Chapter 10Kinship and Descent.ppt

Chapter 10Kinship and Descent Chapter Questions Why is kinship so important in nonstate societies? Can you explain why hunters and gatherers have kinship classification systems similar to those of industrialized societies? What are some of the functions of different kinds of kinship systems? How can people manipulate kinship rules to server their own interests? In what ways to kinship terminologies reflect other aspects of a culture? Kinship Descent Kinship Defined Consanguineal Relatives Affinal Relative Fictive Kinship U.S. Importance of biological kinship Socio cultural anthropology focus on kinship Biologically based and culturally determined Functions of Kinship Systems Vertical function - provides social continuity by binding together a number of successive generations. Horizontal function - solidify or tie together a society across a single generation through marriage. Principles of Kinship Classification Generation Gender Lineality Versus Collaterality Consanguineal Versus Affinal Kin Relative Age Sex of the Connecting Relative Social Condition Side of the Family Descent Groups Decent Rules Characteristics: Have a strong sense of identity. Often share communally held property. Provide economic assistance to one another. Engage in mutual civic and religious ceremonies. Functions of Descent Groups Mechanism for inheriting property and political office. Control behavior. Regulate marriages. Structure primary political units. Rules of Descent: Two Types Unilateral Trace their ancestry through mother’s line or father’s line, but not both (60%). Cognatic descent Includes double descent, ambilineal descent, and bilateral descent. Patrilineal Descent Most common unilineal descent group. A man, his children, his brother’s children, and his son’s children are all members of the same descent group. Females must marry outside their patrilineages. A woman’s children belong to the husband’s lineage rather than her own. Matrilineal Descent Groups A woman, her sibl