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).

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 1995, 25 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 1994.

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 1960s television program The Brady Bunch focused on a blended family.

2. The great familiarity introductory anthropology course students have with the characters of this program is contrasted with the lack of familiarity the same students have for the members of their own extended families.

3. Some reference to the role television plays in transmitting and shaping American culture 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. Unilocal Residence

1. People can choose the descent group that they want to belong to.

2. Membership is fluid as people can change their descent group membership.

3. With unilineal descent, membership is ascribed, but for ambilineal descent, membership is achieved.

1. Kin terms are the labels given in a particular culture to different kinds of relatives.

2. Biological kin type refers to the degree of actual genealogical relatedness.

1. Used by most Americans and Canadians.

2. Kinship is traced through both male and female lines.

3. Kin links through males and females are perceived as being similar or equivalent.

4. In North American bilateral kinship there is often matrilineal skewing, a preference for relatives on the mother's side.