Solving the Problem of Cooperation Marriage and Family (Chs. 19, 20) Kinship and Descent (Ch. 21)

Genealogical Space … everyone related to ego. Kindred …that space that contains all human beings The Last Judgment Hieronymus Bosch

Genealogical Space Social Anthropology Males Females Marriage affinal Descent consanguineal Generation consanguineal

Concerning the matter of relatives: consanguineal affinal term of address term of reference Kinship and Descent These are Cultural Universals… relatives

Kinship and Descent The investigation of kinship terminology begins with a distinction between kin types and kin terms. Kin types refer to the basic uncategorized relationships that anthropologists use to describe the actual contents of kinship categories. They are supposedly culture free, etic components. Kin terms are the labels for categories of kin that include one or more kin types. They are emic structures and vary across cultures.

Kin Types Primary components and letter symbols Mother [M] Father [F] Sister [Z] Brother [B] Daughter [D] Son [S] Husband [H] Wife [W]

Rules of Descent Bilineal (Bilateral) Unilineal Matrilineal Patrilineal Double Ambilineal

Eskimo Kinship Bilineal descent Similar to “American” system

Matrilineal descent Crow, Trobriand Islanders, Navajo

Patrilineal descent Omaha, Bakhtiari, Nuer, Traditional China

Lineage - descent group w/common ancestor Fission - splitting of group Clan - same as lineage w/o known common ancestor (Mendi of New Guinea) Totemism - relation to common ancestral spirit Phratry - two or more clans w/common ancestor Moiety - half of a society divided by descent Kindred - consanguineal relatives of single individual

Rules of Residence Neolocal Matrilocal Patrilocal Ambilocal Associated with bilineal descent Associated with matrilineal descent Associated with patrilineal descent

Formation of Groups Marriage and Family

Marriage …one variable in the formation of kinship groups (affinal relatives). The other is descent (consanguineal relatives). Marriage “…a relationship between one or more men (male or female) and one or more women (male or female) recognized by the society as having a continuing claim to the right of sexual access to one another” (Haviland 2003:514). “The notion of marriage as a sacrament and not just a contract can be traced St. Paul who compared the relationship of a husband and wife to that of Christ and his church.” ( ) In a 2005 book, Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage, Coontz writes: “Almost every marital and sexual arrangement we have seen in recent years, however startling it may appear, has been tried somewhere before.” (p. 2)

Marriage and Family Conjugal bond – bond between married individuals Affines - relatives by marriage Consanguineal kin - relatives by birth Incest taboo - very strong prohibition against mating within particular group.

Monogamy Polygamy Polygyny Polyandry One spouse Multiple husbands Multiple spouses Multiple wives Rules of Marriage Exogamy Endogamy Marry inside group Marry outside group Incest taboo Strong prohibition against marriage inside group Group marriage Children are offspring of the group Serial marriage Multiple spouses, one at a time Among the Buddhist people of the mountainous Ladakh District of Jammu and Kashmir, who have cultural ties to Tibet, fraternal polyandry is practiced, and a household may include a set of brothers with their common wife or wives. This family type, in which brothers also share land, is almost certainly linked to the extreme scarcity of cultivable land in the Himalayan region, because it discourages fragmentation of holdings.

Marriage and Family Levirate - “brother marriage” Sororate - “sister marriage” …Either of the above may be “anticipatory” Fictive marriage

Marriage and Family Parallel-cousin (= Cousin) Marriage ego's father's brother's children or mother's sister's children. Cross-cousin (X-Cousin) Marriage ego's father's sister's children or mother's brother's children.

Marriage and Family Cross-cousin (X Cousin) Marriage ego's father's sister's children or mother's brother's children.

Marriage and Family X Cousin Marriage in Matrilineal Societies Sometimes prescriptive (should) Sometimes proscriptive (must) adoption fictive

Marriage and Family Family “…in anthropological terms, it is a group composed of a woman, her dependent children, and at least one adult man joined through marriage or blood relationship” (Haviland 2003: 537). Note on co-operation: Human beings, indeed all social animals, are innately co-operative. So far…… The “family” continues to be the most universal form of human social organization. Kathleen Gough specialized in cross cultural studies of the family and attempted this universal definition of family (a definition that applies to all societies): “A married couple or other group of adult kinsfolk who cooperate economically and in the upbringing of children, and all or most of whom share a common dwelling.” Stephanie Coontz, author of The Way We Really Are: Coming to Terms with America's Changing Families and The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap, wrote: “Many people hold an image of how American families ‘used to be’ at some particular point in time, and they propose that we return to that ideal. In fact, however, there have been a wide variety of family forms and values in American history, and there is no period in which some ideal family predominated.” The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap (1992)

Family relatives Nuclear families independence training Extended families dependence training Marriage and Family

Traditional functions of families Emotional nurturance Economic Co-operation Sex control Enculturation Physical nurturance Women in Civilian Labor Force: In 1900…20.6% of total …43.5% single women and 5.6% of married women. In 2002…69.6% of total…67.4% single women and 61.0% of married women. U.S. Census Bureau - Marital Status of Women in the Civilian Labor Force:

Related to technology Trends in Marriage and Family … i.e. modern genetics “Brave New World” of ‘Designer Children’ Genetic implications: Choosing or avoiding physical ability or disability Choosing or avoiding behavioral ability or disability Ravitsky, Ethics and Education: The Ethics of Shaping Human Identity