Social Institutions: Family, Marriage and Kinship
What the exam tests
This domain tests definitions and types of family, marriage and kinship, plus your ability to read an Indian family arrangement accurately.
Core rules
- Family: universal, kinship-based institution rooted in marriage, reproduction and nurture. Types: nuclear/joint; patrilocal/matrilocal/neolocal; patrilineal/matrilineal/bilateral; patriarchal/egalitarian.
- Functions: regulation of sex, reproduction, socialisation, economic cooperation, emotional support, care of dependents.
- Marriage: socially approved union with rights and obligations. Forms: monogamy, polygyny, polyandry; endogamy (marry within) and exogamy (marry outside); cross-cousin and preferential forms. Hindu Marriage Act 1955 enforces monogamy; Special Marriage Act 1954 allows civil marriage across communities.
- Kinship: relationships by blood (consanguineal) and marriage (affinal); descent (patrilineal/matrilineal); kinship terms classify relatives and obligations.
Worked example
A couple lives with the husband's parents; the bride belongs to the same caste but a different gotra; the marriage is legally monogamous. Classify: patrilocal residence, patrilineal descent, caste-endogamous, gotra-exogamous, monogamous. Reasoning: each label uses a different criterion-residence, descent, marriage boundary, number of spouses. In parts of Karnataka, cross-cousin marriage occurs in some communities, but it is not universal.
Traps
Do not equate joint family with any large household; jointness involves shared property, authority and residence. Do not say polyandry is common in India. Do not confuse caste endogamy with gotra exogamy. Do not treat kinship as only biological; adoption and marriage create kinship too.