Kinship and Descent

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Kinship and Social Organization: An Interactive Tutorial -- Brian Schwimmer

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Kin Types

• consanguineal relative = "blood" relatives
  
  
• affinal relative = relatives by marriage, whether of lineals (e.g., son's wife) or collaterals (e.g., sister's husband)
  
  
• fictive kin = personal relationships modeled on kinship, based on . . .
  
  
  • adoption
  • religious practice (compadre, godparents, godchildren, etc.)
  • honor ("Uncle" Henry)
    
    
• lineal relative = kin in your direct line of descent, i.e., any of ego's ancestors or descendants (e.g., parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren); relatives on the direct line of descent that leads to and from ego
  
  
  • matrilineal (uterine) = unilineal descent through women, where individuals join the mother's group automatically at birth and stay members throughout life
    
    
    • Found among 15% of all cultures
    • Kinship is traced through the female line
    • Women control land and products
    • Found in the Pacific, Australia, small parts of Mediterranean coast
    • Declining though capitalism (Barbara D. Miller, 2002)
      
      
      
  • patrilineal (agnatic) = unilineal descent through men, where individuals join the father's group automatically at birth and stay members throughout life
    
    
    • Found among 44% of all cultures
    • Kinship is traced through the male line
    • Males dominate position, power and property
    • Girls are raised for other families
    • Found in East and South Asia and Middle East (Barbara D. Miller, 2002)
      
      
• collateral relative = a biological relative who is not a lineal, such as Br, Si, FaBr, or MoSi

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Descent Terms

• bilateral descent = descent traced through both sexes: mother and father, sister and brother, daughter and son, and so on
  
  
• unilineal descent = descent through either men or women, one or the other, but not both
  
  
• Basis of kinship in 60% of world’s cultures
• Most associated with pastoralism, horticulture and agricultural systems (Barbara D. Miller, 2002)
  
  
• matrilineal (uterine) = unilineal descent through women, where individuals join the mother's group automatically at birth and stay members throughout life

  
  

  • Found among 15% of all cultures
  • Kinship is traced through the female line
  • Women control land and products
  • Found in the Pacific, Australia, small parts of Mediterranean coast
  • Declining though capitalism (Barbara D. Miller, 2002)

  
  
  
• patrilineal (agnatic) = unilineal descent through men, where individuals join the father's group automatically at birth and stay members throughout life

  
  

  • Found among 44% of all cultures
  • Kinship is traced through the male line
  • Males dominate position, power and property
  • Girls are raised for other families
  • Found in East and South Asia and Middle East (Barbara D. Miller, 2002)
    

  
  
  • agnates = members of the same patrilineal descent group

    
    
• cognates = kin related through either the father (male filiation) or the mother (female filiation)
  
  
• bilineal descent = males descend through males, females through females
  
  
  • Descent is traced equally from both parents
  • Married couples live away from their parents
  • Inheritance is allocated equally between siblings
  • Dominant in foraging and industrial cultures (Barbara D. Miller, 2002)
    
    
• double descent = individual has membership in father's group for some purposes and mother's group for others
  
  
• ambilineal = principle of descent that does not automatically exclude the children of either sons or daughters
  
  
• descent group = a permanent social unit whose members claim common ancestry; fundamental to tribal society
  
  
  • lineage = unilineal descent group based on demonstrated descent from a common ancestor
    
    
    • Segmentary Lineages -- Brian Schwimmer
      
      
    • Nuer Segmentary Lineages
      
      
  • clan = unilineal descent group based on stipulated descent (i.e., clan members say they are descended from a common ancestor)
    
    
  • moiety = one of two descent groups in a given population
    • usually moieties intermarry

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Kinship Terminologies

• terms of address -- what you call someone when talking to them, e.g., "Nanna"
  
  
• terms of reference -- what you call someone when talking about them, e.g., "my grandmother"
  
  
• nuclear family -- kinship group consisting of parents and children
  
  
  • occurs as the only form in only about one-forth of the societies of the world
    
    
  • in about half of the societies the nuclear family is enclosed within some kind of extended family, a larger kinship group that includes more than a single set of spouses and their children
    
    
• extended family -- expanded household including three or more generations
  
  
• family of orientation -- nuclear family in which one is born and grows up
  
  
• family of procreation -- nuclear family established when one marries and has children
  
  
• cross cousins (slides) -- children of a brother and of a sister
  
  
• parallel cousins (slides) -- children of two brothers or two sisters
  
  
• ego -- Latin for "I" and in kinship charts represents the point from which one views an egocentric genealogy
  
  
• lineal kinship terminology -- parental generation kin terminology with four terms: one for Mo, one for Fa, one for FaBr and MoBr, and one for MoSi and FaSi

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Kinship Systems

based on cousin terms
based on first ascending generational terms

 

Kinship Systems

• based on cousin terms
  
  
• Eskimo
• Iroquois (bifurcate merging)
• Hawaiian (generational)
• Crow (bifurcate merging) -- matrilineal
• Omaha (bifurcate merging) -- patrilineal
• Sudanese

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Kinship Systems

• based on first ascending generational terminology




lineal	--	parental generation kin terminology with four terms: one for Mo, one for Fa, one for FaBr, and MoBr, and one for MoSi and FaSi
generational	--	kinship terminology with only two terms for the parental generation, one designating Mo, MoSi, and FaSi, and the other designating Fa, FaBr, and MoBr
bifurcate collateral	--	kinship terminology employing separate terms for Mo, Fa, MoBr, MoSi, FaBr, and FaSi
bifurcate merging	--	kinship terminology in which Mo and MoSi are called by the same term, Fa and FaBr are called by the same term, and MoBr and FaSi are called by different terms

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"Postmarital Residence Patterns"

matrilocal	--	residence with or near the bride's kin
patrilocal	--	residence with or near the groom's kin
uxorilocal	--	residence with the wife's relatives after marriage
virilocal	--	residence with the husband's relatives after marriage
ambilocal	--	the couple may reside with either the husband's or the wife's group
bilocal	--	married couple have a choice of living near or with the family of either the groom or the bride
neolocal	--	a couple establishes a new place of residence rather than living with or near either set of parents

• Socially Enforced Nepotism: How Norms and Reputation Can Amplify Kin Altruism -- PLoS ONE (15 June 201)