madam teacher

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Kinship and Descent

This week we’ll begin to talk about the ways in which people organize themselves in

social terms. We have talked a little about the way that social groups are linked to culture, but in

the next two weeks we’ll look at the way in which people form groups. We’ve look at who you

marry, who you live with, who you work with. Because of the importance of kinship as a basic

structuring principle in most human societies, we’ll begin with that topic.

Descent Groups, Residence, Kinship calculation

Especially in non-industrial societies, kinship, descent, and marriage are basic social,

economic, and political building blocks. Kinship entails rights, obligations, affection, childcare,

and inheritance.

Kin groups are social units whose membership can be charted and whose activities can be

observed. When anthropologists first began to study non-western groups through participant

observation, they spent a great deal of time defining kinship groups and recording their activities.

If you’re interested in seeing the details of kinship charting and relationships, take at look at the

website of Brian Schwimmer at the University of Manitoba:

http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/kinmenu.html

For the truly nerdy, see Alan MacFarlane’s lectures on kinship at YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdLAru7a9Wo

MacFarlane is very old school, British social anthropology. I think his lectures are great, but

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some may find them a little dry. They contain much more information than is needed for our

purposes.

The descent group is a basic kin group among non-industrial food producers. Unlike

families, descent groups last for generations. There are several types of descent groups, such as

lineages and clans. Some descent groups are patrilineal, reckoning descent through male lines

only. Some are matrilineal, tracing descent only through the female line.

The nuclear family is a kin group consisting of a married couple and their unmarried

children. Nuclear families are widespread among the world’s cultures, but there are alternatives.

Other social forms, such as extended families and descent groups, may supplement or even

replace the nuclear family. The nuclear family is most important in foraging and industrial

societies.

In addition to kin groups, anthropologists also investigate how people in different

societies define and calculate kinship. Kinship terminologies are ways of dividing up the world

of kin relationships on the basis of perceived differences and similarities. Although perceptions

and classifications vary among cultures, comparative research shows that there are actually only a

few ways of doing it.

Kinship: A definition

Kinship describes a social relationship in which two or more people consider themselves

to have a strong social bond. That bond can be established in two ways. There are relationships

of consanguinity (blood relationships), and there are relationships of affinity (established by

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marriage). The expression “Blood is thicker than water” reflects the common belief that

relationships of consanguinity are stronger than those of marriage.

Descent groups

A descent group is a social unit whose members claim common ancestry. The group

typically endures even though its membership changes as members are born and die, move in a

move out. Generally, descent group membership is determined at birth and is lifelong.

Descent groups are generally exogamous, meaning that a person’s preferred marriage

partner comes from outside the group. Two common rules serve to admit certain people as

descent group members while excluding other.

Matrilineal descent

With rule of matrilineal descent, children join the mother’s group automatically at birth

and stay members throughout life.

Patrilineal Descent

With patrilineal descent, people automatically have lifelong membership in their father’s

group. The children of all the group’s men join the group, but the children of the females of the

group are excluded. They will belong to their father’s group.

Matrilineal and patrilineal descent groups are types of unilineal descent. Other types of

descent calculation exist. These are called cognatic. Ambilineal – descent through both lines.

In many some socieites a child can choice which descent group it will belong to when it

reaches the age of maturity. Frequently you will see a system that is formally cognatic but which

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in fact has a preference for unilineal descent. Our own system for instance, is formally cognatic

in that we recognize both mother’s and other’s ancestor as being of equal distance from us.

Anglo-american culture, however, in practice has a slight preference for patrilineality, in that

surnames are traced through he male line.

Lineages and clans

Descent groups may be lineages or clans. Common to both is the belief that all members

of the group share a common apical ancestor. Apical comes from the word apex, or top.

A lineage uses demonstrated descent, meaning that the ancestor is known and descent can

be traced.

A clan uses stipulated or assumed descent. This means that the apical ancestor is

unknown or assumed. Living people can’t trace their genealogy accurately to that ancestor.

Many societies have both lineages and clans. In such a case, clans are made up of

lineages, so that clans have more members and cover a larger geographical area than do lineages.

Sometimes a clan’s apical ancestor is not a human at all, but an animal or a plants, called a totem.

Whether human or not, the ancestor symbolizes the social unity and identity of the

members, distinguishing them from other groups.

Kinship and Economic Structure

The economic types that usually have descent group organization are horticulture,

pastoralism, and agriculture. Such societies tend to have several descent groups. Any one of

them may be confined to a single village, but usually they span more than one village.

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In a functional sense, what descent groups do is to control property. They insure that

property is guarded, cared for, and maintained within the group. Remember when we talked

about economic organization, I said in many societies, most actually, the means of production

isn’t held by individuals, it is held collectively. Kinship groups, especially unilineal descent

groups, are the collective entities that control the means of production in many societies.

When discussing collective ownership of property last week, I mentioned that among the

Aztec of ancient Mexico, the calpulli was the group that held property rights to farming land.

They held it collectively and let members use it according to their need. Calpullis were descent

groups. They were clans, collections of lineages which putatively had a common ancestor.

The Nuclear Family

In 21 Century North America, we tend to focus on the nuclear family when we discussst

the “family.” Other societies, however, have a very different definition of who is family. In many

societies with unilineal descent, one of your parents may not even be considered to be a relative.

For example, in the Trobriand Islands, where matrilineal descent is the norm, the biological

father is marginal to “family life.” The rights, duties, and responsibilities associated with a

‘father’ in the United States are associated with the mother’s brother.

That is not at all an extreme example. The point is that in many societies “family” is

defined as the kinship group and not the nuclear family. That point will become evident shortly,

when we look at kinship terminology to see what names are given to various kinship roles.

One final point: There are important differences between nuclear families and descent

groups. In theory, a descent group is permanent, a nuclear family lasts only as long as the parents

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and children remain together.

Industrialism and Family Organization

As already mentioned, kinship groups are strongest in societies where there is collective

ownership of the means of production (land, cattle, acorn trees, etc.). Conversely, it is weakest in

societies where property rights are weak, or where property is not held collectively. As we

discussed last week, foraging societies lack substantial property rights for several reasons. First,

because they are highly mobile they do not establish property rights with respect to resources:

natural resources cannot be owned. Second, mobility means that property must be limited to that

which can be transported; usually that means that a person can own no more than he or she can

carry. Third, because foragers (with some notable exceptions) do not generate large surpluses,

there can be no accumulation of wealth nor is there a means of transferring short term

subsistence surpluses into durable wealth. All of these factors mean that lineage groups are

weakly defined in foraging societies, simply because there is little property to be protected.

Surprisingly, a similar situation exists in the industrial world. For many Americans and

Canadians, especially members of the middle class, the nuclear family is the only well-defined

kin group. Nuclear families become isolated from other kin groups because of geographic

mobility. Mobility is associated with industrialism, so that a nuclear family focus is characteristic

of modern nations.

Kinship Calculation

In addition to studying kin groups, anthropologists are also interested in kinship

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calculation, the system by which people in a society reckon kin relationships. Who are your

relatives and what kind of relatives are they?

At this point we can distinguish between kin terms (the words used for different relatives

in a particular language) and genealogical kin types. We designate genealogical kin types refer to

an actual genealogical relationship, such as father’s brother as opposed to the kin term, which is

English is uncle.

Kin terms reflect the social construction of kinship in a given culture. A kin term may

(and usually does) lump together several genealogical relationships. In English, for instance, we

use father primarily for one kin type – the genealogical father. However, some people extend the

term to adoptive father or to a step-father.

The English term cousin lumps together several genealogical types. Father’s sister’s son,

father’s sister’s daughter, mother’s brother’s son, mother’s brother’s daughter, etc. Aunts and

uncles on the father’s side in English aren’t distinguished from those on the mother’s side.

The kinship terminology that we use in North America reflects our social organization.

We place an emphasis on the nuclear family. Even though the nuclear family is under attack, it is

still the most important group that we have, based on kinship. We are more likely to grow up

with our parents than with our aunts and uncles, who may live in different towns or states. We

often inherit from our parents, but our cousins have first claim to inherit from our aunts and

uncles.

Our kinship terminology lumps father’s side and mother’s side together because our

descent system is bilateral. Even though we generally take the name of our father, we reckon

descent from both sides, both through custom and through law. Legally, you are just as close to

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your mother’s parents as to your father’s.

Other people’s kinship terminologies likewise reflect their social worlds.

It’s helpful at this point to have a little terminology. We’ll need to delve into Old School

Anthropology and begin with the distinction between role and status.

Role and Status

Status is a named social position. Father, mother brother, are all statuses, as are

President, Senator, and janitor. These are cultural categories to which a name is given.

A role is more or less what a status does. Role is the rights and duties, and customary

activities associated with the status.

In every society there are many, many social statuses. Kinship statuses are one of many,

but often the most critical. The links between role and status are culturally determined. For

example, the kinship term “father” in our society refers to the male progenitor, or the biological

father. The “father” in our society may also be the joint head of the household (with “mother”).

In other societies, however, the role that we associate with “father” may be held by another

person, as noted previously.

In societies where the kinship group is more important than the nuclear family, the roles

we associated with the biological father may be filled by a number of people within the kinship

group. Hence, the term “father” may not refer to one person, but several. This a another

example where kinship terms may lump together several geneological kin types.

Social statuses may be divided into 1) ascribed status (a social category into which you

are placed, generally at birth) and 2) achieved status (a social category which you may choose, or

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one which you achieve by virtue of accomplishments. In Medieval Europe, royalty was an

ascribed status. You were either born noble or you were not. In contrast, mass murderer is an

achieved status.

Kinship Terminology

Kinship terminology is a window to the social world. All societies carve up social reality.

We never deal with all people as individuals, but rather tend to classify them into types (recall the

discussion of race as a social category). Analyzing how different cultures divide the world of

people to whom they are related can tell us a great deal about social life within that culture.

Anthropologists long ago found that there are relatively few ways of dividing up your

relatives. In fact, there are just six basic systems of kinship terminology. There are many

different names for these six systems, but since this is a lecture on Old School Anthropology, I’ll

use the Old School names. Your textbook uses a different sets of names, but don’t be alarmed.

You don’t need to learn the details of all six. My goal here is simply to discuss cultural variation

in the ways people describe their kin relationships and how those systems are linked to social and

economic reality.

The six types of kinshp terminology systems that I’ll discuss are:

1) Eskimo

2) Hawaiian

3) Iroquois

4) Crow

5) Omaha

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6) Sudanese (Descriptive)

Eskimo

Eskimo is more or less the system that we use in North America. As the name implies, it

is also used by the Inuit. This system emphasizes the nuclear family by specifically identifying

the mother, father, sister and brother, while lumping all other relatives into a few categories.

Hawaiian – A generational system. All relatives of the same sex and generation are referred to

by the same term. For instance, all males of your biological father’s generation are called father.

All males of your own generation are called brother. All females of your own generation are

called sister.

Iroquois – In the Iroquois system the father and the father’s brother are referred to by the same

name. The mother and mother’s sister are also referred to by the same name. However, the

father’s sister and the mother’s brother are given separate terms.

In one’s own generation, brother’s sisters and parallel cousins of the same sex are referred

to by the same terms.

Cross cousins are distinguished by terms that set them apart from other kin.

Iroquois terminology very simply distinguishes between generations and descent groups.

It is associated with unilineal descent groups, both matrilineal and patrilineal. Males of your

father’s generation are called “Father”, or something that means “A male of my father’s

generation and descent group.” Males of your generation and your descent group are called by

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the same term. Males of your generation, but of another descent group are called by another

name.

So the term brother would be translated as “male of my generation and my descent

group.” whereas the term cousin might mean something like “ male of my generation and my

mother’s descent group.”

The logic of this is apparent. The world is divided into kin and non-kin. You share

property and residence with your kin.

Crow – The Crow system is different in that it doesn’t distinguish between some generations of

kin. It is found in matrilineal systems.

What Crow terminology does is to lump cross cousins on the father’s side with the

father’s generation. It also lumps cross cousins on the mother’s side with ego’s children’s

generation. Otherwise, it’s like Iroquois terminology.

Why would you do this? Because you’re lumping together relatives of the same kin

group together. You’re lumping your father’s relatives with him, because that’s his descent

group. You’re lumping your mother’s relatives with you because that’s your descent group.

But in effect what you’re doing is distinguishing more within your mother’s line than

your father’s, because mother’s is more important.

Omaha – Omaha teminology is the patrilineal equivalent of the Crow system.

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Sudanese or Descriptive – This is the most complex . You basically have a term for everybody.

It’s called descriptive because there really aren’t names or categories, because you use

genealogical descriptors in lieu of kinship types. That is, your father’s brother is literally called

“father’s brother” instead of using a kinship term such as “uncle.”

The Big Picture

What all of these kinship terminologies have in common is that they lump some

genealogical types together while segregating others. As a generalization, we can say that people

to whom you are closely related (those who are members of your kin groups) are split into a large

number of categories, while people to whom you are related in other ways (such as by marriage)

are lumped together.

Relationships of consanguinity are ascribed statuses. You are born into a descent group

and your group does not change. Relationships of affinity may be achieved status for the most

part, although there are exceptions, such as societies where you will marry a cousin. More on that

topic next week.