1. The nuclear family consists of a married couple and their children.

2. The nuclear family is ego-centered, and impermanent, while descent groups are permanent (lasting beyond the life-spans of individual constituents) and reckoned according to a single ancestor.

3. One’s family of orientation is the family in which one is born and grows up, while one’s family of procreation is formed when one marries and has children.

4. Claims made for the universality of the nuclear family, based upon the universality of marriage, do not hold up--the nuclear family is widespread, but not universal.

5. In societies where the nuclear family is important, this structure acts as a primary arena for sexual, reproductive, economic, and enculturative functions, but it is not the only structure used by societies for these (e.g., the Etoro, Nayar, Betsileo, etc.).

6. In many societies, the extended families are the primary unit of social organization.

1. The most prevalent residence pattern in the United States is families of procreation living neolocally.

2. In the U.S., as in other large, industrialized societies, patterns of residence and family types may change from class to class, in response to the conditions of these different contexts (e.g., extended families as a response to poverty).

1. In 2000, 24 percent of American households were inhabited by nuclear families.

2. Increasing representation of women in the work force is associated with a rise in marriage age.

3. The divorce rate rose steeply between 1970 and 2000.

4. The media is reflecting and intensifying these changes.

5. Comparatively, Americans (especially middle class) identify a smaller range of kindred than members of nonindustrial societies.

6. A comparison between American and Brazilian kinship is made.

1. The two basic units of social organization among foragers are the nuclear family and the band.

2. Typically, the band exists only seasonally, breaking up into nuclear families when subsistence means require.

1. A descent group is a permanent social unit whose members claim common ancestry.

2. With matrilineal descent individuals automatically join the mother’s descent group when they are born.

3. With patrilineal descent individuals automatically join the father’s descent group when they are born.

4. Matrilineal and patrilineal descent are types of unilineal descent in which individuals only recognize one line of descent.

5. A lineage is a descent group who can demonstrate their common descent from an apical ancestor.

6. A clan is a descent group who claims common descent from an apical ancestor but cannot demonstrate it (stipulated descent).

7. When a clan’s apical ancestor is nonhuman, it is called a totem.

1. In tribal societies, the descent group, not the nuclear family, is the fundamental unit.

2. In many societies, descent groups are corporate, sharing resources and property.

3. Patrilocality—married couple lives with husband's family; associated with patrilineal descent and is more common than matrilocality.

1. Exogamy is the practice of seeking a spouse outside one's own group.

2. Incest refers to sexual relations with a close relative.

1. Endogamy and exogamy may operate in a single society, but do not apply to the same social unit.

2. Caste

1. Marriage can establish the legal father of a woman’s children and the legal mother of a man’s.

2. Marriage can give either or both spouses a monopoly in the sexuality of the other.

3. Marriage can give either of both spouses rights to the labor of the other.

4. Marriage can give either of both spouses rights over the other’s property.

5. Marriage can establish a joint fund of property—a partnership—for the benefit of the children.

6. Marriage can establish a socially significant relationship of affinity between spouses and their relatives.

1. In the U.S., since same-sex marriage is illegal, same-sex couples are denied many of these rights (e.g., rights to the labor of the other, over the other’s property, relationships of affinity with the other’s relatives).

2. This does not mean that same-sex marriages, like any other cultural construction, are not capable of meeting these needs, only that in the U.S. laws prevent them from doing so.

1. Particularly in descent-based societies, marriage partners represent an alliance of larger social units.

2. Bridewealth is a gift from the husband’s kin to the wife’s, which stabilizes the marriage by acting as an insurance against divorce.

3. Brideprice is rejected as an appropriate label, because the connotations of a sale are imposed; but progeny price is considered an equivalent term.

4. Dowry, much less common than bridewealth, correlates with low status for women.

5. Fertility is often considered essential to the stability of a marriage.

6. Polygyny may be practiced to ensure fertility.

1. The existence of customs such as the sororate and the levirate indicate the importance of marriage as an alliance between groups.

2. Sororate marriages involve the widower marrying one of his deceased wife’s sisters.

3. Levirate marriages involve the widow marrying one of her deceased husband’s brothers.

1. Marriages that are political alliances between groups are harder to break up than marriages that are more individual affairs.

2. Payments of bridewealth also discourage divorce.

3. Divorce is more common in matrilineal societies as well as societies in which post marital residence is matrilocal.

4. Divorce is harder in patrilocal societies as the woman may be less inclined to leave her children, who as members of their father’s lineage would need to stay with him.

1. Promoting divorce:

2. Discouraging divorce:

1. The U.S. has one of the world’s highest divorce rates.

2. The U.S. has a very large percentage of gainfully employed women.

3. Americans value independence.

1. Even in cultures that approve of polygyny, monogamy still tends to be the norm, largely because most populations tend to have equal sex ratios.

2. Polygyny is more common than polyandry because, where sex ratios are not equal, there tend to be more women than men.

3. Multiple wives tend also to be associated with wealth and prestige (the Kanuri of Nigeria and the Betsileo are used as examples).

1. Polyandry is quite rare, being practiced almost exclusively in South Asia.

2. Polyandry seems to be a cultural adaptation to mobility associated with customary male travel for trade, commerce, and military operations.

3. Polyandry ensures there will be at least one man at home to perform male activities.