Kinship and Social Groups

Nathan Schulman
Cultural Anthropology
9/12/12




All cultures have a way of defining kinship or a sense of being related by blood or friendship.  The kinship system is defined as the predominant form of kin relations in a culture and the kinds of behavior involved.


The Kinship Diagram (Genealogy) is a schematic way of presenting a family tree.  Anthropology focuses more closely on the family descent through parentage. First you look at bilineal descent meaning the child is related by descent.  Unilineal means only one parent is descent.  An example of bilineal descent would be both males and females contribute to making a living allowing for small family units and spatial mobility.

 

 

Each culture has different rules for the kinship system and thus, everyones diagram will not be drawn to a uniform shaape, length or size.  Kinship diagrams vary in all forms of designs depending on detail known on your family background.  You do not have to shove all of your diagram on one sheet of paper, it can be as many pages as needed for your family background.  Kinship diagrams can branch out to even include you recent friends or ones you knew since childhood.


Social Groups & Social



Socials groups can be things we do for hobby or cultural practice.  One joins clubs, does cultural rituals, joins a sports team or hangs out with friends.  Social groups are defined as social interaction affinities (social communication linkage between two people).