Family Terms

Kinship Diagrams created and copyrighted by Prof. Brian E Schwimmer, University of Manitoba

Marriage Arrangements and Types

Monogamy -- Marriage of one male to one female. About 20% of known societies are strictly monogamous. The US is one of them - a trait inherited from our Greco-Roman tradition.

Polygamy -- Marriage of several, plural number of either husbands or wives. Polygamy is normatively approved in 77% of known societies.

Polygyny -- Marriage of one male to several females. This is the most common form of polygamy. Polygyny is normatively approved in 75% of known societies.

Polyandry -- Marriage of one female with more than one male. Few societies have this marriage arrangement - less than 1% of known societies.

Group Marriage -- Marriage of several females with several males. This marriage arrangement may never have existed as a normatively acceptable one in any known society.

Marriage Rules

Endogamy -- A norm requiring one to marry someone within one's own group/clan. It serves to preserve the status quo: class lines, caste lines, etc.
Exogamy -- A norm requiring one to marry someone from outside one's own group. It serves to increase contacts among groups. It is a common norm in certain African tribal groups. There is a norm that one must marriage someone from another tribe. This norm serves to tie neighboring tribes together through intermarriage. This reduces the possibility for hostilities, and increases the probability of mutual aid.

Residence and Locale Rules

All societies face a problem: when two people marry, where do they live? Traditionally, it has been with one or another of the sets of parents.

Patrilocal -- Over 50% of societies have patrilocal residence rules. The couple lives with the groom's family. Residence rules have many consequences. A patrilocal residence rule tends to cause a preference for sons. Sons are more highly valued than daughters because they stay with the family in which they are born. Daughters leave, often at an early age.

Matrilocal -- About 1 out of 6 societies have matrilocal residence rules. The couple lives with the family of the wife. Often times this family is headed by the bride's mother's brother - the bride's maternal uncle. In such societies property is often passed down through the mother's side.

Bilocal -- There are societies which say that the couple can go live with either the bride's or groom's parents, whichever one needs them most.
Neolocal -- The couple is expected to live apart from either set of parents. This is the US pattern. This rule goes along with a nuclear family structure.

Family Forms/Bonds/Ideology

Nuclear Family/Conjugal Bond/Individualism -- In this country when we say "family" we usually have the vision of husband, wife, and children - the classic nuclear family. Technically it means two of more persons related by blood or marriage of the same or adjoining generations. The nuclear family is associated with an emphasis of the conjugal (marriage) bond. This family form exists in societies which emphasize the importance of the individual ("individualism").

Extended Family/Consanguine Bond/Familism -- An extended family is any family structure that goes beyond the nuclear family. It could be a 3-generation extended family - grandparents, offspring and spouses, children. It could be brothers with their wives and children living together. With the extended family is also found an emphasis on the consanguine (blood) bond. This family form exists in societies that consider the family unit to be more important than the individual ("familism").

Types of extended families:

3-Generation Extended

Joint -- brothers, wives, and children

Stem - - grandparents, one son, wife, and children.

Family Types from the Individual's Point of View

Family of Orientation -- The family you are born into.

Family of Procreation -- The family you form with your spouse.

Rules of Descent

Every society is faced with the problem of how property is to be passed on, how the individual is related to kin, how children are to be socialized (into the customs of which family? - the bride's or the groom's). All these issues are considered questions of descent.

Unilineal Descent -- The usual answer to such questions has been to choose one family, one line, and ignore the other. This solution does solve many problems - like where to spend Thanksgiving: wife's family or husband's family; who is to inherit the farm/business: son or daughter, etc. Tracing lineage through one line does produce continuity over time, and it does reduce conflicts over loyalties between kin.

Types of Unilineal Descent:

Patrilineal -- Most societies have chosen this solution. Descent is traced through the male line. The woman marries and becomes part of her husbands family, as do the children.
Matrilineal -- About 20% of known societies trace descent through the female line. Again, like in the case of the Nayar (a tribal group in India), it is often the wife's brother who is the "head" of the family. Children are brought up in their mother's family - with their mother's brother acting as their social father. Property and name are passed through the female's side.

Bilateral -- No distinctions are made between the wife's and husband's families. Daughters and sons are treated equally in terms of inheritance. This is the norm for our society. As a norm, it is one that does allow for much possible conflict.

Specific Inheritance Rules

Oftentimes there are even more specific rules governing inheritance than simply favoring one line over another. They often exist in situations where the "property" can't be divided: the crown, a small farm, etc. For example, some societies reduce the potential for conflict by specifying which son will inherit:

Rules of primogeniture -- first-born son inherits all
Rules of ultimogeniture -- last-born son inherits all

Kin Terms

Kin terminology illustrates the variety and dynamism of family life.

Variety - What is considered a "family" relationship varies greatly

We in the U.S. don't have kin terms for relationships that exist in other societies. Do we have a term for the relationship that exists between two sets of parents-in-law? You get married - what are your parents to the parents of your spouse? The two families are bound together by marriage, aren't they? In Yiddish they are MACHATANISTE. The relationship is quite significant. The fact that we do not have a kin term for this relationship illustrates that this relationship is not an important one given our family system, one which emphasizes the nuclear family, individualism, neolocal location, etc.

Most societies make distinctions between "cross-cousins" and "parallel cousins." We do not distinguish between cross-cousins and parallel-cousins because we don't live in an extended family system, with either patrilocal or matrilocal residence rules. If we did, we too would make distinctions between these two sets of cousins, one of which we grow-up with and the other of which we might never see. Cousins that "cross" sex lines -- ie., your father's sister's children -- are cross cousins. Cousins that "parallel" sex lines -- ie., you father's brother's children -- are parallel cousins.

Dynamism

Changes in kin terminology give some notion of the change taking place in family systems. Can anyone tell me the difference between a first cousin once removed and a second cousin? Several generations ago I bet everyone would be able not only to tell what these different terms meant, but also tell me the names of all their first cousins once removed and second cousins. We have "forgotten" these kin terms as well as the individuals to which they refer as we have moved further away from our extended family heritage.

At the same time changes in our family lives have produce "needs" for new kin terms. With frequent divorce and remarriage producing "melded" families, new kin terms have to be developed to help make new distinctions. For example, if your parents divorce and each remarry and have children with their new spouses, you call both these sets of sibs "half brothers" and "half sisters." Yet, you probably are living with one set of them and maybe not even visiting with the other set. Should not a different term exist for each set of "half" sibs since the nature of the relationship you have with them is so different?

What about the new trend of living together. What do we call this person we are living with? What do our parent's call them when they come to a family gathering at Thanksgiving? Somehow "girl friend" and "boy friend" or "companion" does not quite work. How does "Reason for Living" sound?

Can anyone come up with a term that would be good to "use around the office"?