Social Institutions: Family, Marriage and Kinship
What this domain tests
The exam tests definitions, types and functions of family and marriage, the distinction between family and household, and the classification of kinship, residence and descent rules in examples.
Family
- Family is a universal kinship institution based on marriage, blood or adoption. Its functions include reproduction, socialization, economic support, emotional security and care of the aged.
- Types: nuclear (parents and children) and joint or extended (two or more related couples with common residence or property).
- Residence: patrilocal (with the husband's family), matrilocal (with the wife's family) and neolocal (a new home).
- Descent: patrilineal, matrilineal or bilateral. Authority: patriarchal, matriarchal (rare) or egalitarian.
- Family is not household: a household is a co-residential and consumption unit and may contain non-kin.
Marriage
- Marriage is a socially approved and regulated union that usually establishes rights and duties between spouses and between them and their children.
- Forms: monogamy; polygamy, which includes polygyny (one man, several wives) and polyandry (one woman, several husbands).
- Endogamy means marrying within a group; exogamy means marrying outside it. Clan exogamy and prohibited degrees regulate close kin marriage.
- In India, the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 requires monogamy and consent and sets the minimum age at 21 for the groom and 18 for the bride; the Special Marriage Act 1954 provides for civil marriage. The Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 prohibits dowry, though it persists.
Kinship
- Kinship includes consanguineous relationships through blood and affinal relationships through marriage.
- Descent groups include lineages and clans. Kinship terms classify relatives and prescribe behaviour. Iravati Karve's kinship map of India is a standard reference.
Worked example
A couple lives in the husband's village with his parents; land passes from father to son; children take the father's clan name. This is patrilocal residence, patrilineal descent and a joint family if the household contains two related couples. Reasoning: name each rule separately: residence, descent and composition.
Traps
- Joint family is not household; matrilineal is not matriarchal.
- Polygyny is not polyandry.
- Marriage is a social institution, not merely a legal contract.
- Do not apply one kinship pattern to all of India.