Deck 10: Kinship, Family, and Marriage

Question 1

What are the two types of descent groups distinguished by anthropologists?

A) lineages and clans
B) matrilineal and patrilineal
C) patrilineal and clan
D) matrilineal and clan

Answer 1

lineages and clans

Question 2

Worldwide, what is the most prevalent strategy in use today to track kin group membership?

A) consanguineality
B) ancestry
C) matrilineality
D) patrilineality

Answer 2

patrilineality

Question 3

Families and kinship networks have the power to provide support and to nurture. What else do kinship networks do in a society?

A) encourage monogamous marriage
B) prevent genetic abnormalities
C) ensure reproduction of the next generation
D) ensure stability in the political system

Answer 3

ensure reproduction of the next generation

Question 4

One of the ways that humans construct kinship groups is by tracking genealogy. What are these kinds of groups called?

A) ascent
B) related
C) family
D) descent

Question 5

Which of the following types of descent groups traces kinship through both the mother and the father?

A) ambilineal
B) unilineal
C) polylineal
D) bilineal

Question 6

Ambilineal descent groups such as Samoans, Maori, and Hawaiians are sometimes referred to as what kind of descent groups?

A) unilineal
B) polylineal
C) cognatic
D) monolineal

Question 7

One of the characteristics of kinship that makes it so enduring for humans is the deep connection it brings. In most kinship systems, how long do such connections endure?

A) forever
B) over generations
C) as long as the parents are married
D) as long as the social and political settings remain unchanged

Question 8

Anthropologists in the early twentieth century believed that kinship structures would yield crucial data and patterns about societal structure. What was one of the primary goals of these efforts?

A) comparison of different societies
B) determining which societies are more egalitarian
C) analysis of their own society
D) understanding universal kinship specifications for all societies

Question 9

Which anthropological question does the TV show Transparent help to highlight as it follows a parent coming out as transgender to her children, grandchildren, and remarried ex-wife?

A) Who actually constitutes a family?
B) How does the economy impact the family?
C) How do black families confront gender non-normativity?
D) What was the effect of the Defense of Marriage Act on modern families?

Question 10

Based on early accounts, many early anthropologists assumed descent groups would be key to understanding how cultures outside of Europe and North America were organized. Why might this have been the case?

A) Their own extensive fieldwork had already established this as true.
B) The narratives of travelers from other parts of the world reflected this idea.
C) Most European and North American cultures are not organized around descent groups, so early anthropologists assumed the opposite would be true elsewhere.
D) The inability of early anthropologists to speak local languages resulted in confusion about relationships.

Question 11

The concept of kinship groups is often based on the idea that a nuclear family consists of a mother, a father, and their children. What kind of model is this?

A) a nearly universal, cross-cultural understanding of kinship
B) a Euro-American ideal
C) a stable model that matches the lived experience of most Americans
D) a model proven to be the best structure for society

Question 12

In a matrilineal descent group, continued membership in the same family group is passed down through which member?

A) father
B) mother
C) uncle
D) aunt

Question 13

Kinship is the most effective strategy that humans have developed to form stable, reliable, separate, and deeply connected groups that can last over time and through generations. What comprises the system of kinship?

A) permanence and meaning
B) meaning and power
C) lineage and stability
D) power and lineage

Question 14

Which of the following terms is defined as the system of meaning and power that cultures create to determine who is related to whom and to define their mutual expectations, rights, and responsibilities?

A) family
B) heredity
C) descent
D) kinship

Question 15

Within a family structure, we learn how to treat our kin, how to behave in larger groups, and how to accept differences in age. This enculturation process also gives us tools to understand what other crucial aspect of family and society?

A) gender and sexuality
B) DNA and biological relations
C) the impact of politics on family relations
D) birth and death rates

Question 16

A patrilineal descent group traces kinships through which side of the family?

A) mother's
B) sibling's
C) grandparent's
D) father's

Question 17

Both matrilineal and patrilineal patterns of descent build kinship groups through either one genealogical line (the mother's side) or the other (the father's side). What anthropological concept does this reflect?

A) ambilineality
B) unilineality
C) endogamy
D) patrilineality

Question 18

The text features a photograph of a prominent U.S. family, the Kennedys. We often refer to a family group as a clan ("Kennedy clan") and not a lineage ("Kennedy lineage"). How is this consistent with an anthropological definition of clan?

A) It has no founding ancestor but does have deep genealogical documentation.
B) It has a founding ancestor and deep genealogical documentation.
C) It has a founding ancestor but does not have deep genealogical documentation.
D) It has no founding ancestor and does not have deep genealogical documentation.

Question 19

For most individuals in descent groups in the United States, their relationship is based on consanguinity. What is the basis of this consanguineal relationship?

A) size of group
B) blood
C) paternity
D) maternity

Question 20

What do anthropologists call descent groups based on a claim to a founding ancestor but lacking genealogical documentation?

A) relations
B) marriages
C) clans
D) lineages

Question 21

According to Melanie Medeiros, what happened to marriage patterns in Brogodo, Brazil, as the tourism industry created more economic opportunities for women?

A) Divorce rates increased.
B) Divorce rates decreased.
C) Same-sex marriage increased.
D) Same-sex marriage decreased.

Question 22

What is true about the incest taboo forbidding sexual relations with close relatives such as siblings and parents?

A) It is universal across all cultures in the world.
B) It is very rare in ancient cultures.
C) It is a direct response to concerns about biological degeneration and abnormality.
D) It is not regulated by law in Western countries.

Question 23

How do humans build kinship ties between two people who are not their immediate biological kin?

A) blood
B) marriage
C) school
D) cohabitation

Question 24

Incest taboos universally prohibit sexual relations between which members of a group?

A) parents and children, siblings, and all cousins
B) first and second cousins
C) parents and children and siblings
D) half siblings and parallel cousins

Question 25

In some parts of the world, when a marriage ends, the former spouses often remarry new partners soon afterward. What form of marriage is this?

A) polyandry
B) serial monogamy
C) arranged marriage
D) polygyny

Question 26

Marriage is often seen as a way to build an alliance and create new relationships between different groups. Sometimes this outcome is coincidental, but in many cases, it is accomplished intentionally through what kind of marriage?

A) arranged
B) exogamous
C) companionate
D) endogamous

Question 27

The parents of an upper-class family in the United States send their two children to a private boarding school and, later, to an elite college. Both children marry other members of the upper class, whom they met at school. Their parents encouraged what kind of an arranged marriage?

A) companionate
B) exogamous
C) endogamous
D) polygamous

Question 28

How many different ways of organizing relatives did early anthropologists find by collecting kinship data from cultures worldwide?

A) seventeen
B) four
C) one
D) no consistent way

Question 29

What is distinctive about new kinship groups created through affinal relationships?

A) They are linked through alliance, not through shared biology or common descent.
B) They can be traced through consanguine or blood relatives.
C) They are distinguished by relation to a founding ancestor.
D) They are distinguished by multiple founding ancestors.

Question 30

Which of the following types of marriage specifically involves the marital union of one woman to two or more men?

A) polyandry
B) monogamy
C) polyamory
D) polygyny

Question 31

Many different kinship structures send a son away (or search outside their immediate kin groups) for a marriage partner. What rule does this reflect?

A) endogamy
B) monogamy
C) polygamy
D) exogamy

Question 32

Melanie Medeiros's research on the impact of a new tourism industry on families in Brogodo, Brazil, demonstrates which pattern?

A) Changing gender roles and opportunities lead to higher rates of sexual assault and domestic abuse.
B) Globalization has generally improved economic opportunities for men and led to more stable marriages.
C) As economic opportunities for women increase, approval for gay marriage in increases.
D) Expanding economic opportunities for women are linked to a rapid rise in divorce.

Question 33

What do we call the process by which an individual whose marriage has ended due to divorce or death then remarries another individual?

A) bigamy
B) lineal polygamy
C) serial monogamy
D) serial monotony

Question 34

Globalization places stress on many different aspects of our lives, including kinship systems. What result of globalization often affects kinship?

A) global intermarriage
B) exogamous marriage
C) migration
D) remittances as a means of support

Question 35

How many different primary systems used to classify relatives in the parental generation, including the bifurcate merging system, were identified by early anthropologists?

A) two
B) five
C) nine
D) four

Question 36

Something similar to marriage exists in every known culture. However, many anthropologists observe that:

A) marriage practices do not vary widely across cultures.
B) marriage has no universal characteristics.
C) there are four main types of marriages worldwide.
D) there is no need to change the definition of marriage.

Question 37

Although some kinship relationships are established through biology or common descent, others are established through marriage. What do anthropologists call relationships established through marriage and/or alliance?

A) legal
B) extramarital
C) exogamous
D) affinal

Question 38

What do we call the U.S. practice of marriage to an individual outside of a particular group of people, either by force of law or by power of tradition?

A) kindred exogamy
B) kindred paternity
C) kindred endogamy
D) kindred maternity

Question 39

Which of the following types of marriage specifically involves the marital union of one man to two or more women?

A) polyandry
B) monogamy
C) polyamory
D) polygyny

Question 40

Where in the world are first-cousin marriages (between the children of two siblings) legally prohibited?

A) in all fifty states in the United States of America
B) in some states in the United States of America
C) in Europe and North America
D) in all countries around the world

Question 41

Which type of assisted reproductive technology involves collecting mature eggs from a woman's ovaries and fertilizing them in a laboratory?

A) surrogate fertilization
B) in vitro fertilization
C) artificial insemination
D) reproductive fertilization

Question 42

Cousins who are children of a father's brother or a mother's sister are considered which type of cousin?

A) second cousins
B) affinal cousins
C) cross-cousins
D) parallel cousins

Question 43

The textbook opens by discussing the TV show Transparent, in which Maura comes out to her children and ex-partner as transgender. What two key anthropological questions about kinship and the family does this show highlight? Be sure to mention and explain at least one key term in your answer.

Question 44

The statement issued in 2004 by the American Anthropological Association noted that a "vast array of family types" all contributed to "stable and humane societies." Why did the organization issue this statement?

A) to support heterosexual marriage
B) to support same-sex marriage
C) to expand research into the nature of families
D) to increase economic support for families in poverty

Question 45

You attend a friend's wedding. At one point, the father of the groom hands a set of new car keys to the bride. What would you, as an anthropologist, call this?

A) gift exchange
B) bridewealth
C) reciprocity
D) dowry

Question 46

Sara Dorow documents the process by which Chinese infants are adopted by white American parents who bring the children to live in a new country. Why are children from China attractive for parents looking to adopt?

A) Chinese authorities try to find good homes for as many babies as they can.
B) Chinese authorities try to encourage as many adoptions as possible because they make money from the adoption process.
C) Non-Chinese individuals adopting children from China are given help in avoiding any contact with the birth parents.
D) There is a dearth of birth records for babies put up for adoption in China, which makes contacting their birth parents very difficult.

Question 47

All of us are born or adopted into a family. When we make a choice to leave this natal family and choose a mate in order to have children, what kind of family are we becoming part of?

A) chosen family
B) family of orientation
C) family of procreation
D) nuclear family

Question 48

Anthropologists argue that kinship is one of several ways in which individuals form groups. Name and describe three other ways in which humans form groups. Does kinship influence how these other groups are formed? Why or why not?

Question 49

Which of the following is the practice of formalizing and legalizing a marriage through the exchange of gifts between the bride's family and the groom's family?

A) gift exchange
B) bridewealth
C) reciprocity
D) dowry

Question 50

Nation-states draw heavily on ideas of ________ in order to create a sense of connection among very different people found within their national borders.

A) religion and kinship
B) kinship and family
C) hegemony and kinship
D) nationalism and hegemony

Question 51

Why did the number of international adoptees coming to the United States drop from 17,416 to 6,441 between 2008 and 2013?

A) The United Nations curtailed Americans attempting international adoptions.
B) The United States is forcing parents to adopt from the United States instead.
C) Many countries established more restrictive adoption guidelines.
D) Adoption rates have fallen in general.

Question 52

While the notion of a romantic marriage predominates thinking in the United States, what is another common reason for marriage prevalent in other countries?

A) to ensure domestic bliss
B) to stabilize the tax base
C) to create a strategic alliance
D) to ensure accurate paternal identification

Question 53

One of the major shifts in marriage patterns, both in the United States and in many other countries, is the ability of same-sex partners to marry. Those who marry and also choose to have children will undoubtedly gain from what other recent change?

A) better legal protections for women
B) improved health care for children
C) reproductive technologies
D) fewer transnational adoptions

Question 54

The origins of the incest taboo are unclear, even after decades of careful study. One theory holds that the taboo is due to a fear of creating genetic defects in offspring. What is one argument against this theory?

A) If a harmful trait runs in a family, systematic inbreeding will increase the possibility of the defective gene being passed along.
B) Surveys show that most people do not believe that incest leads to genetic defects.
C) Incest taboos predate any scientific understanding of human genetics, so this could not be the cause.
D) The human genome project has shown that incest does not result in genetic damage.

Question 55

In some cultures, including Chinese and Indian, there is a strong preference for male children. This preference has been most impacted by what particular development?

A) reproductive technologies
B) the "one child" policy
C) government monitoring policies
D) widespread access to online information

Question 56

Bridewealth is still prevalent in many African societies and frequently means that the groom's family gives cattle (and sometimes other goods) to the family of the bride-to-be. What is the goal of bridewealth?

A) It stabilizes the marriage through establishment of mutual, vested interest.
B) It creates a sense of obligation on the part of the groom's family.
C) It helps ensure the newlyweds' financial success.
D) It can force the bride to be a good homemaker.

Question 57

Which country "sends" the most adoptees to the United States?

A) China
B) Ukraine
C) Ethiopia
D) South Korea

Question 58

Although many are close with the families into which they are born, others are marginalized or stigmatized in ways that create deep, lasting alienation between them and their birth families. What do many people alienated from their birth families seek to create?

A) a chosen family
B) an economic support network
C) best friends
D) surrogates to replace them in their birth families

Question 59

Susan Kahn found that Jewish women in Israel are deeply compelled to reproduce both the family and the nation. With the advent of reproductive technologies, this is made quite easy, and one might conclude that it is a matter of giving birth and raising the child. But this raises many very difficult questions. Many of the difficult questions hinge upon the kin system there, which is what type?

A) bilateral
B) patrilineal
C) ambilineal
D) matrilineal

Question 60

Dowries are an integral part of the marriage process in many countries, whether explicit or implicit. If deemed insufficient, the result might lead to what?

A) arranged marriage
B) bride burning
C) selection of a different bride
D) marriage to the bride's older sister

Question 61

Arranged marriages that are orchestrated by the families of the bride and groom are common in many cultural groups in Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. Although arranged marriage is not the primary form of marriage in the United States, it does exist. Anthropologists would argue that arranged marriages actually do occur more frequently when marriages that are arranged in subtle and implicit ways are considered. What are three examples of subtle, arranged marriages that occur in the United States that may not necessarily be overtly called "arranged marriages"? Why do you think these types of marriages occur? How do these types of marriage compare to companionate marriages?

Question 62

In 2004, the American Anthropological Association (AAA)-the largest association of anthropologists in the United States-issued a statement regarding same-sex marriages and what was then a contentious piece of legislation, the Defense of Marriage Act. What position did the AAA take on same-sex marriages? Did the AAA have research data to substantiate its position? Do you think that professional associations such as the AAA should make formal position statements about issues that are part of a "culture clash"? Why or why not?

Question 63

Susan Kahn's research in Israel examined the deep interconnectedness of reproduction kinship, Jewishness, religion, and the state itself. Israel strongly promotes the birth of new children and even subsidizes reproductive technologies in an effort to increase the birth rate. What are two of the challenges in the use of reproductive technologies in this instance? How is the state's so-called stake in the child changed with the use of reproductive technologies?

Question 64

Marriage in various forms occurs all over the world. In the United States, we typically practice kindred exogamy. What is kindred exogamy and what are two examples of marriages that would violate its rules? How does exogamy generally differ from endogamy? Is endogamy officially or unofficially practiced in the United States? What are two examples of unofficial or implicit endogamy that may occur in a group of people? What are some benefits and drawbacks of exogamy and endogamy?

Question 65

In Melanie Medeiros's (2014) ethnographic study of the small town of Brogodo, the economy shrank drastically in the early twentieth century because of the decline of the mining industry, leaving residents to rely primarily on small-scale farming and remittances from relatives in urban areas. What impact did these political economic shifts have on gender and the family?

Question 66

The author of your textbook describes a situation in a Chinese village in which family and ancestral records had been destroyed as part of the national cultural revolution in the 1960s. The author uses this case to underscore the fact that political factors can shape efforts to construct and maintain kinship. What are two examples of ways in which political factors may have shaped kinship in the United States? Do you think that political factors continue to influence kinship in any way today? Why or why not? What future implications may current political factors have on future forms of kinship?

Question 67

Families in the United States are supplementing biological connections and affinal marriage connections with alternative family forms based on friendship, respect, and mutual support. One alternative family form is that of chosen families. What are chosen families, and what are some of the reasons that they exist and are becoming more common? Give three examples of chosen families in the United States. Do you think that chosen families existed in the distant past? Why or why not? What do you think will happen to the prevalence of chosen families in the future, and why?

Question 68

The old song "Love and Marriage" suggests that "you can't have one without the other." As we have seen, however, it is common that a marriage is not based on love but instead on very different things. In your own words, define arranged and companionate marriages, explaining some of the things on which people today are basing marriages. What has changed in the question of love and marriage and why has it changed? What are some of the forces that drive changing marriage patterns and thus the motives-such as love-for getting married in the first place?

Question 69

Through kinship studies across cultures, anthropologists have determined that the ways in which genealogies are constructed can be messy and far from exact. Gaps, interruptions, disruptions, uncertainties, and assumed connections are all found among genealogies. This fact is further underscored by Kathleen Gough's reexamination of anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard's kinship work with Nuer people in Sudan. Describe one example of a genealogical disruption that Gough found among Nuer kinship data collected in the 1930s, and discuss why the disruption likely occurred. What sorts of gaps and disruptions are present in your own genealogy, and why do you think they have occurred? Do you think that genealogies will undergo even greater gaps and disruptions in the future? Why or why not?

Question 70

How families are conceptualized and formed varies across cultural groups. Define and describe the ways in which a family of orientation and a family of procreation differ. How does the concept of a nuclear family fit into these two concepts of family? Why is the concept of a nuclear family more common in the United States and other Western industrialized cultures and societies? What are some examples of other concepts of family found in other cultures throughout the world? What may be some underlying factors that contribute to the diverse ways in which family is conceptualized and formed? How do you think the concept of family may change in the future, and why?

Question 71

Anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard conducted ethnographic research with Nuer people of southern Sudan in the 1930s and argued that this group of people constituted a patrilineal descent group. What does it mean to be a patrilineal descent group and how does this differ from a matrilineal descent group? How were cattle used to reflect the patrilineal nature of Nuer descent? Provide at least two examples.

Question 72

Anthropologists have clearly demonstrated that kinship is not solely given at birth via biological connections or through marriage alliances but can be acquired through other means. What are three other ways in which kinship can be acquired? What are the benefits of being able to acquire kinship outside of biological relations and marriage? Provide at least two examples of alternate forms of acquiring kinship in the United States and in your own home community.