Unit Two

1. Human Culture and Ties that Connect

Conceptualizing Culture: What Culture is and What Culture isn't

Definition of Culture

The term culture is not used with consistent meanings. It is used with various meanings in
common-sense. Anthropologists and sociologists define culture in different ways. Some of
their definition have been quoted below:

A widely accepted and the more comprehensive definition of culture was provided by the
British anthropologist Edward B. Tylor. He defined culture as “a complex whole which
includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits
acquired by man as a member of society”.

B. Malinowski has defined culture “as cumulative creation of man". He regarded culture
as the handiwork of man and the medium through which he achieves his ends.

Robert Bierstedt says, “Culture is the complex whole that consists of everything we think
and do and have as members of society.”

Combining several of these definitions, we may define culture as the common way of life
shared by a group of people. It includes all things beyond nature and biology.

Culture therefore, is moral, intellectual and spiritual discipline for advancement, in

accordance with the norms and values based on accumulated heritage. Culture is a system of
learned behavior shared by and transmitted among the members of the group.

Culture is a collective heritage learned by individuals and passed from one generation to
another. The individual receives culture as part of social heritage and in turn, may reshape
the culture and introduce changes which then become part of the heritage of succeeding
generations.

Characteristic Features of Culture

 Culture Is Learned:
Culture is not transmitted genetically rather; it is acquired through the process of learning or
interacting with one’s environment. More than any other species human relies for their
survival on behavior patterns that are learned. Human have no instinct, which genetically
programmed to direct to behave in a particular way. This process of acquiring culture after
we born is called enculturation. Enculturation is specifically defined as the process by
which an individual learns the rules and values of one’s culture.

 Culture Is Shared:

For a thing, idea, or behavior pattern to qualify as being “cultural” it must have a shared
meaning by at least two people within a society. In order for a society to operate effectively,
the guidelines must be shared by its members. Without shared culture members of a society
would be unable to communicate and cooperates and confusion and disorder world result.

 Culture Is Symbolic:

Symbolic thought is unique and crucial to humans and to cultural learning. A symbol is
something verbal or nonverbal, within a particular language or culture that comes to stand for
something else. There need be no obvious, natural, or necessary connection between the
symbol and what it symbolizes.
A symbol’s meaning is not always obvious. However, many symbols are powerful and often
trigger behaviors or emotional states. For example, the designs and colors of the flags of
different countries represent symbolic associations with abstract ideas and concepts.
 Culture Is All-Encompassing

Culture encompasses all aspects, which affect people in their everyday lives. Culture
comprises countless material and non-material aspects of human lives. Thus, when we talk
about a particular people’s culture, we are referring to all of its man- made objects, ideas,
activities whether those of traditional, old time things of the past or those created lately.
Culture is the sum total of human creation: intellectual, technical, artistic, physical, and
moral; it is the complex pattern of living that directs human social life, and which each new
generation must learn and to which they eventually add with the dynamics of the social world
and the changing environmental conditions.

 Culture Is Integrated:

Cultures are not haphazard collections of customs and beliefs. Instead, culture should be
thought as of integrated wholes, the parts of which, to some degree, are interconnected with
one another. When we view cultures as integrated systems, we can begin to see how
particular culture traits fit into the whole system and, consequently, how they tend to make
sense within that context.
A culture is a system; change in one aspect will likely generate changes in other aspects. A
good way of describing this integrated nature of culture is by using the analogy between a
culture and a living organism. The physical human body comprises a number of systems, all
functioning to maintain the overall health of the organisms, including among others, such
system as the respiratory system, the digestive system, the skeletal system, excretory system,
the reproductive system, and lymphatic system.

 Culture Can Be Adaptive and Maladaptive:

Humans have both biological and cultural ways of coping with environmental stresses.
Besides our biological means of adaptation, we also use "cultural adaptive kits," which
contain customary activities and tools that aid us.
People adapt themselves to the environment using culture. The ability to adapt themselves to
practically any ecological condition, unlike other animals, makes humans unique. Culture has
allowed the global human population to grow from less than 10 million people shortly after
the end of the last ice age to more than 7 billion people today, a mere 10,000 years later. This
ability is attributed to human’s capacity for creating and using culture.

Sometimes, adaptive behaviour that offers short-term benefits to particular subgroups or

individuals may harm the environment and threaten the group's long-term survival. Example:
Automobiles permit us to make a living by getting us from home to workplace. But the by-
products of such "beneficial" technology often create new problems. Chemical emissions
increase air pollution, deplete the ozone layer, and contribute to global warming. Many
cultural patterns such as overconsumption and pollution appear to be maladaptive in the long
run.

 Culture Is Dynamic:

There are no cultures that remain completely static year after year. Culture is changing
constantly as new ideas and new techniques are added as time passes modifying or changing
the old ways. This is the characteristics of culture that stems from the culture’s cumulative
quality.
Aspects/Elements of Culture
Culture is reflected through the various components that it comprises, viz., values, language,
myths, customs, rituals and laws.Two of the most basic aspects of culture are material and
nonmaterial culture. These are briefly explained as follows:
 Material culture

Material culture consist of man-made objects such as tools, implements, furniture,

automobiles, buildings, dams, roads, bridges, and in fact, the physical substance which has
been changed and used by man. It is concerned with the external, mechanical and utilitarian
objects. It includes technical and material equipment. It is referred to as civilization.

 Non – Material culture

The term ‘culture’ when used in the ordinary sense, means ‘non-material culture’. It is
something internal and intrinsically valuable, reflects the inward nature of man. Non-
material culture consists of the words the people use or the language they speak, the beliefs
they hold, values and virtues they cherish, habits they follow, rituals and practices that they
do and the ceremonies they observe. It also includes our customs and tastes, attitudes and
outlook, in brief, our ways of acting, feeling and thinking. Some of the aspects of non-
material culture listed as follows:

Values:

Values are the standards by which member of a society define what is good or bad, beautiful
or ugly. Every society develops both values and expectations regarding the right way to
reflect them.
Values are a central aspect of the nonmaterial culture of a society and are important because
they influence the behavior of the members of a society.

Beliefs

Beliefs are cultural conventions that concern true or false assumptions, specific descriptions
of the nature of the universe and humanity’s place in it. Values are generalized notions of
what is good and bad; beliefs are more specific and, in form at least, have more content.
“Education is good” is a fundamental value in American society, whereas “Grading is the
best way to evaluate students” is a belief that reflects assumptions about the most appropriate
way to determine educational achievement.

Norms

Norms are another aspect of nonmaterial culture. Norms are shared rules or guidelines that
define how people “ought” to behave under certain circumstances. Norms are generally
connected to the values, beliefs, and ideologies of a society.

Norms vary in terms of their importance to a culture, these are:

a) Folkway: Norms guiding ordinary usages and conventions of everyday life are
known as folkways. Folkways are norms that are not strictly enforced, such as not leaving
your seat for an elderly people inside a bus/taxi. They may result in a person getting a bad
look.

b) Mores: Mores (pronounced MOR-ays) are much stronger norms than are folkways.
Mores are norms that are believed to be essential to core values and we insist on conformity.
A person who steals, rapes, and kills has violated some of society’s most important mores.

People who violate mores are usually severely punished, although punishment for the
violation of mores varies from society to society. It may take the form of ostracism, vicious
gossip, public ridicule, exile, loss of one’s job, physical beating, imprisonment, commitment
to a mental asylum, or even execution

Cultural Unity and Variations: Universality, Generality and Particularity

of Culture
In studying human diversity in time and space, anthropologists distinguish among the
universal, the generalized, and the particular.
Certain biological, psychological, social, and cultural features are universal (found in every
culture), others are merely generalities (common to several but not all human groups), and
other traits are particularities (unique to certain cultural traditions).

1) Universality:
Universals are cultural traits that span across all cultures. Most are biologically that
distinguish us from other species – Long period of infant dependency – Year-round sexuality
– Complex brain that enables use of symbols, languages, and tools Social universals – Life in
groups – Some kind of family – Culture organizes on social life Depends on social
interactions for expression and continuation – Incest taboo – Exogamy (marriage outside
one’s group).
A great example of universality is that whether in Africa or Asia, Australia, or Antarctica,
people understand the universal concept of family. Anthropologists would argue that it's just
what we as humans do - we organize ourselves into families that are based on biology. No
matter where you choose to travel and explore, you'll find a family system.

2) Generality:

Generalities are cultural traits that occur in many societies but not all of them. Societies can
share same beliefs and customs because of borrowing Domination (colonial rule) when
customs and procedures are imposed on one culture can also cause generality Independent
innovation of same cultural trait – Farming Examples: – Nuclear family Parents and children.

3) Particularity:
Trait of a culture that is not widespread Cultural borrowing – traits once limited are more
widespread Useful traits that don’t clash with current culture get borrowed Examples: – Food
dishes Particularities are becoming rarer in some ways but also becoming more obvious
Borrowed cultural traits are modified Marriage, parenthood, death, puberty, birth all
celebrated differently.
Evaluating Cultural Differences: Ethnocentrism, Cultural
Relativism and Human Rights
The concepts of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism occupy key position in anthropology.

A. ETHNOCENTRISM:

The common response in all societies to other cultures is to judge them in terms of the values
and customs of their own familiar culture. Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency to see the
behaviors, beliefs, values, and norms of one's own group as the only right way of living and
to judge others by those standards.
Being fond of your own way of life and condescending or even hostile toward other cultures
is normal for all people. Because of ethnocentrism, we often operate on the premise that our
own society’s ways are the correct, normal, better ways, for acting, thinking, feeling and
behaving. Our own group is the center or axis of everything, and we scale and rate all others
with reference to it. Ethnocentrism is not characteristic only of complex modern societies.
People in small, relatively isolated societies are also ethnocentric in their views about
outsiders. It is a cultural universal. Alien cultural traits are often viewed as being not just
different but inferior, less sensible, and even "unnatural”.
Ethnocentrism results in prejudices about people from other cultures and the rejection of their
"alien ways." Our ethnocentrism can prevent us from understanding and appreciating another
culture. When there is contact with people from other cultures, ethnocentrism can prevent
open communication and result in misunderstanding and mistrust. This would be highly
counterproductive for businessmen trying to negotiate a trade deal, professionals who work
in areas other than their own or even just neighbors trying to get along with each other. The
positive aspect of ethnocentrism has to do with the protection that it can provide for a culture.
By causing a rejection of the foods, customs, and perceptions of people in other cultures, it
acts as a conservative force in preserving traditions of one's own culture. It can help maintain
the separation and uniqueness of cultures.
B. CULTRUALRELATIVISM:
We cannot grasp the behavior of other people if we interpret what they say and do in the light
of our values, beliefs, and motives. Instead, we need to examine their behavior as insiders,
seeing it within the framework of their values, beliefs and motives. The concept of cultural
relativism states that cultures differ, so that a cultural trait, act, or idea has no meaning but its
meaning only within its cultural setting.
Cultural relativism suspends judgment and views about the behavior of people from the
perspective of their own culture. Every society has its own culture, which is more or less
unique. Every culture contains its own unique pattern of behavior which may seem alien to
people from other cultural backgrounds. We cannot understand the practices and beliefs
separately from the wider culture of which they are part. A culture has to be studied in terms
of its own meanings and values. Cultural relativism describes a situation where there is an
attitude of respect for cultural differences rather than condemning other people's culture as
uncivilized or backward.

Respect for cultural differences involves:

 Appreciating cultural diversity;

 Accepting and respecting other cultures;
 Trying to understand every culture and its elements in terms of its own context and
logic;
 Accepting that each body of custom has inherent dignity and meaning as the way of
life of one group which has worked out to its environment, to the biological needs of
its members, and to the group relationships;
 Knowing that a person's own culture is only one among many; and
 Recognizing that what is immoral, ethical, acceptable, etc, in one culture may not be
so in another culture.

C. HUMAN RIGHTS:

In today's world, human rights advocates challenge many of the tenets of cultural relativism.
Many anthropologists are uncomfortable with the strong form of cultural relativism that
suggests that all patterns of culture are equally valid. What if the people practice slavery,
violence against women, torture, or genocide?
Human rights: rights based on justice and morality beyond and superior to particular
countries, cultures, and religions. The idea of human rights challenges cultural relativism by
invoking a realm of justice and morality beyond and superior to the laws and customs of
particular countries, cultures, and religions.
Human rights include the right to speak freely, to hold religious beliefs without persecution,
and to not be murdered, injured, or enslaved or imprisoned without charge. Such rights are
seen as inalienable (nations cannot abridge or terminate them) and international (larger than
and superior to individual nations and cultures). A doctrine of universal human rights,
which emphasizes the rights of the individual over those of the community, would condemn
such killings.
Anthropologists respect human diversity. Most ethnographers try to be objective, accurate,
and sensitive in their accounts of other cultures. However, their objectivity, sensitivity and a
cross-cultural perspective got nothing to do with ignoring international standards of justice
and morality.
Culture Change
Dear student, culture changes in several ways; under this section we will discuss how and
why cultures change and briefly review some of the widespread changes that have occurred
in recent times. Thus, in order to learn more about culture change would you please
responding to below question before we go the subsequent texts?
When you examine the history of a society, it is obvious that its culture has changed over
time. Some of the shared behaviors and ideas that were common at one time are modified or
replaced at another time. That is why; any anthropological account of the culture of any
society is a type of snapshot view of one particular time. The anthropologists return several
years after completing a cultural study; he or she would not find exactly the same situation,
for there are no cultures that remain completely static year after year.
Culture change can occur as a result of the following Mechanisms:
i. Diffusion The source of new cultural elements in a society may also be another
society. The process by which cultural elements are borrowed from another society and
incorporated into the culture of the recipient group is called diffusion.

 Diffusion is direct when two cultures trade with, intermarry among, or wage war on
one another.

 Diffusion is forced when one culture subjugates another and imposes its customs on

the dominated group.

 Diffusion is indirect when items or traits move from group A to group C via group B
without any firsthand contact between A and C. In this case, group B might consist of traders
or merchants who take products from a variety of places to new markets. Or group B might
be geographically situated between A and C, so that what it gets from A eventually winds up
in C, and vice versa. In today's world, much international diffusion is indirect-culture spread by
the mass media and advanced information technology.

ii. Acculturation

Is the exchange of cultural features that results when groups have continuous firsthand
contact?

The cultures of either or both groups may be changed by this contact. This usually happens in
situations of trade or colonialism. In situations of continuous contact, cultures have also
exchanged and blended foods, recipes, music, dances, clothing, tools, and technologies.

iii. Invention

Invention-the process by which humans innovate, creatively finding solutions to problems is

a third mechanism of cultural change. Faced with comparable problems and challenges,
people in different societies have innovated and changed in similar ways, which is one reason
cultural generalities exist. One example is the independent invention of agriculture in the
Middle East and Mexico. Over the course of human history, major innovations have spread at
the expense of earlier ones. Often a major invention, such as agriculture, triggers a series of
subsequent interrelated changes. Thus in both Mexico and the Middle East, agriculture led to
many social, political, and legal changes, including notions of property and distinctions in
wealth, class, and power.

iv. Globalization

The term globalization encompasses a series of processes, including diffusion and

acculturation, working to promote change in a world in which nations and people are
increasingly interlinked and mutually dependent. Promoting such linkages are economic and
political forces, as well as modem systems of transportation and communication. Due to
globalization, long-distance communication is easier, faster, and cheaper than ever, and
extends to remote areas. The mass media help propel a globally spreading culture of
consumption. Within nations and across their borders, the media spread information about
products, services, rights, institutions, lifestyles, and the perceived costs and benefits of
globalization. Emigrants transmit information and resources transnationally, as they maintain
their ties with home (phoning, faxing, e-mailing, making visits, and sending money). In a
sense such people live multilocally-in different places and cultures at once. They learn to play
various social roles and to change behavior and identity depending on the situation.

Ties That Connect: Marriage, Family and Kinship

MARRIAGE:

The term marriage is not an easy terms to define. For years, anthropologists have attempted
to define these terms in such a way to cover all known societies. Frequently, anthropologists
have debated whether or not families and the institutions of marriage are universals.

Rules of Marriage
Societies also have rules that state whom one can and cannot marry. Every society knows to
anthropology has established for itself some type of rules regulating mating (sexual
intercourse). The most common form of prohibition is mating with certain type of kin that are
defined by the society as being inappropriate sexual partners. These prohibitions on mating
with certain categories of relatives known as incest taboos. The most universal form of incest
taboo involves mating between members of the immediate (nuclear) family: mother-sons,
father-daughters, and brother-sisters.

There are a few striking examples of marriage between members of the immediate family that
violate the universality of the incest taboo. For political, religious, or economic reasons,
members of the royal families among the ancient Egyptians, Incas and Hawaiians were
permitted to mate with and marry their siblings, although this practiced did not extended to
the ordinary members of those societies.

Marriage is, therefore, a permanent legal union between a man and a woman. It is an
important institution without which the society could never be sustained.

Mate Selection: Whom Should You Marry?

In a society one cannot marry anyone whom he or she likes. There are certain strict rules and
regulations.

a) Exogamy:

This is the rule by which a man is not allowed to marry someone from his own social group.

Such prohibited union is designated as incest. Incest is often considered as sin. Different
scholars had tried to find out the explanation behind this prohibition. i.e. how incest taboo
came into operation.
In fact, there are some definite reasons for which practice of exogamy got approval. They are:
 A conception of blood relation prevails among the members of a group. Therefore,
marriage within the group-members is considered a marriage between a brother and sister

Attraction between a male and female gets lost due to close relationship in a small group.

There is a popular idea that a great increase of energy and vigor is possible in the progeny
if marriage binds two extremely distant persons who possess no kin relation among them.

Kottak claimed also that exogamy has adaptive value, because it links people into a wider
social network that nurtures, helps, and protects them in times of need pushing social
organization outward, establishing and preserving alliances among groups.

b) Endogamy:

A rule of endogamy requires individuals to marry within their own group and forbids them to
marry outside it. Religious groups such as the Amish, Mormons, Catholics, and Jews have
rules of endogamy, though these are often violated when marriage take place outside the
group. Castes in India and Nepal are also endogamous. “Indeed, most cultures are
endogamous units, although they usually do not need a formal rule requiring people to marry
someone from their own society” (Kottak, 2017: 150).

c) Preferential Cousin Marriage:

A common form of preferred marriage is called preferential cousin marriage and is practiced
in one form or another in most of the major regions of the world. Kinship systems based on
lineages distinguish between two different types of first cousins, these are:

Cross Cousins: are children of siblings of the opposite sex- that is one’s mother’s brothers’
children and one’s father’s sisters’ children.

The most common form of preferential cousin marriage is between cross cousins because it
functions to strengthen and maintain ties between kin groups established by the marriages
that took place in the proceeding generation.

Parallel Cousins: When marriage takes place between the children of the siblings of the
same sex, it is called parallel cousin marriage. are children of siblings of the same sex,
namely the children of one’s mother’s sister and one’s father brother. The mate may come
either from one’s father’s brother’s children or mother's sister’s children.

A much less common form of cousin marriage is between parallel cousins, the child of one’s
mother’s sister or father’s brother. Found among some Arabic societies in North Africa, it
involves the marriage of a man to his father’s brother’s daughter. Since parallel cousins
belong to the same family, such a practice can serve to prevent the fragmentation of family
property.

d) The Levirate and Sororate

Another form of mate selection that tends to limit individual choice are those that require a
person to marry the husband or wide of deceased kin.

The levirate- is the custom whereby a widow is expected to marry the brother (or some close
male relative) of her dead husband. Usually any children fathered by the woman’s new
husband are considered to belong legally to the dead brother rather than to the actual genitor.
Such a custom both serves as a form of social security for the widow and her children and
preserved the rights of her husband’s family to her sexuality and future children.

The sororate, which comes into play when a wife dies, is the practice of a widower’s
marrying the sister (or some close female relative) of his deceased wife. In the event that the
deceased spouse has no sibling, the family of the deceased is under a general obligation to
supply some equivalent relative as a substitute. For example, in a society that practice
sororate, a widower may be given as a substitute wife the daughter of his deceased wife’s
brother.

NUMBER OF SPOUSES

Societies have rules regulating whom one may/may not marry; they have rules
specifying how many mates a person may/should have.

 Monogamy: the marriage of one man to one woman at a time.

 Polygamy i.e. marriage of a man or woman with two or more mates. Polygamy can be
of two types:

 Polygyny: the marriage of a man to two or more women at a time.

 Polyandry: the marriage of a woman to two or more men at a time

 Marriage of a man with two or more sisters at a time is called sororal polygyny.
When the co-wives are not sisters, the marriage is termed as non- sororal polygyny.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Polygamy marriage

 Having two/more wives is often seen as a sign of prestige.

 Having multiple wives means wealth, power, & status both for the
polygnous husband, wives and children.

 It produces more children, who are considered valuable for future economic and
political assets.

 Economic advantage: It encourages to work hard (more cows, goats..) for more wives

 The Drawbacks of Polygyny: Jealousy among the co-wives who frequently compete
for the husband’s attention.

Economic Consideration of Marriage

Most societies view as a binding contract between at least the husband and wife and, in many
cases, between their respective families as well. Such a contract includes the transfer of
certain rights between the parties involved: rights of sexual access, legal rights to children,
and rights of the spouses to each other’s economic goods and services. Often the transfer of
rights is accompanied by the transfer of some type of economic consideration. These
transactions, which may take place either before or after the marriage can be divided into
three categories:

1. Bride Price
2. Bride Service
3. Dowry

1. Bride Price: It is also known as bride wealth, is the compensation given upon
marriage by the family of the groom to the family of the bride. According to Murdock, in
Africa it was estimated that 82% of the societies require the payment of bride price.
Anthropologists identified a number of important functions that the institutions of bride price
performed for the well-being of the society. For example, bride price has been seen:- as security or
insurance for the good treatment of the wife: as mechanism to stabilize marriage by reducing the
possibility of divorce: as a form of compensation to the bride’s lineage for the loss of her economic
potential and childbearing capacity: and as a symbol of the union between two large groups of kin.

2. Bride Service: When the groom works for his wife’s family, this is known as bride
service. It may be recalled that in the Old Testament, Jacob labored for seven years in order
to marry Leah, and then another seven years to marry Rachel; Leah’s younger sister, thus
performed fourteen years of bride service for his father-in-law. Bride service was also
practiced by the Yanomamo, a people living in the low- lands of Venezuela. During this time,
the groom lives with the bride’s parents and hunts for them.
3. Dowry: A dowry involves a transfer of goods or money in the opposite direction,
from the bride's family to the groom’s family.

Post-Marital Residence

Where the newly married couple lives after the marriage ritual is governed by cultural rules,

which are referred to as post-marital residence rule.

 Patrilocal Residence: the married couple lives with or near the relatives of the
husband’s father.
 Matrilocal Residence: the married couple lives with or near the relatives of the wife.
 Avunculocal Residence: The married couple lives with or near the husband’s
mother’s brother.
 Umbilical/Bilocal Residence: The married couple has a choice of living with relatives
of the wife or relatives of the husband
 Neolocal Residence: The Married couple forms an independent place of residence
away from the relatives of either spouse.
FAMILY
Family is the basis of human society. It is the most important primary group in society. The
family, as an institution, is universal. It is the most permanent and most pervasive of all social
institutions. The interpersonal relationships within the family make the family an endurable
social unit.
Cultural anthropologists have identified two fundamentally different types of family
structure-the nuclear family and the extended family.

1. The Nuclear Family: Consisting of husband and wife and their children, the nuclear
family is a two-generation family formed around the conjugal or marital union. Even though
the unclear family to some degree is part of a larger family structure, it remains relatively
autonomous and independent unity. That is, the everyday needs of economic support,
childcare, and social interaction are met within the nuclear family itself rather than by a wider
set of relatives.

In those societies based on the nuclear family, it is customary for married couple to live apart
from either set of parents (neolocal residence), nor is there any particular obligation or
expectation for the married couple to care for their aging parents in their own homes.
Generally, parents are not actively involved in mate selection for their children, in no way
legitimize the marriages of their children, in no way legitimize the marriages of their
children, and have no control over whether or not their children remain married.

2. The Extended Family

In societies based on extended families, blood ties are more important than ties of marriage.
Extended families consist of two or more families that are linked by blood ties. Most
commonly, this takes the form of a married couple living with one or more of their
married children in a single household or homestead and under the authority of a family head.
In the case of a patrilineal extended family, the young couple takes up residence in the
homestead of the husband’s father, and the husband continues to work for his father, who
also runs the household. Moreover, most of the personal property in the household is not
owned by the newlyweds, but is controlled by the husbands’ father.
It is important to point out that in extended family systems; marriage is viewed more as
bringing a daughter into the family than acquiring a wife. In other words, a man’s obligations
of obedience to his father and loyalty to his brothers are far more important than his
relationship to his wife. When a woman marries into an extended family, she most often
comes under the control of her mother-in-law, who allocates chores and supervises her
domestic activities. As geographical mobility are more likely associated with nuclear family
than with extended family. There is a rough correlation found between extended family
system and an agricultural way of life.

Functions Marriage and Family

Family performs certain specific functions which can be mentioned as follows:

1. Biological Function: The institution of marriage and family serves biological (sexual
and reproductive) function. The institution of marriage regulates and socially validates long
term, sexual relations between males and females. Thus, husband wife relationship come into
existence and become a socially approved means to control sexual relation and a socially
approved basis of the family. Sexual cohabitation between spouses automatically leads to the
birth of off-springs. The task of perpetuating the population of a society is an important
function of a family. Society reproduces itself through family.

2. Economic Function: Marriage brings economic co-operation between men and

women and ensure survival of individuals in a society. With the birth of off-springs the
division of labor based on sex and generation come into play. In small scale societies family
is a self-contained economic unit of production, consumption and distribution.
3. Social Function: Marriage is based on the desire to perpetuate one’s family line. In
marriage one adds, not only a spouse but most of the spouse’s relatives to one’s own group of
kin. This means the institution of marriage brings with it the creation and perpetuation of the
family, the form of person to person relations and linking once kin group to another kin
group.

4. Educational and Socialization Function: The burden of socialization (via processes

of enculturation and education) of new born infants falls primarily upon the family. In
addition, children learn an immense amount of knowledge, culture, values prescribed by
society, before they assume their place as adult members of a society. The task of educating
and enculturating children is distributed among parents. Moreover, family behaves as an
effective agent in the transmission of social heritage.

KINSHIP

A significant concept in Anthropology – The concept of kinship is vitally important in

Anthropology, because kinship and family constitute the focal points in anthropological
studies.
Kinship is the method of reckoning relationship. In any society every adult individual belongs
to two different nuclear families. The family in which he was born and reared is called
‘family of orientation’. The other family to which he establishes relation through marriage is
called ‘family of procreation’. A kinship system is neither a social group nor does it
correspond to organized aggregation of individuals. It is a structured system of relationships
where individuals are bound together by complex interlocking and ramifying ties.
The relationship based on blood ties is called “consanguineous kinship”, and the relatives of
this kind are called ‘consanguineous kin’. The desire for reproduction gives rise to another
kind of binding relationship. “This kind of bond, which arises out of a socially or legally
defined marital relationship, is called a final relationship”, and the relatives so related are
called ‘a final kin’. The final kinds [husband and wife] are not related to one another through
blood.
DESCENT

Descent refers to the social recognition of the biological relationship that exists between the
individuals. The rule of descent refers to a set of principles by which an individual traces his
descent. In almost all societies kinship connections are very significant. An individual always
possesses certain obligations towards his kinsmen and he also expects the same from his
kinsmen. Succession and inheritance is related to this rule of descent. There are three
important rules of decent are follows;

1. Patrilineal descent

When descent is traced solely through the male line, it is called patrilineal descent. A man’s
sons and daughters all belong to the same descent group by birth, but it only the sons who
continue the affiliation. Succession and inheritance pass through the male line.

2. Matrilineal descent

When the descent is traced solely through the female line, it is called matrilineal descent.
At birth, children of both sexes belong to mother’s descent group, but later only females
acquire the succession and inheritance. Therefore, daughters carry the tradition, generation
after generation.

3. Cognatic Descent

In some society’s individuals are free to show their genealogical links either through men or
women. Some people of such society are therefore connected with the kin-group of father and
others with the kin group of mothers. There is no fixed rule to trace the succession and
inheritance; any combination of lineal link is possible in such societies.