Work, Success, and Kids:

On Marriage, Family, and Kinship

Chapter 6
Nuclear and Extended Families

 The nuclear family consists of a married

couple and their children.
 The nuclear family:
– ego-centered and impermanent
 Descent groups are permanent (lasting
beyond the life spans of individual
constituents)
– reckoned according to a single ancestor.
Nuclear and Extended Families
(cont.)

 Family of orientation
– the family in which one is born and grows up,
 Family of procreation
– formed when one marries and has children.
 Claims made for the universality of the
nuclear family, based upon the universality of
marriage, do not hold up--the nuclear family
is widespread, but not universal.
Nuclear and Extended Families
(cont.)

 In societies where the nuclear family is

important, this structure acts as a
primary arena for sexual, reproductive,
economic, and enculturative functions
 In many societies, the extended families
are the primary unit of social
organization
Industrialism and Family
Organization

 The most prevalent residence pattern in the

United States is families of procreation living
neolocally.
 In the U.S., as in other large, industrialized
societies, patterns of residence and family types
may change from class to class, in response to
the conditions of these different contexts (e.g.,
extended families as a response to poverty).
Changes in North American
Kinship
 In 2000, 24 percent of American households were
inhabited by nuclear families.
– As compared to 40% in 1970
 Increasing representation of women in the work
force is associated with a rise in marriage age.
 The divorce rate rose steeply between 1970 and
1994.
 The media is reflecting and intensifying these
changes.
Changes in North American
Kinship

 Comparatively, Americans (especially

middle class) identify a smaller range of
kindred than members of nonindustrial
societies.
The Family among Foragers

 The two basic units of social organization

among foragers are the nuclear family and
the band.
 Typically, the band exists only seasonally,
breaking up into nuclear families when
subsistence means require.
Marriage

 There is no single definition of marriage that

is adequate to account for all of the diversity
found in marriages cross-culturally.
 Terms
– Genitor refers to the biological father of a
child.
– Pater refers to the socially recognized
father of a child.
Exogamy

 Exogamy is the practice of seeking a spouse

outside one's own group.
 This practice forces people to create and
maintain a wide social network.
 This wider social network nurtures, helps,
and protects one's group during times of
need.
Incest
 Incest refers to sexual relations with a close relative.
– The incest taboo is a cultural universal.
– What constitutes incest varies widely from culture to culture.
 In societies with unilineal descent systems (patrilineal
or matrilineal), the incest taboo is often defined based
on the distinction between two kinds of first cousins:
parallel cousins and cross cousins.
– Sexual relations with a parallel cousin is incestuous,
because they belong to the same generation and the same
descent group.
– Sexual relations with a cross cousin is not incestuous
because they belong to the opposite group or moiety.
Explaining the Taboo: Instinctive
Horror

 This theory argues that Homo sapiens are

genetically programmed to avoid incest.
 This theory has been refuted.
– However, cultural universality does not necessarily entail a
genetic basis (e.g., fire making).
– If people really were genetically programmed to avoid
incest, a formal incest taboo would be unnecessary.
– This theory cannot explain why in some societies people
can marry their cross cousins but not their parallel cousins.
Explaining the Taboo: Biological
Degeneration
 This theory argues that the incest taboo developed in
response to abnormal offspring born from incestuous
unions.
 A decline in fertility and survival does accompany
brother-sister mating across several generations.
Explaining the Taboo: Biological
Degeneration
 However, human marriage patterns are based on
specific cultural beliefs rather than universal
concerns about biological degeneration several
generations in the future.
– Neither instinctive horror nor biological
degeneration can explain the very widespread
custom of marrying cross cousins.
– Also, fears about degeneration cannot explain
why sexual unions between parallel cousins but
not cross cousins are so often tabooed.
Explaining the Taboo: Attempt and
Contempt

 Malinowski (and Freud) argued that the incest

taboo originated to direct sexual feelings away
from one’s family to avoid disrupting the family
structure and relations (familiarity increases the
chances for attempt).
 The opposite theory argues that people are less
likely to be sexually attracted to those with whom
they have grown up (familiarity breeds
contempt).
Explaining the Taboo: Marry Out or
Die Out
 A more accepted argument is that the taboo originated to
ensure exogamy.
– Incest taboos force people to create and maintain wide social networks
by extending peaceful relations beyond one's immediate group.
– With this theory, incest taboos are seen as an adaptively advantageous
cultural construct.
 This argument focuses on the adaptive social results of
exogamy, such as alliance formation, not simply on the idea of
biological degeneration.
 Incest taboos also function to increase a group's genetic
diversity.
Endogamy

 Endogamy and exogamy may operate in a single

society, but do not apply to the same social unit.
 Endogamy can be seen as functioning to express
and maintain social difference, particularly in
stratified societies.
 Homogamy is the practice of marrying someone
similar to you in terms of background, social
status, aspirations, and interests.
Caste

 India’s caste system is an extreme example

of endogamy.
 It is argued that, although India’s varna and
America’s “races” are historically distinct,
they share a caste-like ideology of
endogamy.
Polygyny
 Even in cultures that approve of polygamy,
monogamy still tends to be the norm, largely because
most populations tend to have equal sex ratios.
 Polygyny is more common than polyandry because,
where sex ratios are not equal, there tend to be more
women than men.
 Multiple wives tend also to be associated with wealth
and prestige (the Kanuri of Nigeria and the Betsileo
are used as examples).
Polyandry

 Polyandry is quite rare, being practiced almost exclusively in

South Asia.
 Among the Paharis of India, polyandry was associated with a
relatively low female population, which was itself due to covert
female infanticide.
 Polyandry is usually practiced in response to specific
circumstances, and in conjunction with other marriage formats.
 In other cultures, polyandry resulted from the fact that men
traveled a great deal, thus multiple husbands ensured the
presence of a man in the home.
Edmund Leach on Marriage
 Edmund Leach argued that there are several different kinds of rights
allocated by marriage.
 Marriage can establish the legal father of a woman’s children and the
legal mother of a man’s.
 Marriage can give either or both spouses a monopoly in the sexuality of
the other.
 Marriage can give either of both spouses rights to the labor of the other.
 Marriage can give either of both spouses rights over the other’s property.
 Marriage can establish a joint fund of property—a partnership—for the
benefit of the children.
 Marriage can establish a socially significant relationship of affinity
between spouses and their relatives.
Marital Rights and Same-Sex
Marriage
 In the section Kottak argues that same-sex marriages are legitimate
unions between two individuals because like other kinds of marriage,
same-sex marriage can allocate all of the rights discussed by Leach.
– In the U.S., since same-sex marriage is illegal, same-sex couples are
denied many of these rights (e.g., rights to the labor of the other, over
the other’s property, relationships of affinity with the other’s relatives).
– This does not mean that same-sex marriages, like any other cultural
construction, are not capable of meeting these needs, only that in the
U.S. laws prevent them from doing so.
 There are many examples in which same-sex marriages are
culturally sanctioned (e.g., the Nuer, the Azande, the Igbo,
berdaches, and the Lovedu).
Bridewealth
 Particularly in descent-based societies, marriage partners
represent an alliance of larger social units.
 Bridewealth is a gift from the husband’s kin to the wife’s, which
stabilizes the marriage by acting as an insurance against divorce.
 Brideprice is rejected as an appropriate label, because the
connotations of a sale are imposed; but progeny price is
considered an equivalent term.
 Dowry, much less common than bridewealth, correlates with low
status for women.
 Fertility is often considered essential to the stability of a marriage.
 Polygyny may be practiced to ensure fertility.
Durable alliances

 The existence of customs such as the sororate

and the levirate indicates the importance of
marriage as an alliance between groups.
 Sororate marriages involve the widower
marrying one of his deceased wife’s sisters.
 Levirate marriages involve the widow marrying
one of her deceased husband’s brothers.
Divorce
 Divorce is found in many different societies.
 Marriages that are political alliances between groups are
harder to break up than marriages that are more individual
affairs.
 Payments of bridewealth also discourage divorce.
 Divorce is more common in matrilineal societies as well as
societies in which postmarital residence is matrilocal.
 Divorce is harder in patrilocal societies as the woman may
be less inclined to leave her children who, as members of
their father’s lineage, would need to stay with him.
Divorce in Foraging Societies
 In foraging societies forces act to both promote and
discourage divorce.
 Promote divorce:
– Since foragers lack descent groups, marriages tend to be individual
affairs with little importance placed on the political alliances.
– Foragers also have very few material possessions.
 Discourage divorce:
– The family unit is the basic unit of society and division of labor is
based on gender.
– The sparse populations mean that there are few alternative spouses
if you divorce.
Divorce in the U.S.

 The U.S. has one of the world’s highest

divorce rates.
 The U.S. has a very large percentage of
gainfully employed women.
 Americans value independence.
 Descent Groups

 A descent group is a permanent social unit whose

members claim common ancestry.
 Matrilineal descent
 Patrilineal descent
 Matrilineal and patrilineal descent are types of
unilineal descent in which individuals only
recognize one line of descent.
 Kinship and Social Organization
– An Interactive Tutorial
 Descent Groups
 Lineage
– a descent group who can demonstrate their
common descent from an apical ancestor.
 Clan
– a descent group who claims common descent
from an apical ancestor but cannot demonstrate it
(stipulated descent).
 When a clan’s apical ancestor is nonhuman, it
is called a totem.
Lineages, Clans, and Residence
Rules

 In tribal societies, the descent group,

not the nuclear family, is the
fundamental unit.
 In many societies, descent groups
are corporate, sharing resources and
property.
Lineages, Clans, and Residence
Rules

 Unilocal Residence
– Patrilocality
 marriedcouple lives with husband's family;
associated with patrilineal descent and is more
common than matrilocality.
– Matrilocality
 married couple lives with wife's family; associated
with matrilineal descent and is less common than
patrilocality.
Ambilineal Descent

 People can choose the descent group that

they want to belong to.
 Membership is fluid as people can change
their descent group membership.
 With unilineal descent, membership is
ascribed, but for ambilineal descent,
membership is achieved.
Kinship Calculation

 Kinship calculation is any systemic method

for reckoning kin relations.
 Genealogical Kin Types and Kin Terms
– Kin terms are the labels given in a particular
culture to different kinds of relatives.
– Biological kin type refers to the degree of actual
genealogical relatedness.
Kinship Calculation

 Bilateral Kinship
– Used by most Americans and Canadians.
– Kinship is traced through both male and female
lines.
– Kin links through males and females are perceived
as being similar or equivalent.
– In North American bilateral kinship there is often
matrilineal skewing, a preference for relatives on
the mother's side.