kinship - Bibliography

Relationships between people which follow upon descent from a common ancestor. In every human society common descent (consanguinity) is thought to mark off a special category of kin, relationships with whom are different in kind from relationships with non-kin. Further significant distinctions may be made between relatives traced through the father and through the mother, between closer and more distant kin, and between kin of different generations. In small-scale, non-industrial societies, kinship relationships may provide the primary basis for association. Systems vary considerably in terms of residence patterns, marriage laws, and inheritance.

(Discuss)

Kinship is the most basic principle of organizing individuals into social groups, roles, and categories. Schneider in his work on Symbolic Kinship (1984, A Critique of The Study of Kinship).

The word kinship can refer more broadly to any emotional relationship.

In its most general sense, kinship can be used in reference to similarity; In some cultures, the formal establishment of kinship involves various customs and obligations.

Anthropologists have studied different systems of kinship in a wide variety of cultures;

Many codes of ethics consider the bond of kinship as creating obligations between the related persons stronger than those between strangers, as in Confucian filial piety and the Christian injuction that charity begins at home.

Bibliography

Introduction into the study of kinship Kinship and Social Organization

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