11.6: 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 kindship 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.