Chapter 6

relatedness

the socially recognized ties that connect people in a variety of ways including: Marriage, family, kinship, friendship

the systems of relatedness are _____________

creative, adaptive, context-specific, fluid, cultural (dynamic= constantly changing)

Kinship

defines people, based on the genealogical method

What are the 3 common principles of kinship

1: key element of a society’s organization

2: classified into different types (categorize societies based on descent)

3: organized by the principles of marriage and descent

affinal

via marriage (ex. in laws)

consanguineal 

by birth (ex. siblings, parents)

Genealogical Method

traces kinship based on affinal and consanguineal relations

Genealogical Method focuses on _____

typologies and categories (kinship charts - family trees)

what are key symbols of the Genealogical Method

“blood and blood ties”

Who critiqued the Genealogical Method?

David Schneider

What was David Schneider’s critique about the focus on “blood ties”?

argued that kinship systems are symbolic, not purely biological.

It had a Eurocentric bias assuming "blood ties" were universal, focused on biological reproduction/heteronormative sex, and reinforced the nuclear family as “natural”

What did Schneider propose viewing kinship through instead?

care and nurture (instead of blood/biology)

How did the genealogical method’s Eurocentric bias influence colonial policies like the Indian Act?

imposed patriarchal and colonial ideas of status and identity, causing Indigenous women who marries non-Indigenous men to lose their status

marriage

socially recognized contract between spouses that carries the possible implications of sexual access, resources, status, children, and kin connections

marriage is a social process. What are the new relationships other creates?

• between the individuals marrying one another

• among their relatives

• among members of the wider society

(dynamic - constantly changing)

what are the patterns in marriage practices?

• spouse selection

• # of spouses

• post-marital residence patterns 

• marriage and economic exchange

• flexibility in marriage

what is the marriage practice of marrying within a defined social group called?

endogamy

what is the marriage practice of marrying outside a defined social group called?

exogamy

monogamy

pattern in which a person is married to only one person at a time

sologamy

practice of self-marriage

polygamy

marriage pattern in which a person may be married to more than one person at a time

polygyny

multiple wives

polyandry

multiple husbands

fraternal polyandry

brothers share one wife

polyamory

multiple romantic relationships at the same time

levirate marriage

widow marries her deceased husband’s brother/close relatives

sorate marriage

widower marries the sister or close relatives of his deceased wife

patrilocal residence

living with/near husband’s family

matrilocal residence

living with wife’s family

neolocal

living in a new residence without extended family

dowry

transfer of wealth from a bride’s parents to her or to the groom and his family

bride wealth

transfer of symbolically important goods from the family of the groom to the family of the bride

family

socially recognized unit of related people who often share a residence and produce/share resources

nuclear family

family made of 2 generations: parents and their unmarried children

polygynous family

made up of a husband, co-wives, and their children

extended family

pattern made up of three generations living together, such as parents, children, and grandchildren.

joint family

pattern made up of siblings and their spouses, along with their children and sometimes their parents, living together

blended family

when divorces or widowed individuals remarry and bring their children from previous marriages

families of choice

created over time by new kin ties as friends and lovers demonstrate their genuine commitment to one another, not defined by marriage or decent

bilateral descent

relatedness is traced through both the mother’s and father’s lines

unilineal descent

relatedness traced through one parent line only

patrilineal: father

matrilineal: mother

lineage

descent group made of relatives who believe they can trace their descent from known ancestors

clan

descent group formed by members who believe they have a common ancestor, by cannot specify the exact genealogical links

compadrazgo in catholic latin America

system of ritual co-parenthood (godparents)

friendship

unofficial bonds that people construct with one another that tend to be personal, affective, and a matter of choice

sodalities

non-kin social groups that may be organized on the basis of age, sex, economic, role, or personal interest