Families, Kinship, and Descent

1. Families, Kinship, and Descent • Families • Descent • Kinship Calculation • Kinship Terminology

2. Families • Nuclear family – consists of a married couple and their children, normally living together in same household • Extended family – consists of three or more generations • Understanding kinship system is essential part of anthropology

3. Families • Family of orientation – family in which one is born and grows up • Family of procreation – formed when one marries and has children • In most societies, relations with nuclear family members take precedence over relations with other kin • Nuclear family widespread, but not universal • Descent groups – lineages and clans

4. Families • In many societies, extended families are primary unit of social organization • Muslims of western Bosnia – nuclear families within large extended families called zadrugas • Nayars – matrilineal society in which extended families live in compounds called tarawads • Where nuclear family is important, it is primary arena for sexual, reproductive, economic, and enculturative functions

5. Location of the Nayars in India’s Kerala Province

6. Industrialism and Family Organization • Neolocality – married couples may live hundreds of miles from parents • Most prevalent residence pattern in U.S. is family of procreation living neolocally.

7. Changes in North American Kinship • Nuclear families accounted for 23% of American households in 2003-2004 • Increasing representation of women in the work force associated with rise in marriage age from 21 years in 1970 to 25 in 2003 • Between 1970 and 2003 the number of divorced Americans rose from 4.3 million to 22 million • Number of single-parent families outstripped population growth, from fewer than 4 million in 1970 to 16 million in 2003

8. Changes in North American Kinship • Growing isolation from kin may well be unprecedented in human history • Major contrast with Brazilians, who much prefer to live in social world with relatives (less mobile society) • About 57% American women and 60% percent American men currently married in 2004

9. Changes in Family and Household Organization in the United States: 1970 versus 2004 • Sources: From U.S. Census data in J. M. Fields, “America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2003,” Current Population Reports, P20-553, November 2004, http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p20-553.pdf, p. 4; J. M. Fields and L. M. Casper, “America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2000,” Current Population Reports, P20-557.pdf; U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2006, Tables 55, 56, and 65. http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical_abstract.html.

10. Households by Type: Selected Years, 1970 to 2003 (percent distribution) • Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, March and Annual Social and Economic Supplements: 1997 to 2003; J. M. Fields, “America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2003,” Current Population Reports, P20-553, November 2004. http://www.census.gove/prod/2004pubs/p20-553.pdf, p. 4.

11. Ratio of Divorces to Marriages per 1,000 U.S. Population, Selected Years, 1950-2003 • Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States 2006, Tables 71, p. 64. http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical_abstract.html

12. Ratio of Divorces to Marriages per 1,000 U.S. Population, Selected Years, 1950-2003 • Source: J. M. Fields, “American Families and Living Arrangements: 2003,” Current Population Reports, P20-553, November 2004. http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p20-553.pdf, pp. 3-4. U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2004-5; Statistics Canada, 2001 Census. http://www.statcan.co/english/Pgdb/famil53a.htm, http://www.statcan.co/english/Pgdb/famil40a.htm.

13. The Family among Foragers • Typically, band exists only seasonally, breaking up into nuclear families when subsistence means require (seasons of meager resources) • The two basic units of social organization among foragers are the nuclear family and the band

14. Descent Groups • Patrilineal descent – individuals automatically join father’s descent group when they are born • Unilineal descent – descent rule only uses one line • Matrilineal descent – individuals automatically join mother’s descent group when they are born

15. Descent Groups • Clan – descent group who claims common descent from an apical ancestor but cannot demonstrate it (stipulated descent, ) • Lineage – descent group who can demonstrate their common descent from apical ancestor (e.g., Adam) (demonstrated descent; memorized, but not necessarily accurate, genealogies)

16. A Matrilineage Five Generations Deep • Matrilineages are based on demonstrated descent from a female ancestor. Only the children of the group’s women (blue) belong to the matrilineage. The children of the group’s men are excluded; they belong to their mother’s matrilineage.

17. A Patrilineage Five Generations Deep • Lineages are based on demonstrated descent from a common ancestor. With patrileneal descent, children of the group’s men (blue) are included as descent-group members. Children of the group’s female members are excluded; they belong to their father’s patrilineage. Also notice lineage exogamy.

18. Lineages, Clans, and Residence Rules • In many societies, descent groups are corporate, sharing resources and property • In tribal societies, descent group, not nuclear family, is fundamental unit

19. Unilineal Descent Rules • Matrilocality – married couple lives with wife’s family; associated with matrilineal descent and less common than patrilocality • Patrilocality – married couple lives with husband’s family; associated with patrilineal descent and more common than matrilocality

20. Ambilineal Descent Rules • Membership is fluid • Membership achieved • Membership ascribed in unilineal descent • People can choose the descent group they want to belong to

21. Family versus Descent • Obligations to one may conflict with obligations to the other • More conflicts for men in matrilineal societies (descent continuity through own matriliny versus obligations to own wife/child • Compared to patrilineal systems, matrilineal societies tend to have higher divorce rates and greater female promiscuity • Many societies have both families and descent groups

22. Kinship Calculation • Kin terms – labels given in particular culture to different kinds of relatives (e.g., uncle) • Biological kin type – degree of actual genealogical relatedness (kinship notation, e.g., FB, MB) • Bilateral kinship – people tend to perceive kin links through males and females as being similar or equal • System by which people in a society reckon kin relationships (kinship is culturally constructed)

23. Lineal Terminology • Native taxonomy developed over generations by the people who live in particular society • Our own system of kinship classification called lineal kinship terminology • Linealrelative – ancestor or descendant • Collateralrelatives – all other kin • Affinals – relatives by marriage

24. Bifurcate Merging Terminology • Associated with unilineal descent and unilocal residence • Splits mother’s side from father’s side, but also merges same-sex siblings of each parent

25. Generational Terminology • Uses same term for parents and their siblings, but lumping is more complete • Typical of ambilineal societies

26. Bifurcate collateral terminology • Separate terms used for each of the six kin types of the parental generation • Common to North Africa and the Middle East • Most particular system

27. Kinship Symbols and Genealogical Kin Type Notation

28. Lineal Kinship Terminology

29. The Distinctions among Lineals, Collaterals, and Affinals as Perceived by Ego

30. Bifurcate Merging Kinship Terminology

31. Generational Kinship Terminology

32. Bifurcate Collateral Kinship Terminology

33. The Four Systems of Kinship Terminology, with Social and Economic Correlates