Glossary
Avunculocal: married individuals live with or near an uncle.
Bilateral descent: descent is recognized through both the father’s and the mother’s sides of the family.
Bridewealth: payments made to the bride’s family by the groom’s family before marriage.
Clan: a group of people who have a general notion of common descent that is not attached to a specific biological ancestor.
Descent groups: relationships that provide members with a sense of identity and social support based on ties of shared ancestry.
Domestic group: a term that can be used to describe a group of people who live together even if mem- bers do not consider themselves to be family
Dowry: payments made to the groom’s family by the bride’s family before marriage.
Endogamy: a term describing expectations that individuals must marry within a particular group. Exogamy: a term describing expectations that individuals must marry outside a particular group. Extended family: a family of at least three-generations sharing a household.
Family: the smallest group of individuals who see themselves as connected to one another.
Family of orientation: the family in which an individual is raised.
Family of procreation: a new household formed for the purpose of conceiving and raising children.
Household: family members who reside together.
Joint family: a very large extended family that includes multiple generations.
Kinship: term used to describe culturally recognized ties between members of a family, the social statuses used to define family members, and the expected behaviors associated with these statuses.
Kinship diagrams: charts used by anthropologists to visually represent relationships between members of a kinship group.
Kinship system: the pattern of culturally recognized relationships between family members.
Kinship terminology: the terms used in a language to describe relatives.
Levirate: the practice of a woman marrying one of her deceased husband’s brothers.
Lineage: a term used to describe any form of descent from a common ancestor.
Matriarchal: a society in which women have authority to make decisions.
Matrilineal descent: a kinship group created through the maternal line (mothers and their children).
Matrilocal residence: married individuals live with or near the wife’s mother’s family.
Neolocal residence: newly married individuals establish a household separate from other family members.
Nuclear family: a parent or parents who are in a culturally-recognized relationship, such as marriage, along with minor or dependent children.
Patrilateral cousin marriage: the practice of marrying a male or female cousin on the father’s side of the family.
Patrilineal descent: a kinship group created through the paternal line (fathers and their children).
Patrilocal residence: married individuals live with or near the husband’s father’s family.
Polygamous: families based on plural marriages in which there are multiple wives or, in rarer cases, multiple husbands.
Polyandry: marriages with one wife and multiple husbands.
Polygyny: marriages in which there is one husband and multiple wives.
Role: the set of behaviors expected of an individual who occupies a particular status.
Serial monogamy: marriage to a succession of spouses, one after the other. Sororate marriage: the practice of a man marrying the sister of his deceased wife. Status: any culturally-designated position a person occupies in a particular setting.
Stem family: a version of an extended family that includes an older couple and one of their adult children with a spouse (or spouses) and children.
Unilineal: descent is recognized through only one line or side of the family.
