Key Terms
- affinal tie
- a contractual relationship by marriage or mutual agreement that is depicted as a double line on the kinship chart.
- ambilineal descent
- tracing an individual’s kinship through a single gendered line, with each family choosing either the mother’s or father’s descent line.
- ambilocal residence
- a postmarital residence pattern in which the couple chooses one lineage for their offspring, either the mother’s or the father’s; associated with ambilineal descent.
- avunculocal residence
- a postmarital residence pattern where a newly married couple resides with the groom’s mother’s brother; associated with patrilineal descent.
- bifurcate merging kinship
- a broader chart of EGO family relation that connects kinships by merging EGO’s parents’ same-sex siblings and their offspring into the immediate family (creating parallel cousins) and bifurcating, or cutting off, EGO’s parents’ opposite-sex siblings and their offspring (creating cross cousins); also called Iroquois kinship.
- bilateral descent
- tracing an individual’s kinship through both the mother’s and father’s lines.
- blended families
- a family in which there is more than one origin family for the members.
- bride service
- a transfer of wealth from the groom’s to the bride’s family through labor, usually the contracted labor of the groom, either before or after the marriage.
- bride wealth
- the transfer of material and symbolic value from the groom’s to the bride’s family in order to legitimize the marriage contract.
- clans
- a tribal social division in which a group of lineages have a presumed and symbolic kinship.
- cognatic descent
- a kinship structure that follows descent through both men and women, although it may vary by family.
- collateral kin
- EGO’s siblings and their offspring.
- compadrazgo
- a form of godparent relationship introduced originally as a social institution within the Catholic Church and later adapted as popular Catholicism in Latin America in which godparents are named for a Catholic child or young person during rituals such as baptism, confirmation, and marriage.
- consanguineal tie
- a biological (bloodline) connection between individuals that is indicated by a single line on a kinship chart; it is considered to be a permanent tie that cannot be broken.
- cross cousin
- EGO’s cousins through their parents’ opposite-sex siblings.
- descent
- individuals who are believed to be connected by blood or who have an enduring kinship bond across generations.
- dowry
- material value carried by the bride into her own marriage to provide her with symbolic leverage within her husband’s lineage.
- EGO
- the starting point for the kinship chart; used to read relationships as alignments between EGO and other individuals.
- extended family
- two or more family units functioning as a single integrated family; may involve two or more generations.
- family
- two or more people in an adaptable social and economic alliance that involves kinship, whether perceived through blood, marriage, or other permanent or semipermanent arrangement.
- family of orientation
- the family unit in which EGO was raised and nurtured as a child and adolescent.
- family of procreation
- the family that EGO produces, usually as a result of marriage.
- fictive kin
- a kinship tie that is socially interpreted to be by blood or marriage and that is based on intentional relationships, such as adoption, godparenthood, or intimate personal ties.
- fraternal polyandry
- a form of marriage in which biological brothers marry a single wife.
- generational kinship
- a kinship system in which the terms of reference are for gender and generation only, creating large units of immediate family; also called Hawaiian kinship.
- ghost marriage
- a marriage between one or two deceased individuals in order to create an alliance between lineages.
- household
- a group of individuals who live within the same residence and share socioeconomic needs associated with production and consumption.
- incest taboo
- a prohibition against sexual relations that is universal between parents and their offspring and sometimes extends to other relations considered too close for sexual relationships.
- kindred
- the sum of kinship relationships that is defined through EGO.
- kinship
- a web of relationships in which people consider themselves related to each other in a social and biological way.
- levirate
- a remarriage obligation in which the surviving widow (wife) must marry her deceased husband’s brother; the levirate occurred within polygynous societies.
- lineage
- a continuous line of descent from an original ancestor.
- lineal kinship
- a form of kinship reckoning that highlights the creation of a nuclear family; also called Eskimo kinship.
- marriage
- the formation of a new, socially sanctioned family as it is defined across cultures and societies.
- marriage compensation
- the transfer of some form of wealth from one family to another to legitimize the marriage as a creation of a new social and economic household.
- matrilineal (uterine) descent
- the descent of both males and females traced solely through the female ancestors.
- matrilocal residence
- a postmarital residence pattern in which the newly married couple establishes their new household with or near the bride’s mother or the bride’s mother’s relatives; also called uxorilocal residence.
- moieties
- the social division of a tribe into two halves.
- monogamy
- the formally sanctioned union of two adults.
- neolocal residence
- a postmarital residence pattern in which the newly married couple establishes an independent household not connected to either spouse’s family.
- nuclear family
- a family composed of two parents and their immediate offspring.
- parallel cousin
- EGO’s brothers and sisters through their parents’ same-sex siblings.
- patrilineal (agnatic) descent
- the descent of both males and females traced solely through male ancestors.
- patrilocal residence
- a postmarital residence pattern in which a newly married couple establishes their new household with or near the groom’s father or the groom’s father’s relatives; also called virilocal residence.
- polyandry
- is the marriage of one wife and more than one husband.
- polygamy
- the formally sanctioned union of more than two adults at the same time.
- polygyny
- the marriage of one man to more than one woman.
- postmarital residence rules
- the social rules that determine where a newly married couple will reside following marriage.
- remarriage obligations
- responsibilities to replace a deceased spouse with a new spouse from the same lineage in order to maintain the stability of the family unit.
- serial monogamy
- a form of monogamy in which two adults have a series of marriages over a lifetime.
- sociocultural construction
- a concept that is defined according to social criteria (not biological) and varies across cultures.
- sororate
- a remarriage obligation in which the surviving widower (husband) must marry his deceased wife’s sister or another female relative from her family.
- terms of address
- the terms (words) we use to speak directly to our kin.
- terms of reference
- the terms (words) that are used to refer to our kin.
- unilineal descent
- tracing an individual’s kinship through a single gendered line, either male or female, as a collective social rule for all families within a society.