Week 14: Anthropology 11--Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Lecture Notes for Chapter 9:

Family and Household  (242-267)

basketweave line

 

Professor John Wolford
Department of Anthropology
University of Missouri-St. Louis

Email: wolfordj@msx.umsl.edu


 
Definitions for Chapter 9 Outline for Chapter 9 Anthro 11 homepage GO TO BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

Links to outside web pages:
[Wolford's A11 Web Page]  [My Gateway Page]  [Reserves Page]  [Readings and Class Schedule]


Links to Section Headings inside this page:

Family and Society  |  Functions of the Family  |  Family and Household  |  Form of the Family  |  Problems of Family and Household Organization  |


The important questions Haviland cites for you to consider while reading this chapter:
 

What is the family?

What is the difference between family and household?

What are some of the problems of family and household organization?

Notes for William A. Haviland, 

Cultural Anthropology, 10th edition: 

Chapter 9:  Family and Household  (242-267)

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[INTRODUCTION]

 
• family structure emerges to fit the needs of the society (and thus, of the people)

• present-day nuclear family structure is perceived by many to be in a crisis state

• whether it is, can best be determined by whether it fulfills the needs of people in today's Western industrial society • families can take many forms, to fit many different situations

• whatever a society deems (through process) to be a satisfactory family set-up becomes the norm for that society

• of course, it is all relative: every society will see its own family structure as normal and others' as abnormal • Americans of today would see earlier Western family structures as abnormal
 
CH 8: page 225 nuclear family a family unit consisting of husband, wife, and dependent children
• the nuclear family as we know it came about because of papal decree in the 4th c. AD  
• discouraged close marriages

• discouraged adoption

• condemned polygyny, concubinage, divorce, remarriage


• given that , statistically, 20% of marriages will have no sons, and another 20% no children, this decree ensured that filial inheritance would end in many lines

 
• often, the inheritance would go to the church, which, in time, enriched and strengthened the church


• With industrialization the nuclear family gained and lost strength

 
• individual nuclear families became more isolated, less close to other kin, more insular and dependent upon one another  
• because of the need of industries for a mobile work force


• at the same time, with less extended kin ties, nuclear families became as dependent on friends and strangers for intimacy, community, etc., which led to a deterioration for the need of the nuclear family as a vital and necessary economic or social unit

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Family and Society (245-248)

   
Original Study:  [on pp. 246-248]
THE EVER-CHANGING FAMILY IN NORTH AMERICA
LEARN THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS STUDY IN ANTHROPOLOGY

UNDERSTAND WHY THIS STUDY IS PLACED UNDER THIS SECTION


 
• what differences in households exist between the colonial family and the nuclear family of later North American life, and how does the issue of privacy apply?

• what traits characterize the modern American family?

• when did the height (3/5 of the population) of conformity to what is considered the modern American family occur?

• what was the woman's sphere and what the man's sphere in industrialized capitalist America?

• what roles did women assume and develop as a power base?

• what sort of future is seen for the modern American nuclear family? Why?
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Functions of the Family (248-250)
• reliance on the natal group is a basic function of primates in general, with gender roles biologically influenced

NURTURANCE OF CHILDREN (248)
 
CH 8:page 225  family a residential kin group composed of a woman, her dependent children, and at least one adult male joined through marriage or blood relationship
• in many societies nurturance is divided along gender lines  
• in some societies, it is not: sometimes it is shared between the sexes


• the primate child is dependent longer than most other animal babies: up to four or five years

• the human child is dependent even longer (differs according to the society)

• the human child is different than other primates

• he/she does not require the mother as the sole nurturer; human babies can substitute other mother surrogates, such as other females, their fathers, or other males

• in many human societies, kin groups respond to this by organizing in such a way as to allow the women kin to communally take care of the children

 
• in America, you can see this in rural areas, in ethnic enclaves in cities, etc. Return to Top

ECONOMIC COOPERATION (249-250)
• although women tend to be the primary caregivers in most societies, they always serve other functions as well, including economic

• typically the functions of caregiver are such that they complement the other work that the person would do

• typically also tasks are shared so that the society can meet all economic responsibilities while taking care of children at the same time

• establishment of residential groups wherein members of each sex live have arisen to meet the dual economic and child nurturance needs

 
• alternative residential groups have arisen also  
• Kibbutz in Israel: paired teams of male and female specialists raise all the children of the commune

• Amazonian Mundurucu: all children live with the females in their dwelling until age 13, then the boys leave to live with the men in their dwelling

Family and Household (250)
• families are not the only social form that serves as the nurturing unit, although they are most typically so  
• households can also serve that function
 
page 250 household the basic residential unit where economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are organized and implemented; may or may not be synonymous with family
 
 
CH 8:page 225  family a residential kin group composed of a woman, her dependent children, and at least one adult male joined through marriage or blood relationship
Return to Top • the Mundurucu of the Amazon organize around households, not around families  
• all men and boys 13 and older live together; all women and children under 13 live together


• all families are a type of household, but not all households are a type of family

 
• yet—the core of most households tends to be the family


• households are universal in human society, whereas families are not

Form of the Family (251-258)
• the most common form of family arrangement is the conjugal family
 
page 251 conjugal family a family consisting of one (or more) man (who may be a female) married to one (or more) woman (who may be a male) and their offspring
• while not common, the consanguine family does occur in human society  
• the Nayar of India and the Tory Islanders (Gaelic, Roman Catholic fisherfolk off Ireland) are two examples
 
CH 8:page 225 consanguine family a family consisting of related women, their offspring, and the women's brothers
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THE NUCLEAR FAMILY (251-252)
 
CH 8:page 225 nuclear family a family unit consisting of husband, wife, and dependent children
• typical of modern industrial society and of Western society in general

• another group that embraces the nuclear family is the Inuit of the Arctic area

 
• they represent a group that takes to nuclear families because of harsh environmental conditions


• Traits of nuclear families

 
• family as an independent unit

• strong dependence of each member on every member of the nuclear family

• minimal help from outside even in times of emergencies

• non-contributing elderly are cared for only if it is feasible

• death or incapacitation of one of the contributing adults renders survival precarious


• in most societies, however, most nuclear family arrangements do not isolate the individual families as stringently as in modern industrialized societies (such as the USA)

 
• in most societies (such as the Inuit) the nuclear family arrangement tends to be temporary (to go on a hunt, etc.)—as an economic or subsistence expedient

• when in community, they can depend on the larger kin group and other association organizations for support

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THE EXTENDED FAMILY (253-254)
• nuclear families may serve as the basis—the smallest units—of extended families
 
page 253 extended family a collection of nuclear families, related by ties of blood, that live together in one household
• an ancient form of social grouping

• often determined by economic or subsistence needs

 
• the requirements of more intensive male labor would be satisfied by the presence of culturally-similar nuclear families who could work together

• agriculturalists, pastoralists, even horticulturalists; some food foragers (when environmental and social conditions are right)


• can be found among white North Americans: farmers, Northeast fishermen

• Other examples:

 
• Maya of Guatemala and southern Mexico (patrilocal)

• Hopi Indians of American Southwest (matrilocal)

• the 1960s commune movement among disaffected middle-class white (mostly) youth (neolocal)

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RESIDENCE PATTERNS (254-258)
• prime determinants of residential choice/development are ecological circumstances  
• if the environment is such that men's role becomes predominant, then the patrilocal requirement would become dominant  
• such patrilocality would be enhanced by further cultural elaborations, such as polygyny, development of warfare as prestigious activity, the development of political organization in which men assume prominent roles, etc.
 
page 254 patrilocal residence a pattern in which a married couple lives in the locality associated with the husband’s father's relatives
• patrilocal residence: dominant in agricultural and pastoral societies

• bride price is usually customary, in order to compensate the family for the loss of the daughter's service and potential offspring
 
page 256 matrilocal residence a pattern in which a married couple lives in the locality associated with the wife’s relatives
• where women are predominant in economic/subsistence activities

• tends to be horticultural societies

• tends to be in politically uncentralized societies

• usually the male does not move far from his natal family
 
page 256 ambilocal residence a pattern in which a married couple may choose either matrilocal or patrilocal residence
• can be typical where resources are fickle, or where labor needs may change quickly

• often found in band groups, especially among food foragers, who need the opportunity and flexibility to move from one band to another when food becomes scarce (the carrying capacity is strained) or when social tensions become high (density of social relations)

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page 257 neolocal residence a pattern in which a married couple establishes their household in a location apart from either the husband’s or the wife’s relatives
• thrives where independence of the nuclear family is dominant (such as the USA)  
• although ambilocal, patrilocal, or matrilocal patterns of customary celebration may erupt and cause tension

• for example: where to spend Christmas, at the husband's or wife's parents' house
 
page 257 avunculocal residence a pattern in which a married couple lives with the husband’s mother’s brother
• a rather rare occurrence, but present nonetheless

• tends to occur where patrilocality would otherwise be favored by the environment, but where matrilineal descent has developed in response to a perceived need to transmit property and culturally-valued rights
 
CH 10:page 271 matrilineal descent descent traced exclusively through the female line to establish group membership
• Trobriand Islanders  
• the leaders and chiefs follow avunculocal patterns

• but the other members of society tend to follow patrilocal patterns

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Problems of Family and Household Organization (258-265)

 
  • families and households are a universally institutionalized form of efficiently organizing society in terms of economy, production, child-rearing, transferral of goods, etc.

• yet families are not always peaceful, are not always harmonious

• tensions arise in all types of family or household arrangements

 
• some tensions are specific to particular types of household

• some resolutions to tensions are likewise specific to particular types of households

POLYGAMOUS FAMILIES (258)
• an obvious tension in polygamous families: competition between spouses and the resulting conflicts
 
CH 8: page  225      polygyny the marriage custom of a man having two or more wives simultaneously; a form of polygamy

• Polygyny: the wives must get along

• solutions • sororal polygyny: man marries sisters, presuming that sisters will get along better than other women who would have been raised separately
  • giving each wife a separate house, or a separate apartment within a compound; a separate horticultural field • some requirement (formal or informal) for the husband to rotate his sleeping locales (to show that he does not have favorites)  
• the reality: we all know that these are ideal solutions, not real; that human passions and emotions and frailties always get in the way


• the tremendous advantage of polygamous households is the sharing of labor

 
• this is in fact what makes such households work so well
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EXTENDED FAMILIES (259-260)
• when multiple generations, multiple roles, and a hierarchical authoritarian structure is involved, tensions and jockeying for social prestige will occur

• dependence training is the typical child-rearing training in extended families

 
• to inculcate deference to authority and to the family structure and to dependence on the larger group


• concept of face is a good explanatory model to understand extended family relations

 
• Erving Goffman term

• lines, face, saving face, etc.

• very effective informal mechanism for social control: an externalized informal sanction

• used by both those in power and those outside of official power structure

• face dependent on the people's adherence to the values of the society, where losing face would signify to them absolute disgrace

• Example:

 
• pastoral nomads of Northern Africa

• to avoid ill-treatment from abusive father or older brother, younger men can go live with others: mother's family, in-laws, or strangers

• in patrilocal, patrilineal society, this would bring tremendous embarrassment and social pressure on the family's head


• sometimes safety valves are built in as formal mechanisms (may or may not be sanctions)

 
• the possibility of divorce

• the demand for share of the household assets by otherwise disenfranchised sons or daughters

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NUCLEAR FAMILIES (260-262)
• modern nuclear families in the industrialized West have lost one of its major reasons for existence: the family as chief unit of economic stability

• Problems:

 
• lack of kin from either side due to growing pattern of neolocal residence  
• therefore, lack of support (economic, childcare, labor, social, cultural)

• especially acute for women, esp. in the traditional sense (because we all still adhere to some forms of traditional values [twin laws, remember?])


• dual income is becoming a perceived (and in many cases, an actual) need for households

 
• causes problems of competition, friction arising from dominant trait of individualism

• often the "nuclear" family is divided by the dual partners' jobs, each having to reside in different parts of the country/world

 
• especially predominant among professionals


• problems of old age

 
• there is no built-in requirement for care of the elderly

• conversely, there is an assumption of care only if there exists the means to do so

  
Anthropology Applied:  [on pp. 261]
DEALING WITH INFANT MORTALITY
LEARN THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS STUDY IN ANTHROPOLOGY

UNDERSTAND WHY THIS STUDY IS PLACED UNDER THIS SECTION

• Dr. Margaret Boone (anthropologist) worked on problem of black infant mortality in Washington DC, starting in 1979 (when such studies were just beginning)
• Washington DC had the highest black infant mortality of any city in the country

• twice as many black babies were dying as white

• her observations and conclusions (some of which were new at the time)
• absence of prenatal care

• smoking

• consumption of alcohol

• psychological distress during pregnancy/birth

• evidence of violence

• ineffective contraception

• rapid childbearing in the teens

• use of several harmful drugs at the same time

Cultural Factors Involved
• belief in a birth for every death

• high value placed on children

• a value placed on gestation without necessarily an understanding of its potential consequences

• a lack of planning ability

• distrust of both men and women

• separation of men's roles from family formation processes

• Now recognized that the problem of infant mortality goes far beyond merely medicine
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FEMALE-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS (262-265)
• most single-parent households are headed by women in the USA  
• caused by disillusionment with the tensions of nuclear family in modern/post-modern world

• out-of-wedlock pregnancies

• divorce, widowhood

• 1990s: 2-to-1 ratio of households headed by divorced, never-married, or separated people as by nuclear families


• a distinct economic burden, in modern urbanized society

 
• women are paid less for equivalent jobs

• women typically are offered only the lower-paying jobs anyway

• in divorced families, men often will not pay their share, even when court-ordered

• kin are not around typically to help with childcare, so extra money has to be paid out for childcare


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created: January 28, 2001
last revised: January 10, 2002
this revision: April 5, 2002