KINSHIP, MARRIAGE, AND

THE HOUSEHOLDS
Guide Question: How important is
the institution of the family in
society?
“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe,
call it a family:
Whatever you call it, whoever you are, your need
one.”
- James Howard
TOPICS TO BE COVERED
• FAMILY
• TYPE OF FAMILY
• KINSHIP TIES AND SOCIAL
NETWORKS
• How will you describe your family?
• How decision making is done in your
family?
In Anthropology
Kinship is the web of social relationships that form
an important part of the lives of most humans in
most societies, although its exact meanings even
within this discipline are often debated. Kinship can
refer both to the patterns of social relationships
themselves, or it can refer to the study of the
patterns of social relationships in one or more
human cultures.
Kinship can be by blood, marriage, and ritual.
Kinship by Blood
• There are two kinds of kin:
• Consanguineal Kin – are people who are
biologically related to one another, such as
brothers and sisters or parents and their
children.
• Affinal Kin – are people who are related to
you by virtue of marriage bond, such as
husband and wife or parents in law.
Three Main Types of Affiliation with kin:
1. Unilineal descent
- describes that a person is affiliated with a group
of kin through descent links of one sex only (either
males or females), it is either patrilineal or
matrilineal.
2. Ambilinial descent
are based on the rules of descent which are rules
that connect individuals with particular sets of kin
because of known or presumed common
ancestry.
3. Bilateral descent
• Patrilineal descent – affiliates an
individual with kin of both sexes related
to him or her through men only.
• Matrilineal descent – affiliates an
individual with kin of both sexes related
to him or her through women only.
Unilineal group
(they share common descent in either the
patrilineal line or the matrilineal line)
1. Lineages – it is a set of kin whose members trace
descent from a common ancestor through known
links. They are often designated by the name of the
common male or female ancestor.
2. Clans – it is a set of kin whose members believe
themselves to the descended from a common
ancestor but not that specified. Clans with
patrilineal descent are called patriclans while
matrilineal descent are called matriclans.
Unilineal group
(they share common descent in either the
patrilineal line or the matrilineal line)
3.Phratries – it is a unilineal descent group composed
of supposedly related clans.
4.Moieties – it is when a whole society is divided into
two unilineal descent groups. The people in each
believe themselves to be descended from a
common ancestor.
Ambilineal Descent is a system containing both
unilineal descent groups example both patrilineal
and matrilineal groups in which one belongs to
one’s father’s and/or mother’s descent group.
Unilineal group
(they share common descent in either the
patrilineal line or the matrilineal line)
Bilateral kinship means two sided which refers to the
fact that one’s relatives on both mother’s and
father’s sides are equal in importance.
In the Philippines, there is bilateral descent system in
which descent is reckoned more or less equally to
both male and female lines.
 Kinship By Marriage
Marriage means a socially approved
sexual and economic union, usually
between a man and a woman. It is a
socially approved sexual union in
that married couple does not have to
hide the sexual nature of their
relationship. There are a lot of rules
governing types of marriages:
Monogamy, Polygamy, Group Marriage
(Societies regulates the number of spouses that a person may have:)
1. Monogamy – it is a form of marriage in which one
man marries one woman. It is the most common
and acceptable form of marriages.
2. Polygamy – it is a form of marriage in which one is
entitled to marry many partners.
2.1 Polygyny- it is a form of marriage in which one
man marries more than one woman at a given
time. There are two types:
 Sororal Polygyny – it is a type of marriage in which the
wives are invariably the sisters.
 Non-sororal Polygyny-it is a type of marriage in which
the wives are not related as sisters.
Monogamy, Polygamy, Group Marriage
(Societies regulates the number of spouses that a person may have:)
2.2 Polyandry- it is the marriage of one woman with more than
one man. It is less common than polygyny.
There are two types:
 Fraternal Polyandry- when several brothers share the same
wife the practice can be called alelphic or fraternal
polyandry.
 Non-Fraternal Polyandry- in this type the husband need not
have any close relationship prior to the marriage. The wife
goes to spend some time with each husband.
3. Group Marriage-it means the marriage of two or more women
with two or more men. Here the husbands are common
husbands and wives are common wives.
Endogamy and Exogamy
There are rules that the male and female
must consider. Rules of marriage is very
important. No society gives absolute
freedom to its members to select their
partners. Endogamy and exogamy are
the two main rules that condition marital
choice.
Endogamy and Exogamy
 Endogamy-It is a rule of marriage in which the life
partners are to be selected within a group may be
caste, class, tribe, race, village, religious group etc.
 Exogamy – it is a rule of marriage in which an
individual has to marry outside of his own group. It
prohibits marrying within the group. The so-called
blood relatives shall neither have marital
connections nor sexual contacts among
themselves.
 KINSHIP BY RITUAL
• A Ritual kinship is a privileged social relationship
established by ritual, such as that of godparents or
fraternal orders. A very famous ritual kinship is the
Compadrazgo. Used to refer to the institutional
relationship between compadres.
• Compadres are relatioship between the parents
and godparents of a child is an important bond that
originates when a child is baptized in Iberian and
Latin American families.
 KINSHIP BY RITUAL
• From the moment of a baptism ceremony, the
godparents share the parenting role of the baptized
child with the natural parents.
• By Catholic doctrine, upon the child’s baptism the
godparents accept the responsibility to ensure that
the child pursues a life of improvement and
success.
• At the moment of baptism, the godparents and
natural parents become each other’s campadres.
• For women, compadre is the term being use.
FAMILY AND THE HOUSEHOLD
• Types of families and their forms are based on
various parameters.
TYPES OF FAMILY ON THE BASIS OF MARRIAGE
 Polygamous or Polygynous Family – it is a family
with plural spouse marriage
 Polyandrous Family – it is a family where one
woman has a number of husbands.
 Monogamous Family – it is a family with one
husband and one wife.
Types of Family on the Basis of the Nature
of Residence
• Family of Patrilocal Residence – the son stays and
the daughter leaves, so that the married couple
lives with or near the husband’s parents/.
• Family of Matrilocal Residence – the daughter
stays and the son leaves. So that the married
couple lives with or near the wife’s parents.
• Family of Bilocal Residence – either the son or the
daughter leaves, so that the married couple lives
with or near either the wife’s or the husband’s
parents.
Types of Family on the Basis of Size
or Structure
• Nuclear Family – single
couple/monogamous family
• Matrilocal Family – the parent in such
families is usually the mother
• Extended Family – it may consist of two
or more single parent, monogamous,
polygynous families linked with ties.
Types of Family on the Basis of
the Nature of Relations
• The conjugal family which consists of
adult members among there exists sex
relationship.
• Consanguine family which consists of
members among whom there exists
blood relationship brother and sister,
father, and son, etc.
 POLITICS OF KINSHIP
• The family could also be part of political affairs,
• Political dynasty is very popular term use if the
family is in power.
• A political family or political dynasty is a family in
which several members are involved in politics
particularly electoral politics.
• Members may be related by blood or marriage
often several generations or multiple siblings may
be involved.
• It is very popular in UK wherein the royal family
controls the whole kingdom.