Kinship and marriages Flashcards
Descent (lineage) theory
Explores the ways in which consanguineal (defined by blood, origin) relations are structured in various societies.
Alliance theory
Also known as the general theory of exchanges - a structuralist method of studying kinship relations. Developed by Claude Lévi-Strauss. Do not look at descent through blood, but law such as how marriage is fundamental to organization. In many societies, the individual is not the center of the marriage but a larger group - the family decides who you marry.
Incest taboo
Nearly universal taboo that inhibits close blood relatives to have sexual relations. The definition of who are close kin vary in different cultures.
Eriksen: “all known human societies prohibit sexual relations between persons who are classified as close blood kin”
Reciprocity in alliance theory
Looking at how alliances between men can be forged through the exchange of women.
Kinship atom
Basic unit, such as brother-sister, or nuclear family together with the wife’s brother. Created by the incest taboo + male dominance.
Exogamy
marriage outside ‘own group’
Endogamous
marriage within ‘own group’
Elementary systems
Positive marriage rules (with whom or which category should you marry)
Complex systems
Negative marriage rules (with whom or which category should you NOT marry)
Matrilocal
Couple is to live in the household of the bride’s mother
Uxorilocal
Couple is to live with the bride’s family
Patrilocal
Couple is to live with the groom’s father
Virilocal
Couple is to live with the groom’s family
Neolocal
Couple creates new household independent of parents
Polygyny (often called polygamy)
Man marries several women
