Kinship and the Social Order

Kinship and the Social Order PDF Author: Meyer Fortes
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351510045
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 364

Get Book Here

Book Description
One of the world's most eminent social anthropologists draws upon his many years of study and research in the field of kinship and social organization to review the development of anthropological theory and method from Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-1881) to anthropologists of the 1960s. It is the central argument of this book that the structuralist theory and method developed by British and American anthropologists in the study of kinship and social organization is the direct descendant of Morgan's researches. The volume starts with a re-examination of Morgan's work. Professor Fortes demonstrates how a tradition of misinterpretation has disguised the true import of Morgan's discoveries. He follows with a detailed analysis of the work of Rivers and Radcliffe-Brown and the generation of anthropologists inspired by them. The author states his own point of view as it has developed in the framework of modern structuralist theory, with ethnographic examples examined in depth. He shows that the social relations and institutions conventionally grouped under the rubric of kinship and social organization belong simultaneously to two complementary domains of social structure, the familial and the political. Meyer Fortes' contribution to the field of anthropology can best be understood in the context of balance of forces between these domains of the personal and public. In the latter part of the book, he gives detailed attention to the principal conceptual issues that have confronted research and theory in the study of kinship and social organizations since Morgan's time. He shows that kinship institutions are autonomous, not mere by-products of economic requirements, and demonstrates the moral base of kinship in the rule of amity.

Kinship and the Social Order

Kinship and the Social Order PDF Author: Meyer Fortes
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351510045
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 364

Get Book Here

Book Description
One of the world's most eminent social anthropologists draws upon his many years of study and research in the field of kinship and social organization to review the development of anthropological theory and method from Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-1881) to anthropologists of the 1960s. It is the central argument of this book that the structuralist theory and method developed by British and American anthropologists in the study of kinship and social organization is the direct descendant of Morgan's researches. The volume starts with a re-examination of Morgan's work. Professor Fortes demonstrates how a tradition of misinterpretation has disguised the true import of Morgan's discoveries. He follows with a detailed analysis of the work of Rivers and Radcliffe-Brown and the generation of anthropologists inspired by them. The author states his own point of view as it has developed in the framework of modern structuralist theory, with ethnographic examples examined in depth. He shows that the social relations and institutions conventionally grouped under the rubric of kinship and social organization belong simultaneously to two complementary domains of social structure, the familial and the political. Meyer Fortes' contribution to the field of anthropology can best be understood in the context of balance of forces between these domains of the personal and public. In the latter part of the book, he gives detailed attention to the principal conceptual issues that have confronted research and theory in the study of kinship and social organizations since Morgan's time. He shows that kinship institutions are autonomous, not mere by-products of economic requirements, and demonstrates the moral base of kinship in the rule of amity.

Kinship and the Social Order

Kinship and the Social Order PDF Author: Meyer Fortes
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415330091
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 366

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book examines the structuralist theory and method developed by British and American anthrop- ologists in the study of kinship and social organization and how they are the direct des- cendants of the researches of Lewis Henry Morgan.

American Kinship

American Kinship PDF Author: David M. Schneider
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022622709X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 148

Get Book Here

Book Description
American Kinship is the first attempt to deal systematically with kinship as a system of symbols and meanings, and not simply as a network of functionally interrelated familial roles. Schneider argues that the study of a highly differentiated society such as our own may be more revealing of the nature of kinship than the study of anthropologically more familiar, but less differentiated societies. He goes to the heart of the ideology of relations among relatives in America by locating the underlying features of the definition of kinship—nature vs. law, substance vs. code. One of the most significant features of American Kinship, then, is the explicit development of a theory of culture on which the analysis is based, a theory that has since proved valuable in the analysis of other cultures. For this Phoenix edition, Schneider has written a substantial new chapter, responding to his critics and recounting the charges in his thought since the book was first published in 1968.

Introduction to the Science of Kinship

Introduction to the Science of Kinship PDF Author: Murray J. Leaf
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1793632383
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Get Book Here

Book Description
In Introduction to the Science of Kinship, Murray J. Leaf and Dwight Read show how humans use specific systems of social ideas to organize their kinship relations and illustrate what this implies for the science of human social organization. Leaf and Read explain that every human society has multiple social organizations, each of which is associated with a distinct vocabulary. This vocabulary is associated with interrelated definitions of social roles and relations. These roles and relations have four specific logical properties: reciprocity, transitivity, boundedness, and imaginary spatial dimensionality. These properties allow individuals to use them in communication to create ongoing, agreed-upon, organizations. This book is recommended for scholars of anthropology, sociology, linguistics, and mathematics.

Kinship, Networks, and Exchange

Kinship, Networks, and Exchange PDF Author: Thomas Schweizer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521590211
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Get Book Here

Book Description
This collection of articles aims at revitalizing the study of kinship and exchange in a social network perspective. It brings together studies of empirical systems of marriage and descent with investigations of the flow of material resources in societies of Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Europe. Restudies of classic ethnographic cases and fieldwork studies of kinship and exchange demonstrate how the social and material aspects of society are related, and address issues of concern to anthropology and the neighbouring disciplines of history, sociology and economics. This book marks the emergence of an era in the study of kinship and exchange using a productive combination of ethnographic substance with formal methods, one which leaves behind older structural-functionalist and culturalist assumptions.

Kinship and Marriage

Kinship and Marriage PDF Author: Robin Fox
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521278232
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book Here

Book Description
New paperback edition of Robin Fox's study of systems of kinship and alliance, which has become an established classic of social science literature.

Primeval kinship

Primeval kinship PDF Author: Bernard Chapais
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674029429
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Get Book Here

Book Description
At some point in the course of evolutionâe"from a primeval social organization of early hominidsâe"all human societies, past and present, would emerge. In this account of the dawn of human society, Bernard Chapais shows that our knowledge about kinship and society in nonhuman primates supports, and informs, ideas first put forward by the distinguished social anthropologist, Claude Lévi-Strauss. Chapais contends that only a few evolutionary steps were required to bridge the gap between the kinship structures of our closest relativesâe"chimpanzees and bonobosâe"and the human kinship configuration. The pivotal event, the author proposes, was the evolution of sexual alliances. Pair-bonding transformed a social organization loosely based on kinship into one exhibiting the strong hold of kinship and affinity. The implication is that the gap between chimpanzee societies and pre-linguistic hominid societies is narrower than we might think. Many books on kinship have been written by social anthropologists, but Primeval Kinship is the first book dedicated to the evolutionary origins of human kinship. And perhaps equally important, it is the first book to suggest that the study of kinship and social organization can provide a link between social and biological anthropology.

Early Human Kinship

Early Human Kinship PDF Author: Nicholas J. Allen
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444338781
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Get Book Here

Book Description
Early Human Kinship brings together original studies from leading figures in the biological sciences, social anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics to provide a major breakthrough in the debate over human evolution and the nature of society. A major new collaboration between specialists across the range of the human sciences including evolutionary biology and psychology; social/cultural anthropology; archaeology and linguistics Provides a ground-breaking set of original studies offering a new perspective on early human history Debates fundamental questions about early human society: Was there a connection between the beginnings of language and the beginnings of organized 'kinship and marriage'? How far did evolutionary selection favor gender and generation as principles for regulating social relations? Sponsored by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland in conjunction with the British Academy

How Kinship Systems Change

How Kinship Systems Change PDF Author: Robert Parkin
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1800731671
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Get Book Here

Book Description
Using some of his landmark publications on kinship, along with a new introduction, chapter and conclusion, Robert Parkin discusses here the changes in kinship terminologies and marriage practices, as well as the dialectics between them. The chapters also focus on a suggested trajectory, linking South Asia and Europe and the specific question of the status of Crow-Omaha systems. The collection culminates in the argument that, whereas marriage systems and practices seem infinitely varied when examined from a very close perspective, the terminologies that accompany them are much more restricted.

The Cultural Analysis of Kinship

The Cultural Analysis of Kinship PDF Author: Richard Feinberg
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9780252026737
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the mid-1970s, David M. Schneider rocked the anthropological world with his announcement that kinship did not exist in any culture known to humankind. This volume provides a critical assessment of Schneider's ideas, focusing particularly on his contributions to kinship studies and the implications of his work for cultural relativism. Schneider's deconstruction of kinship as a cultural system sounded the death knell for a certain kind of kinship study. At the same time, it laid the groundwork for the re-emergence of kinship studies as a centerpiece of anthropological theory and practice. Now a mainstay of cultural studies, Schneider's conception of cultural relativism revolutionized thinking about kinship, family, gender, and culture. For feminist anthropologists, his ideas freed kinship from the limitations of biology, providing a context for establishing gender as a cultural construct. Today, his work bears on high-profile issues such as gay and lesbian partners and parents, surrogate motherhood, and new reproductive technologies. Contributors to The Cultural Analysis of Kinship appraise Schneider's contributions and his place in anthropological history, particularly in the development of anthropological theory. Situating Schneider's work and influence in relation to major controversies in the history of anthropology and of kinship studies, they examine his important insights and their limitations, consider where his approach might lead, and offer alternative paradigms. Inspiring many with his keenly critical mind and willingness to flout convention, discomfiting others with his mercurial temperament, David Schneider left an ineradicable mark on his field. These frank observations on the man and his ideas offer a revealing glimpse of one of modern anthropology's most complex and paradoxical figures.