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Problem 5
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What do we need to know before we can
understand the dynamics of family life in other
societies?
Soap Operas and Family
Relations
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Brazilians are fanatical soap opera watchers,
but the characters, situations and plots are
different from those on American television,
and these differences reveal differences in
family structure and dynamics.
The focus in Brazilian soap operas tends to
be on the family of orientation (father, mother,
self, and siblings) rather than on the family of
procreation (husband, wife, and their
children).
Questions
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What is the composition of the typical family
group?
How are families formed and ideal family
types maintained?
What are the roles of sexuality, love, and
wealth?
What threatens to disrupt the family unit?
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What Is the Composition of the
Typical Family Group?
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While Americans give equal recognition to
people's ties to their mothers or their fathers,
other societies place greater emphasis on ties
to one parent or the other.
Societies that emphasize persons' ties to their
mother have matrilineal kinship systems.
Those that emphasize ties to the father have
patrilineal kinship systems.
Descent Groups
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A descent group is a permanent social unit
whose members claim common ancestry.
With matrilineal descent individuals
automatically join the mother’s descent group
when they are born.
With patrilineal descent individuals
automatically join the father’s descent group
when they are born.
Matrilineal and patrilineal descent are types of
unilineal descent in which individuals only
recognize one line of descent.
Descent Groups
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A lineage is a descent group who can
demonstrate their common descent from an
apical ancestor.
A clan is a descent group who claims
common descent from an apical ancestor but
cannot demonstrate it (stipulated descent).
When a clan’s apical ancestor is nonhuman, it
is called a totem.
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Descent Groups
A patrilineage five generations deep.
Lineages, Clans, and Residence
Rules
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In tribal societies, the descent group, not
the nuclear family, is the fundamental unit.
In many societies, descent groups are
corporate, sharing resources and property.
Unilocal Residence
–  Patrilocality—married couple lives with
husband's family; associated with
patrilineal descent and is more common
than matrilocality.
–  Matrilocality—married couple lives with
wife's family; associated with matrilineal
descent and is less than patrilocaility.
Changes in North American Kinship
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In 1995, 25 percent of American households
were inhabited by nuclear families.
Increasing representation of women in the
work force is associated with a rise in
marriage age.
The divorce rate rose steeply between 1970
and 1994.
The media is reflecting and intensifying these
changes.
Comparatively, Americans (especially middle
class) identify a smaller range of kindred
than members of nonindustrial societies.
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Composition And Development
Of The American Nuclear Family
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The traditional
American household
generally begins with a
husband and wife pair
moving from the
households of their
parents.
Composition And Development
Of The American Nuclear Family
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The arrangement is
formalized with the birth
of children, which
produces a new nuclear
family.
Composition And Development
Of The American Nuclear Family
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At some point the
household might be
composed of three
generations as married
children join the
household with their
children.
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Composition And Development
Of The American Nuclear Family
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At a later stage, the
household might consist
of the original couple or
a single person.
Composition And Development
Of The Ju/wasi Camp
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Most Ju/wasi camps are
organized around
brother–sister pairs who
claim ownership of a
waterhole.
Composition And Development
Of The Ju/wasi Camp
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Brother and sister are
joined at the camp by
their spouses and
relatives of their
spouses.
The nuclear family is
the main economic unit.
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Composition And Development
Of The Ju/wasi Camp
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Bridegrooms join the
camp of brides’ parents
for brideservice.
Composition And Development
Of The Ju/wasi Camp
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Camp composition
changes as a result of
changing social
relations.
Composition Of The Trobriand
Island Dala And Household
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Each dala or
matrilineage had its
origin in a brother–sister
pair who claim a plot of
land.
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Composition Of The Trobriand
Island Dala And Household
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Dala descent is traced
in the female line and
individuals must marry
someone from outside
their own dala.
Composition Of The Trobriand
Island Dala And Household
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Trobriand Island
households are
composed of wives,
husbands, and children.
Males 12–15 years of
age go to live in a
bachelors’ hut.
If a male will inherit land
from the dala of his
mother’s brother, he
lives near his uncle.
Composition Of The Traditional
Chinese Family
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The traditional Chinese
family exists in time as
well as in space.
Descent is traced
patrilneally for
generations.
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Composition Of The Traditional
Chinese Family
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The traditional Chinese
family exists in time as
well as in space.
Descent is traced
patrilneally for
generations.
Composition Of The Traditional
Chinese Family
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An ideal family would be
similar to that of the Lim
household in Taiwan.
Composition Of The Traditional
Chinese Family
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Most Chinese extended
households eventually
break up into separate
nuclear family units,
with wives of sons
joining their husbands’
households.
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How Is the Family Formed and
Maintained?
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Regardless of the size of family units or descent
systems, in virtually all societies families require the
socially recognized union of a male and female.
Generally this takes the form of marriage, a publicly
recognized joining of two people or two families.
But while marriage makes or sustains families, the
manner in which such an arrangement comes about
varies significantly in different societies.
Marriage in the Ju/wasi Culture
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In the Ju/wasi culture,
most marriages are
arranged by the
couple’s parents, and
the bride to be
frequently objects to the
chosen spouse or to the
prospect of marriage
itself.
Marriage Among the Trobriand
Islanders
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Among the Trobriand
Islanders, lineage is
traced through the
mother, and individuals
must marry outside their
own clan.
Here, a Trobriand chief
on Kiriwina Island is
shown with family
members at the home
of one of his two wives.
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Marriage in the Chinese Culture
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In a traditional Chinese
wedding, the bride’s
mother places a rose in
the bride’s hair and then
transfers it to the
groom.
Then the couple
proceed to the
household of the
groom’s parents where
they make their home.
Sex, Love, and Wealth Among
the Ju/wasi
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Wealth plays virtually no part in the lives of
the Ju/wasi, but, for women especially, sex,
love, and beauty are very important.
A woman’s sexuality maximizes her
independence.
Sex attracts lovers, and a love relationship,
being voluntary, recognizes the equality of the
participants.
Sex, Love, and Wealth among
the Trobriand Islanders
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An unmarried woman uses her sexuality to
negotiate her relationships with others.
Once married, she emphasizes her fertility
and motherhood.
Physical attractiveness is important for
Trobriander men, as it attracts lovers and
later a wife, to collect the yams by which a
man measures his status.
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Sex, Love, and Wealth Among
the Chinese
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In China, If a girl comes from a family that is
influential and wealthy enough to make an attractive
match for her, she will have little to do with boys.
Virginity is valued and necessary for a Chinese bride.
If a girl has been mixed up in an affair, her only
chance of marriage is to someone in a distant village.
A wife’s function is to produce children.
Sexuality figures very little in the life of a Chinese
woman either before or after her marriage.
Threats to the Ju/wasi Family
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The major threat to family stability among the
Ju/wasi is conflict between husband and wife
over infidelity or the efforts of a husband to
secure a second wife.
Men are allowed to have more than one wife
(polygyny), and women are permitted to have
more than one husband (polyandry), though
this is rare.
Threats to the Trobriand Island
Family
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Among the Trobriand Islanders, it is not threats to the
husband–wife relationship that are critical but threats
to the matrilineage.
Because the matrilineage is the major social unit, the
honor of that family group relative to other groups is a
central concern to all members.
Lineages among the Trobriand Islanders are ranked
according to the closeness of their genealogical
connection to the founders of the lineage.
Each lineage must be able to maintain its position
through the ceremonial presentation of valuables,
particularly yams and banana-leaf bundles.
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Threats to the Chinese Family
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The biggest threat to the traditional rural
Chinese family is the absence of a son.
The lack of a son endangers the continuance
of a household and the entire patrilineage
through time.
A man without sons, a spirit without
descendants, has no one to offer incense for
him and no altar for his spirit to find refuge.
Problems in Drawing Up a HIV/AIDS
Prevention Program
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Sexual Silence
Power Relations
Trust and Fidelity
Sex and Love
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