• Kinship system is one of the basic social institutions and is universal in most societies.
• Kinship plays a significant role in the socialization of individuals and the maintenance of group solidarity.
• It is especially important in primitive societies, influencing almost all their activities: social, economic, political, and religious.
• Various definitions of kinship:
  • Robin Fox: “Kinship is simply the relations between ‘kin’, persons related by real, putative, or fictive consanguinity.”
  • Abercrombie and others: “The social relationships deriving from blood ties (real and supposed) and marriageare collectively referred to as kinship.”
  • A.R. Radcliffe Brown: “Kinship is a system of dynamic relations between persons in a community, with the behavior of any two persons in these relations being regulated by social usage.”
  • In simple terms: “The bond of blood or marriage that binds people together in a group is called kinship.”

Kinship – A Significant Concept in Anthropology

• The concept of “kinship” is vitally important in Anthropology.
• In simple societies, kinship relations are extensive, fundamental, and influential, often constituting the ‘social system’.
• In more complex societies, kinship typically forms a smaller part of the total social relations that make up the social system.
• Sociologists do not attach much importance to kinship, except in the study of the sociology of family.
• Anthropologists give greater importance to kinship, as it, along with family, constitutes the focal points in anthropological studies.

Structural Principles of Kinship

• The kinship system is governed by basic principles known as the “facts of life”.
• Robin Fox identifies four basic principles:
• • Principle 1: Women have the children.
  • Principle 2: Men impregnate the women.
  • Principle 3: Men usually exercise control.
  • Principle 4: Primary kin do not mate with each other.
• These principles highlight the biological facts on which the kinship system depends.
• Men and women engage in sexual interaction, leading to women bearing children.
• This results in blood ties between individuals, recognized by terms like mother, child, and father.
• Blood ties are referred to as “consanguineous kinship”, and relatives of this type are called ‘consanguineous kin’.
• The desire for reproduction leads to another relationship, the affinal relationship, arising from a socially or legally defined marital relationship.
• Relatives in the affinal relationship, such as husband and wife, are called ‘affinal kin’.
• Affinal kin are not related by blood.