Marriage, Family & Kinship

Marriage: a transaction  resulting in a contract between two or more parties in which two or more individuals are recognized as having (1) a continuing claim to the rights of sexual access, (2) legitimization of children (3) kin relations are established, and (4) there is a clear statement of the proper roles and responsibilities of each party. 

• Marriages are backed by social, economic and legal forces within a culture
• EXAMPLES:

• Ghost Marriage among the Nuer
• Woman/Woman marriage among the Southern Bantu
• Tali Tying among the Nayar (pre-menstruation)
• Berdache' among the Navaho

Marriage Rules: (will speak about special marriage rules later)

• Exogamous Rules / (Exogamy): states the groups you must marry "out" of
  
•  "Incest Taboo" : prohibits sexual relations between "blood relatives" (This is always a required rule)
• Genetic explanation-deleterious genes & mutation?
• Human nature explanation?
• Familiarity breeds contempt explanation (Israeli Kibbutzim studies)?
• Social Network explanation? (alliance building)
• Familial Roles Confusion explanation?
• Endogamous Rules / (Endogamy): States the groups you must marry within
• race
• class
• education
• religion
• these are all PREFERENTIAL RULES in American culture rather than REQUIRED RULES

*Sex is often allowed outside of marriage. In such cases it is less regulated than in the structure of  a marriage contract.

Types of Kin: 

• Affinal Kin (related through the contract of marriage)
• Consanguineal kin (blood relatives-related by "blood")
• the definitions of these vary from culture to culture, and are based in the kind of KINSHIP SYSTEM which is found in each culture.

Forms of Marriage:

• Monogamy: Where only one marriage contract is possible for any individual
• Industrial Agricultural cultures
• Hunting & Gathering cultures
• somewhat common
• Polygamy: Where multiple marriage contracts are possible for an individual
• Polygyny: Marriage of one man to more than one woman
• involves multiple contracts-strict rules for "equality" between contracts
• common marriage system
• not accessible to all men in any culture since marriage are "expensive" for kin groups
• polygyny therefore becomes a marker of status
• polygyny is found in cultures where gaining status is desirable. (ranked, stratified societies)
• Pastoral societies
• Patrilineal horticultural societies
• Agricultural societies
• Polyandry : Marriage of one woman to more than one man. 
• involves multiple contracts
• rare in terms of marriage systems
• all "husband" are considered fathers to the children produced
• fraternal polyandry (Yak Herders of Tibet)-example

•  Serial Monogamy: When one marriage contract can be engaged in at a time
• found where there is an option for ending contracts (divorce)
• Industrial agriculture and Hunting and gathering
  
• Group Marriage: Where a marriage contract may include more than two individuals
• Eskimo & Inuit 

Marriage Exchanges: Marriages are all transactions, and as such involve important exchanges between kin groups.

• Bridewealth: exchange of wealth from kin group of the groom to the kin group of the bride on the occasion of finalizing a marriage contract. 
• These can be substantial expenditures which may take years and even generations to fulfill.
• impediment against men acquiring wives, and in such systems, men marry later in life and some never marry, especially where polygyny is practiced.
• can create a "shortage of women"- tension among men
• can be viewed as "demeaning" to women or a measure of their immense value for the production of children and economic contributions within the houselhold and subsistence.
• Horticultural societies
• Creates strong bonds between women and their brothers since sisters marriages bring wealth into their kin groups to enable their brothers to marry
• Brideprice: exchange of goods
• Brideservice: exchange of services

• Dowry: Often understood as an "early" inheritance by women in a kin group.Dowry is the wealth a bride brings with her into a marriage contract
• Agricultural societies
• dowry often becomes the "property" of the husband's kin group although it is not technically meant to be this
• signals woman's exit from their natal kin group.
• Does not foster continued ties between women and their brothers or family, since women remove wealth from the family on the occasion of their marriage. Daughters are expensive. They can be seen as a burden.
• signals low status for women, way to attract husbands
• Sutti (bride-burning) India- can be seen as a function of dowry & recent dowry inflation

Family: A residential kin group composed of a woman, her dependent children, and at least one male joined through marriage (affinal) or blood (consanguineal) relationship. 

• in opposition to the Household which can be familial or nonfamilial
• Functions:
• legitimize and nurture children
• control of sexual relations
• economic cooperation

Forms of Family: 

• Nuclear: composed of a husband, wife, and their dependent children
• industrial agricultural and hunting and gathering
• gain MOBILITY
• independent from larger kin group
• lose security
• Extended: composed of a nuclear family and relations both generational (grandparents & grandchildren) and within a single generation (brothers and sisters and their spouses)
• horticultural and agrarian agricultural
• gain SECURITY
• dependent on larger kin group
• lose mobility
• Polygamous: Found in polygamous systems where patrilineal polygamy is practiced
• Each wife has their own household within a polygamous compound
• wives ranked by seniority
• work together to accomplish tasks of the family as a whole
• maintain concern for the benefit of their (wives) biological children which are distinguished
• Co-wives cooperate and are often great friends and support systems for one another since women in these systems leave their birth families to reside with their husbands families.
• Consanguine : Related women and their brothers and the women's offspring.
• no coresidence between husband and wife
• spend time in natal households with men "commuting" for sex and the production of offspring
• "Uterine families" of rural taiwan
• can exist in conjunction with other family systems and serve a special function within culture and society

Kinship systems are important to study and understand because they lie at the base of social organization in every culture. In many cultures, kinship is the ONLY organizing principle in that society.

Kinship systems determine who your relatives are

• affinal
• consanguineal

and how the following will be regulated in a culture:

• marriage
• familial roles
• residence rules
• descent
• succession
• inheritance

TYPES OF KINSHIP SYSTEMS:

• UNILINEAL
• Patrilineal- trace descent through men. From father to children
• Matrilineal-trace descent through women from mother through children
• Bilineal-trace descent through both women and men, but differently. Women pass down some things and men pass down others

• BILATERAL
• descent passed down through both men and women equally to their children

UNILINEAL SYSTEMS:

• LINEAGE-basic unit
• related lineages are organized into clans and two related clans make up a phratry
• lineages are CORPORATE, phratrys and clans are not
• made up of only consanguineal kin
• trace relationships to a known common ancestor (patriarch or matriarch)
• a member of only one lineage.
• immutable, non-negtiable membership. You are born into a lineage and remain in it even after death as an ancestor
• Consistent with extended and polygamous family structure
• TYPES:
• PATRILINEAL DESCENT
• men pass down descent and inheritance goes through men to their offspring
• found in horticultural (larger and pastoral) and nonindustrial agricultural societies
• women do most of the agricultural labor in plant based horticulture and men do most of the labor in agricultural and pastoral societies
• marriages are strong and divorce is difficult to attain. 
• relationships between siblings (brothers and sisters are weakened)
• women and their sexuality and sexual behavior are controlled
• MATRILINEAL DESCENT
• women pass down descent and inheritance goes through men to their offspring
• found in horticultural (smaller plant based) societies
• men do most of the agricultural labor in plant based horticulture 
• marriages are weak and divorce is easy to attain. 
• relationships between siblings (brothers and sisters) are strong and remain so throughout their lives
• brothers are responsible for the care and socialization of their sister's children
• women and their sexuality and sexual behavior are not controlled

BILATERAL SYSTEMS:

• KINDRED is the basic unit
• non-corporate
• mutable and ever changing
• you are a member of a number of overlapping kindreds at the same time
• made up of affinal, consanguineal and fictive kin
• drawn and maintained through the perspective of "EGO"
• consistent with NUCLEAR FAMILY STRUCTURE
• Descent and inheritance passed from father and mother equally to their children

FICTIVE KIN: Those considered kin and treated like kin that are not related either by marriage contract or by decent. 

RESIDENCE PATTERNS

• patrilocal- reside with groom's family
• matrilocal - reside with bride's family
• avunculocal- reside with groom's mothers brother
  
• ambilocal- reside in more than one location (move between them)
• neolocal- reside in a separate residence

 Kinship Terminology (6 major patterns):

indicate the relationships between people in the designation of kin terms.

MARRIAGE STRATEGIES & KIN GROUPINGS

• Alliance Intensifying
• Alliance Diversifying

Special Marriage Forms:

• Cross Cousin Marriage (preferred marriage form)-alliance intensifying
• Parallel Cousin Marriage (preferred marriage form)-alliance intensifying
• Leverite (required practice)-maintains contract
• Sororate (required practice)-maintains contract