Kinship

KINSHIP

KINSHIP. All human beings are connected to some others by blood or marriage. While cultural variations shape the nature and meaning of those relationships, sociologists and anthropologists have identified general categories that appear to apply widely to human societies. Connections between people based on genetic ties (such as between parents and children and among siblings) are known as consanguineal or blood relationships. Relationships based on marriage are known as affinal relationships. Individuals also may recognize as kin others who are related neither by blood nor marriage, such as adopted children who are legally defined as kin, fictive kin (godparents, blood brothers), a special family friend who is called "aunt" or "uncle," or a homosexual partner, even though same-sex marriage is not presently recognized as such by the state. The basic components of the kinship system in every society are marriage, family, postmarital residence (where a couple resides after marriage), the incest taboo (rules that prohibit sexual relations and therefore marriage between certain categories of kin), descent (the rules of reckoning one's relatives), and kinship terminology (the terms used to label kin).

In the contemporary United States the idealized kin-ship customs—promulgated through popular culture, religious custom, and the law—are heterosexual monogamous marriage, neolocal residence (residence apart from both families after marriage), nuclear families (one husband/father, one wife/mother and their children), incest prohibitions within the nuclear family, bilateral descent (kin are traced through both the mother's and the father's lines), and kin terms that reflect an emphasis on biological versus affinal ties. In some cultures kinship relations are highly structured and rigid with different categories of kin, such as brothers and sisters or in-laws who are expected to behave toward one another in highly stylized ways. Kinship in America is loosely structured, with considerable individual freedom to pick and choose among kin for different purposes. Thus many kin might be invited to a wedding but only a few are invited to a more intimate family gathering such as a holiday dinner.

Nonetheless, in the late twentieth century there was much variation in some features of kinship within American society. While monogamous marriage was the ideal, millions of people remained unmarried and millions married and divorced. Given the high divorce rate (about one in two marriages formed each year ended in divorce) and high remarriage rate, some social scientists argued that the marriage norm was better described as serial monogamy. In addition, homosexual marriages and families were on the rise, and some employers responded by providing spousal benefits, such as health care insurance, to homosexual partners of employees. While nuclear family households were still common, other family arrangements, such as mother-children families, families composed of parents and their adult children, families with stepparents and children, and blended families formed from portions of two former nuclear families, became common. Beyond these broad variations across U.S. society, there were variations in the structure and nature of kin relations across religions, ethnic groups, and social classes.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fox, Robin. Kinship and Marriage: An Anthropological Perspective. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin, 1967.

Levinson, David, ed. Encyclopedia of Marriage and the Family. New York: Macmillan, 1995.

Schneider, David M. American Kinship: A Cultural Account. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980.

David Levinson / a. r.

See also Demography and Demographic Trends ; Family ; Genealogy ; Marriage .