Exam 10: Families, Kinship, and Descent

In some systems of kinship terminology, lineal and collateral relatives are grouped together under the same kinship terms, and in others they are not.In terms of the sociocultural setting in which these terminologies exist, discuss reasons for the differences.

Which of the following does NOT belong to ego's matrilineage?

What does it mean that kinship, like race, is culturally constructed?

According to genealogical kin types used by anthropologists to study kinship relations, what kind of relative is ego's mother's brother?

Contemporary North American adults usually define their families as consisting of their husbands or wives and their children.In contrast, when middle-class Brazilians talk about their families, they mean their parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and on, down to their children.They rarely mention the spouse.Which of the following is among the reasons for this stark cultural contrast?

A unilineal descent group whose members demonstrate their common descent from an apical ancestor is a(n)

In Arembepe, Brazil, a degree of community solidarity was promoted by the myth that everyone was kin.However, social solidarity was actually much less developed in Arembepe than in societies with clans and lineages.Why?

What is the most common system of kinship classification used in the United States?

Although nuclear families are found in many societies around the world, this phenomenon is not a cultural universal.

Members of a clan say they are descended from a common apical ancestor.

There are rights, duties, and obligations associated with kinship and descent.Many societies have both families and descent groups.Give an illustration of how obligations to one may conflict with obligations to the other.How does your example relate to your experience managing rights, duties, and obligations in your own family?

A functional explanation attempts to correlate particular customs (in this case kinship terms) to other features of society.

What are the two basic social units of foraging societies?

Which of the following statements about bifurcate merging kinship terminologies is NOT true?

The most common postmarital residence rule is matrilocality, in which the married couple moves in with the husband's family.

With unilineal descent, one's lineage affiliation is ascribed at birth, but with ambilineal descent, lineage affiliation is more fluid, because each member chooses his or her own descent group.

Neolocal postmarital residence rules require newly married couples to establish their own residence.

A descent group consists only of a married couple and their children.

Outside North America, Western Europe, and the European-derived cultures of Latin America, neolocal residence isn't all that common.

What is the name of the postmarital residence pattern in which the married couple is expected to establish their own home?