Kinship system

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By kinship systems are blutsverwandtschaftliche and marriage relations between people of a given culture defined and organized. The term “system” encompasses both the kinship group and its classification by ethnology .

description

In all cultures the kinship system has an important function in relation to socialization , inheritance regulation and succession , i.e. H. the transfer of social position ( status ) to the next generation . This ensures social continuity through the relationship .

In addition, kinship in most societies is an indestructible social network with corresponding economic obligations between the members of a kinship group. Belonging to a certain kinship group also often has an effect on the possible choice of partners for individuals (see also marriage rules ).

In non-industrial societies, kinship is the most important form of social organization. In the post-industrial society, on the other hand, other membership groups ( class etc.) often play an equally important role.

Kinship systems are assessed and classified in various ways in ethnology.

Relationship systems according to names

Depending on the ( ethnic ) society , the terms used for relatives and their relationships with one another can be very different. A basic distinction is made according to the following characteristics, with some companies using all of these characteristics and others only using some of these characteristics:

Kinship Systems by Descent

Kinship systems based on descent are the most important social affiliation group for many societies . There are two basic forms: unilinear and bilateral-cognatic ancestry rules.

Unilinear descent

In unilinear kinship systems, the affiliation of an individual (" ego ") to a descent group ( lineage , clan , tribe ) is transmitted and inherited either through the father or the mother ; there are also rules of descent in which both lines come into play in different contexts.

  • In the patrilineal ( Latin for "in the line of the father") regulation, the membership of the individual in a kinship group is calculated according to male ancestry (father, grandfather , common ancestor). In this system, children belong to the father's lineage . The son's children too, but not the daughter's children - these are counted in the line of her husband. Patrilinearity is found in around half of the world's 1,300 indigenous peoples and ethnic groups . Almost all patrician linear kinship systems follow a patrician local resident control after the marriage , the wife has the husband or his family move, mostly connected to the sexual and economic control of the husband over his wife (s).
  • In the matrilineal (Latin for "in the line of the mother") regulation, children are counted in the line of the mother and her mother. This includes the daughter's children, but not the son's children - these are added to the line of their biological mother, not that of their father. Around 13% of the 1,300 ethnic groups worldwide follow the matrilineal rule of ancestry, a third of them follow a matri- local residence regulation after marriage: the husband moves in with his wife or her family. In many matrilineal systems, the mother brother ( uncle ) takes on social paternity for his sister's children, including the rights and obligations associated with it (see Avunculat ).
  • With the bilinear (double) regulation, the child takes over the line of the father and the line of the mother, but in different social contexts. Bilinear ancestry is made up of patriarchy and matrilinearity and allows different group affiliations to arise (see Moiety ). Around 4% of the world's ethnic groups follow this rule of origin. In large parts of European Judaism , too , belonging to Judaism is conveyed via the maternal line, but belonging to the individual family via the paternal line.
  • With the ambilinear (Latin for "from both sides") regulation, the child of a married couple can freely choose whether they want to refer to their mother with their line or to their father with his line. This can result in a mixed generation sequence such as father-mother-mother-father , according to the child's personal preferences or based on the relative wealth and influence of the respective parent families. After the election, the child takes over the entire previous (mixed) line of the parent, this cannot be changed afterwards. The child therefore only refers to one line (unilinear), which is built up from one mother or one father for generations . Around 4% of the world's ethnic groups follow this rule of origin.
  • In the parallel regulation, two sexually separate lines are used: the father transfers his line and social position to the sons, the mother transfers her matrilineal line and position to the daughters. Each child thus relates to only one line of ancestors : daughters to those of their mother, sons to those of their father. Only 1% of the world's races follow this rule of ancestry.

Bilateral, cognatic ancestry

With the bilateral (Latin for “both sides”) or cognatic (“co-born”) rule of descent, both genders are of equal importance for deriving the descent of an individual (“ egos ”): mothers and fathers. A person is considered to be the descendant of all of his ancestors, without highlighting any of the two lines. All eight great-grandparents are seen as ancestors and part of their own ancestry group, children always belong to the two families of their parents and inheritance runs equally across both lines. The equivalent assignment to the ancestors of both parents means that not very many generations can be remembered, and the number of relatives becomes very large. As a result, the members of the parents, grandparents and perhaps great-grandparents generation are known, but in contrast to unilinear societies, more than five generations of a family tree are rarely remembered by name. Cognatic kinship systems can be found in social groups and societies whose social cohesion is not based primarily on a kinship network or on permanent kinship groups, as well as in modern societies in which the child-centered nuclear family is the smallest social group. The prevalence of the bilateral rule of descent among the 1,300 indigenous peoples and ethnic groups worldwide is 28 percent.

Six kinship systems according to Murdock

The researcher George P. Murdock developed the following 6 subdivisions .

Mohawk system

Differentiates by gender and generation. Siblings of the same sex of the parents are also called father or mother and are considered blood relatives, while siblings of the opposite sex are called uncle or aunt. The mother's sister is also called “mother”, but the mother's brother is called “uncle”. Likewise, the father's brother is also “father”, but the sister is “aunt”. As a result, the children of the parents' siblings are also treated differently. While z. For example, if the child of the mother's sister is considered to be related by blood, the child of the mother's brother is not considered to be related by blood. Blood relatives may not be married, but children of the parents' siblings who are not blood relatives may. Although named after the Iroquois , the system is used today in many societies, e.g. B. in parts of Sri Lanka and India as well as various Indian tribes of North America. The kinship system used among the approximately 250 million Hindi in India corresponds to the Iroquois system with only slight modifications.

Crowsystem

The kinship system is named after the Crow Indians from Montana, but is used in many societies around the world, including other Indian tribes, for example. B. the Hopi and the Navajo. Similar to the mohawk system, but the crow system on the father's side no longer differentiates according to generation or age, but only according to gender. The crow system is a matrilinear system that puts more emphasis on an accurate description of the maternal line, while the paternal line is rather imprecise. On the paternal side, there is hardly any distinction between uncle, grandfather or great-grandfather.

Omaha system

The system is very similar to the crow system, but designed for the paternal line instead of the maternal line, i.e. patrilinear.

Eskimo system

The Eskimo system is used by most western societies (e.g. also in the German-speaking area) and by around 10% of the world's population. The Eskimo system is a cognatic kinship system and does not differentiate between maternal and paternal lines. The parents' siblings are always called “uncle” or “aunt”, and their children are always called “cousin (s)”. Parents' parents are always called “grandfather” or “grandmother”, which is why if a more precise description is required, use must be made of auxiliary constructs such as “maternal grandfather”.

The Eskimo system emphasizes the nuclear family by distinguishing between parents and siblings very precisely (there is only one mother and only one father), but becomes very imprecise for more distant relatives. This inaccuracy goes so far that some languages ​​in which the system is used do not even differentiate between the sex of the children of the parents' siblings. In English there is only one word for cousin and cousin (alternative German words: Vetter and Base) namely "cousin". The sentence "My Cousin lives in London." Does not say whether the person is male or female, nor whether he is the child of a brother or sister of one of the parents, nor from which parent line the person comes.

Hawaiian system

The Hawaiian system is one of the simplest of the kinship systems, as it only differentiates by generation and gender. All female relatives from the mother's generation are called “mother”, all male “father”. All relatives of their own generation are “sisters” or “brothers”, i.e. also people who, after z. B. the Eskimo system "cousins".

Sudanese system

The Sudanese system is quite precise in its kinship relationships. Siblings of the parents have their own names, so a distinction is made between uncles and aunts on the paternal and maternal side. Their children are also named differently, so that there are eight different terms for cousins ​​alone. Named after Sudan , the system was also used in ancient Rome, today it is widespread in Arab societies, partly in Turkey and Bulgaria and in large parts of China.

See also

literature

  • Michael Mitterauer : Why Europe? Medieval basics of a special path. 5th revised edition. Beck, Munich 2009, pp. 70–108, Chapter 3: Spouse-centered family and bilateral kinship (comparison of European, Islamic and Chinese kinship systems; awarded the Prize of the Historical College in 2004; 4th edition of 2004: Pages in the Google book search) .
    See also: Hinnerk Meyer: Conclusion and Interpretation… February 28, 2011 ( PDF: 99 kB, 5 pages on uni-hildesheim.de); A. Schlemm: Tables for cross-cultural comparison. April 12, 2010 ( PDF: 287 kB, 6 pages on thur.de); Michael Mitterauer: The agricultural basis of the European special route. In: Rural area. Volume 1, 2001 ( PDF: 244 kB; 9 pages on bmlrt.gv.at).

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