so carefully cultivated were not in line to assume the throne.
Unilineal Descent
•
Unilineal Kinship and Descent
– unilineal descent groups , either patrilineages or matrilineages according to the prevailing descent rule
– over twice the number of descent system (70% of all groups considered in one sample) follow unilineal kinship rules (Murdock 1949:59
–
In many societies unilineal descent groups assume important corporate functions such as land ownership, political representation and mutual aid and support
Lineage
• a corporate descent group whose members trace their genealogical links to a common ancestor
• corporate = shares resources in common
– own property
– organize labour
– assign status
– regulate relations with other groups
• endures beyond individual members
Clan (or sib)

• a non-corporate descent group whose members claim descent from a common ancestor without knowing the genealogical inks to that ancestor
• often produced through fission of lineage into newer, smaller lineage characteristics of the clan
• greater genealogical depth than lineage
• lacks residential unity (in contrast to lineage)
• a ceremonial unit that meets on special occasions
• handle important integrative functions
• may regulate marriage outside clan clans are often dependent on symbols as integrative feature
• totem: a symbol of a clan’s mythical origin that reinforces clan member’s common descent
• totem from Ojibwa ototeman ; he is a relative of mine totemism defined by A.R. Radcliffe-Brown
• a set of “customs and beliefs by which there is set up a special system of relations between the society and the plants, animals, and other natural objects that are important in the social life”
• among the Haida of west coast Canada
–
Bear, Killer Whale, Cannibal Spirit, Salmon, and Beaver
Phratries and Moieties
• less common forms of descent groups
• phratry: a unilineal descent group composed of at least two clans that supposedly share a common ancestry, whether they do or not
• if a society is broken into only two large groups (clan or phratry), each group is referred to as a MOIETY
• moieties, phratries, clans and lineages
– from most inclusive to the least inclusive
– all typically associated with exogamy
Dual Descent or Ambilineal Descent
Bilateral Descent
•
Also called cognatic descent
•
Canada, US, Europe
• ego sees his or her relatives on both sides as being of equal closeness & relevance
• the degree of closeness is based on generational distance separating the individuals (our system)
Strengths of Bilateral System
•
Overlapping membership
•
Widely extended, can form broad networks
•
Flexible

•
Useful for groups that do not live in same place
•
Useful when valued resources are limited
Bilateral Kindred
• a person's bilateral set of relatives who may be called upon for some purpose
• no two persons belong exactly to the same kin group
• ego centered with kindred of close relatives spreading out on both your mother's and father's sides
• connected only because of you
Structures of Descent
• lineages (patri & matri) - common ancestor
• clan – several lineages common ancestor, usually large groups that are associated with mythical ancestors
• phratry - unilineal descent group composed of a number of supposedly related clans
• moieties - means half, when an entire society is divided into 2 unilineal descent groups
• many societies have 2 or more types of descent groups in various combinations
• some have lineages & clans, others may have clans & phrateries but no lineages
KINSHIP CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS
•
KINSHIP Charted
• in the past, a main field activity & subject for study
“Eskimo”System of kinship terminology
• all cousins lumped together under same term
• brother & sister distinguished from cousins
• aunts & uncles lumped, but distinguished from mother & father
• not found with unilineal/ambilineal descent groups, but with bilateral kindred
•
Anglo Canadian
• foraging groups
Hawaiian System - least complex
• all relatives of the same sex in the same generation are referred to by the same term
•
Java
• north coast Salish of British Columbia
• large extended families, not unilineal descent
• often associated with ambilineal descent
Iroquois System
• associated with unilineal descent
• father and father’s brother are referred to by single term
• mother and mother’s sister referred to by a single term
• but father’s sister and mother’s brother are given separate terms
• ego’s brother’s sisters and parallel cousins (through linking parent) are referred to by same term

• cross cousins are distinguished
• often preferred spouses
Omaha System - patrilineal descent plus generation
• father & father's brother referred to by the same term
• mother & mother's sister & mother's brother’s daughter referred to by same term
• that is: the female members of my mother's patrilineage
• mother's brother & mother's brother's son referred to by same term
• that is: the male members of my mother’s patrilineage
Crow System - matrilineal descent (mirror image of Omaha)
• mother & mother's sister referred to by same term
• father & father's brother & father's sister's son referred to by same term (male members of my father's matrilineal group)
• father's sister & father's sister's daughter referred to by same term (female members of my father's matrilineal group)
• the Hopi, for example
– emphasis on lineality
Sudanese System (Descriptive)
• a term for each relative
• more precise than even the Anglo Canadian system
Functions of Kinship and Descent
• function as primary groups
– institutions which normally recruit personnel by the criterion of inherited status
• group's unity and character reflect bonds formed upon common origin and identity and which address the general welfare of the membership rather than a specific and intentionally defined objective
• type of functions varies crossculturally
• include the major activities of economic, political, and religious life
•
In a general sense, the kinship unit often constitutes a corporate group which becomes a legal entity in itself and is assigned collective rights on behalf of its members and their estates
Marriage and the Family
Marriage
•
A relationship between one or more men (male or female) and one or more women
(female or male) recognized by society as having a continuing claim to the right of access to one another
•
All societies have marriage
–
About the social control of sexuality
Marriage and the Family
•
Models of exogamy, incest taboo, & endogamy
–
Cultural typologies of these universal patterns of social differentiation
Rules of Sexual Access
•
Marriage does not equal mating
•
Marriage establishes a continuing claim of rights of sexual access to another person

–
Backed by legal, economic, & social forces
Nayar of Malabar coast of India
•
First act: girl becomes a social adult female
– daughter rites of passage to adulthood
•
Second act: women become sexually active
–
Nayar woman & multiple sex relations (the spear)
•
Third act: children are born and reared
•
Marriage only a formality
– female returns home after ceremony & man returns to his kin group
•
Question of legitimacy not established by marriage
–
A child acknowledged as a socially appropriate progeny based on mother’s kin group
• reproduce society without family as North Americans may think about it
Forms of Marriage
•
Monogamy = marriage between two partners
•
Polygamy = plural marriage = an individual has more than one spouse
–
Polygyny = one man many wives
–
Polyandry = one woman many husbands
•
No marriage
•
Serial monogamy = preferred practice in the West?
Forms of Marriage
•
Same sex marriages
–
Homosexual marriages
–
Ghost marriages
–
A Nuer woman who is unable to have children is sometimes married as a
"husband" to another woman who then is impregnated by a secret boyfriend. The barren woman becomes the socially recognized father and thereby adds members to her father's patrilineal kin group
Other Nuer forms of ghost marriage
•
A man may marry a woman as a stand-in for his deceased brother
– the children that are born of this union will be considered descendents of the dead man -- the "ghost" is the socially recognized father
• allows the continuation of the family line and succession to an important social position
–
A Nuer woman of wealth may marry a deceased man to keep her wealth and power
• there will be no living husband, though she may subsequently have children
• She is, in effect, a widow who takes care of her husband's wealth and children until they are mature
Forms of Marriage
•
Levirate & sororate
– Levirate = a widow marries dead husband’s brother
– Sororate = a widower marries dead wife’s sister

•
Keeps inheritance within the same group
Forms of Marriage
•
Cousin marriage
–
Patrilateral parallel-cousin marriage = marriage of a man to his father’s brother’s daughter
• Or of a woman to her father’s brother’s son
•
Preferred form in Bali
•
Hint: parallel refers to sex linking relative
•
Property is retained in the male line of descent
–
Often related to more property ownership
Forms of Marriage
•
Cousin marriage
–
Matrilateral cross-cousin marriage
– Marriage of a woman to her father’s sister’s son
– Or of a man to his mother’s brother’s daughter
•
Less about property than about ties of solidarity between groups
Levi-Strauss on Marriage as Exchange
•
Levi-Strauss: "It's not the man that marries the maid, but field marries field, vineyard marries vineyard, cattle marries cattle”
• a set of rights the couple & their families obtain over one another, including rights to the couple's children
Marriage and wealth exchange
•
Bridewealth
– payment to wife and/or wife’s family
– pays for loss of daughter
•
Dowry
– payment to husband and/or husband family
– correlated to low women gender status
– pays for adding women to descent group
MARRIAGE EXCHANGES
• marriage means alliances
• people don't just take a spouse they assume obligations to a group of in-laws
• often more a relationship between groups than one between individuals-marriage involves are people buying their wives? Or how is a wife like a T.V.?
• the price is negotiated & rights are not given to the husband until the deal is done
– if the woman proves barren or troublesome the goods are often refunded
– women have voice in the transactions
– women also has rights of her own in the marriage relationship (commodities don't)

• the woman & her kinfolk can also end the marriage if husband does not meet obligations buying & selling of commodities is a one time event
• bridewealth establishes an enduring bundle of reciprocal rights & obligations between relatives of the couple that will last as long as the marriage lasts
Levi-Strauss and women as objects of exchange
• marriage systems - a form of exchange - "that as soon as I am forbidden a woman, she thereby becomes available to another man, and somewhere else a man renounces a woman who thereby becomes available to me." (Levi-Strauss:51)
– wife givers & wife takers
• nevertheless, as exchange marriage implies reciprocity = obligations assumed in creation & maintenance of alliances
Family
•
According the book, families are organized around mating, birth, and nurturance
•
Western bias that kinship = blood ties
Marriage and the Family
•
Variation in forms of marriage related to variations in forms of family
•
Nuclear family = parents and children
•
Extended family = 3 or more generations
•
Joint family or collateral household = siblings, their spouses and children
•
Forms of family change over time, over life cycle
Forms of Family & Subsistence
•
Forager band = group of nuclear families
•
Industrial economy = also nuclear family
–
Neither foragers nor industrial societies tied to the land
–
Emphasis on mobility, small-size, self-sufficiency
•
Cultivators and Horticulturalists = extended, joint, collateral households
–
Extended family associated with sedentary cultivation, herding & private property
–
Keeps property in family
–
Provides needed labor
Family in Canada, Europe, US
•
A unit bounded biologically & legally
•
Associated with property
•
Economic self sufficiency
•
Associated with emotional life
•
Associated with a space inside a home
–
Emerges in complex state-governed societies
•
Keep neighbors out compared to others that add children & neighbors as kin
The Modern Euro-North American Family

•
A way of organizing and thinking about relationships
• images of the modern Euro-North American family
•
The ideal nuclear family: where is it?
–
Female family householders no spouse present -- increase
–
Married couple family households with children – decrease
•
Media & the nuclear family
The Modern Euro-North American Family
•
Family = nurturance, biofunction, love & affection, cooperation, enduring relationships, unconditional
•
Market = sale of labour, negotiate contractual relations of business, competitive, temporary, contingent relations, law & legal sanctions
• family as last refuge against the state (domestic issues & police)
• family and litigation today - family becoming contract
Assumptions about the Family based on Euro-North American Cultural Ideals
•
Variation in marriage and family forms
•
Text definition: families are organized around mating, birth, and nurturance
–
Not always
Post-Marital Residence Patterns
•
Patrilocal
•
Matrilocal
•
Bi-local
•
Neolocal
•
Avunculocal – living with mother’s brother or father’s sister
•
Virilocal – living with husband’s relatives (patrilineal descent)
•
Uxorilocal – living with wife’s relatives (matrilineal descent)
Post-Marital Residence Patterns
•
70% of all societies patrilocal
•
Matrifocal households – women headed households with no permanently resident husband-father
•
Patrifocal – 3 men and a baby?
•
Post-marital residence patterns change during life cycle of marriage, over time