NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Kinship

Kinship is the most basic principle of organizing individuals into social groups, roles, and categories. It was originally thought to be determined by biological descent, a view that was challenged by David Schneider in his work on Symbolic Kinship (1984, A Critique of The Study of Kinship). The crux of his argument was that anthropologists had founded the domain of “kinship” on the notions of human reproduction and the biologically defined relatedness of their own Euro-American culture. Human reproduction and notions of biological relatedness cannot be presumed to elsewhere structure people’s social relationships.

The word kinship can refer more broadly to any emotional relationship. This can also refer to ideas which are mathematically related. Emotion, in its most general definition, is a neural impulse that moves an organism to action, prompting automatic reactive behavior that has been adapted through evolution as a survival mechanism to meet a survival need. ... An idea (Greek: Î¹Î´ÎÎ±) is a specific concept which arises in the mind as a result of thought. ... In mathematics, a finitary relation is defined by one of the formal definitions given below. ...

In its most general sense, kinship can be used in reference to similarity; for instance, a car is akin to a truck. In some cultures, the formal establishment of kinship involves various customs and obligations. A small variety of cars, the most popular kind of automobile. ... The driver of this DAF tractor with an auto-transport semi-trailer prepares to offload Skoda Octavia cars in Cardiff, Wales For other meanings, see Truck (disambiguation). ... The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning to cultivate, generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... Custom has a number of meanings: A custom is a common practice among a group of people, especially depending on country, culture, time, and religion. ... An obligation can be legal or moral. ...

Anthropologists have studied different systems of kinship in a wide variety of cultures; see family. Anthropology (from the Greek word Î¬Î½Î¸ÏÏ‰Ï€Î¿Ï‚, human or person) consists of the study of humanity (see genus Homo). ... A family of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1997 A family is a domestic group of people, or a number of domestic groups, typically affiliated by birth or marriage, or by comparable legal relationships including domestic partnership, adoption, surname and in some cases ownership (as was the case in the Roman...

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Category: Sociology stubs A family of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1997 A family is a domestic group of people, or a number of domestic groups, typically affiliated by birth or marriage, or by comparable legal relationships including domestic partnership, adoption, surname and in some cases ownership (as was the case in the Roman... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A noted Gurung tradition is the institution of “Rodi” where teenagers form fictive kinship bonds and become Rodi members to socialize, perform communal tasks, and find marriage partners. ... A clan is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by perceived descent from a common ancestor. ... // For other uses, see Dynasty (disambiguation). ... Filial piety is extended into the afterlife. ... Genealogy is the study and tracing of family pedigrees. ... Heredity (the adjective is hereditary) is the transfer of characteristics from parent to offspring, either through their genes or through the social institution called inheritance (for example, a title of nobility is passed from individual to individual according to relevant customs and/or laws). ... This article has been identified as possibly containing errors. ... Kinship and descent is one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology. ... The Serbian language is one of the richest languages regarding kinship terminology. ... Taxonomy (from Greek verb tassein = to classify and nomos = law, science, cf economy) may refer to: the science of classifying living things (see alpha taxonomy) a classification Initially, taxonomy was only the science of classifying living organisms, but later the word was applied in a wider sense, and may also... Consanguinity, literally meaning common blood, describes how close a person is related to another in the sense of a family. ... An interpersonal relationship is some relationship or connection between two people. ...

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