Dimensions of the family structure

Having received some insight into family life in the countryside of Ireland, the Trobriand Islands and Israeli kibbutz, we can judge only three of the many family structures. However, sociologists and anthropologists have introduced a number of parameters on the basis of which it is possible to compare various family structures. This makes it possible to make generalizations about many societies. In this section, we'll look at six parameters. The relative frequency of the spread of various family structures is given in Table.

Table Family structure in different societies

Family form

The term "kinship" means a set of social relations based on certain factors. These include biological ties, marriage and legal norms, rules concerning adoption, guardianship, etc. In the general system of kinship relations, there are two main types of family structure.

A nuclear family consists of adult parents and children who depend on them. For many Americans, this type of family seems natural.

The extended family( unlike the first type of family structure) includes a nuclear family and many relatives, for example, grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, cousins ​​and siblings. In most societies, the nuclear family is considered important, and perhaps even the main social association. However, there are significant differences in assessing the role of the extended family as the basis for the development of social relations and the guarantor of mutual assistance and support.

Form of marriage

Among the Irish peasants, residents of the Trobriand Islands and members of the Israeli kibbutz, there was one basic form of marriage. It's about monogamy - marriage between one man and one woman. However, there are information about several other forms. Polygamy is the marriage between one and several other individuals. The marriage between one man and several women is called polygyny;The marriage between one woman and several men was called polyandry. Another form is group marriage - between several men and several women.

Probably, you will be surprised to learn that in most societies polygyny is preferred. George Murdoch( 1949) studied many societies and found that 145 of them had polygyny, 40 dominated monogamy, and only two had polyandry. The rest of the societies did not meet any of these categories. Since in most societies the ratio of men and women is approximately 1: 1, polygynia is not widely spread even in societies where it is considered preferable. Otherwise, the number of unmarried men would greatly exceed the number of men with several wives.

What factors contribute to the predominance of one, and not another form of marriage? Some scholars have emphasized the importance of economic factors in certain societies. For example, the distribution of polygyny among reindeer herders in the north-eastern Siberia is explained by the need to herd every herd of seals separately and for each herd a shepherd is needed. It is believed that a man who grazes every herd needs several wives. One more example. In Tibet, the land belonging to the family is inherited by all sons. It is not divided into separate sections, which are too small to feed the family of each brother. Therefore, the brothers together use this land and have a common wife.

Of course, economic factors only partially explain the uniqueness of certain forms of the family. Other factors play an important role. For example, polygyny is beneficial for women in societies where many men die in the war. Similarly, among the inhabitants of the Todas tribe in southern India( where the number of women was decreasing, since there was a custom to kill the girls born), the so-called brotherly polyandry was also practiced( the brothers had a common wife).The British colonialists put an end to the practice of infanticide, and the number of women among the Todas began to grow rapidly. However, pair marriages were never distributed among the Todas. Instead, the brothers, who used to have one common wife, began to have several common wives. Thus, in the Todas society, there is a seldom observed tendency toward group marriage.