Chapter 6 and 7: Kinship and Social Groups

What is kinship? Kinship is defined as a sense of being related to another person or persons.  Cultures provide guidelines about who are kin folk and the expected behavior of those people. 

Kinship is linked with modes of livelihood and reproduction.  Nineteenth century anthropologists found that kinship was the most important organizing principle in nonindustrial, nonstate cultures.  How couldn't it? The kinship group performs the functions of ensuring the continuity of the group by arranging marriages; maintaining social order by setting moral rules and punishing offenders; and providing for the basic needs of members by regulating production, consumption, and distribution.  I am glad for myself that i am not apart of a kinship group where marriages are arranged and the harshness of social order lacks. 

Western cultures emphasize as primary 'blood' relations, or relations through a biological mother and father.  'Blood' is not a universal basis for kinship, however.  Even in some cultures with a 'blood'-based understanding of kinship, variations exist in defining who is a 'blood' relative and who is not.  Miller gives an example in the textbook saying in some cultures male offsprings are considered one of 'blood', and female offspring are not. 

Kinship to me is 'blood' related and are the people in my family culture.  Those immediate family members stretching toward cousins are all considered in my kinship 'circle' so to say.  However, as we discussed earlier in the semester.  Even though some of these people are kin, how many of them i see as part of my cultural identity?  I believe that my cultural roots and identity was shaped my those kin-folk (besides friends and school) that were around me the most and were mostly involved in family activities and get togethers rather than those i saw once every year or so. 

In some cultures, a form of sharing is a second important basis for kinship.  Sharing one's child with someone else through either informal or formal processes is a cultural universal.  Sharing-based kinship is created through the transfer of food, including breast feeding.  In some cultures, children breastfed by the same woman are considered kin and cannot marry.  As an outsider to these rituals, i find it hard to believe that i could adapt and believe those things.  Growing up how i did, i couldn't imagine sharing a child with someone else and having the mother of a child let someone else breastfeed them and share everything with them.  It seems very out of the ordinary coming from an outsider.  Now, for these people that perform these rituals, it is everyday life and completely normal because it is embed again, in their cultural roots. 

A good topic and relative to us today in the U.S. is fostering or adoption, since it has become popular in today's society.  Are these people (kids and foster parents or adopted parents) considered kin?  I believe that they are considered kin.  Even though they are not biologically linked, the kids are raised and nurtured by these parents and the kids are instilled by the parent's beliefs and thoughts to form their cultural identity.

Another major basis for forming close interpersonal relationships is through marriage.  Anthropologists recognize that some concept of marriage exists in all cultures, though it may take different forms and serve different functions.  Forms of marriage change variously across the world in different cultures from monogamy (two people) to polygamy (multiple spouses). 

In chapter 7, in focuses on social groups and social stratification.  A social group is defined as a cluster of people beyond the domestic unit who are usually related on a basis other than kinship, although kinship relationships may exist between people in the group.  This to me would be my friends, teammates, fellow students, professors, and other people i know but are not kin to.  Members of all social groups have a sense of rights and responsibilities in relation to the group. 

What does it mean to be a friend?  Friendship is defined in the book as close social ties between at least two people in which the ties are informal, are voluntary, and involve personal, face-to-face interaction.  So, according to this-- those friends that you have on facebook that you never seen person to person and have only interacted with them online, they are not considered your friend.  That is something to think about and argue, if they are your friend on facebook and you talk to them online but never have person to person, are they your friend.  According to this theory of friendship, they're not. 

Social stratification was also discussed in the chapter which consists of hierarchical relationships between and among different groups, usually on the basis of some culturally defined concept of status.  An example i think of when it comes to Social stratification is in the business world.  Possibly the CEO of a business and their employees.  The CEO is known and respected but probably not someone you go have a drink with.