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/consanguines - 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 Symbols
A circle
represents a female
A triangle
represents a male
An equal sign
represents a marriage
A vertical line
represents descent or parentage
A horizontal line
represents a sibling bond.
Relationships are traced through a central individual labelled EGO.
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
Lineal and Collateral Kin
Lineal Kin - ancestors or
descendants
Collateral Kin - sibling branches
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.
Matrilineal and Patrilineal Kin
Patrilineal Kin - linked through males.
Matrilineal Kin - linked through
females
Cross Relatives - cross sexed linked
Patrilineage -- male ego
Patrilineage – female ego
Matrilateral and Patrilateral Kin
Patrilateral Kin
Matrilateral
Kin
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. RadcliffeBrown
• 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