Anthropology: Family And Kinship

“Anthropology is the study of the human species and its immediate ancestors. Anthropology is a uniquely and holistic science.”(Introduction to Anthropology 3) The main topics of discussion for this research paper are the structures and functions of families and kinship. "The family is a social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation, and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults."(Murdock 1949) Kinship systems are “culturally defined human relationships of interdependence underlying social organizations.” (Gonzalez, Kinship Systems) Two of the most universal family functions …show more content…
These tools were also used for determining the informant’s immediate and household type, as well as residence and occupational patterns. Alexas considers her parents, siblings, godparents and their family as well as a few other people to be apart of her intermediate family.”(Alexas, personal interview) Alexas and her family share meals on the holidays. They always spend quality time together, participating in outings such as going shopping and attending someone’s event or ceremony. (Alexas, personal interview) They also go on vacations together and always check in with each other to see how each other is, by picking up the slack where they can. Alexas states that, "I do not necessarily feel like I have to take care of them because there are enough people for them to either live with who they choose or they can have someone live with them and keep them comfortable.” (Alexas, personal interview) She believes that the people mostly related to the person in need will make sure everything is situated and everyone else will take turns helping out. In Alexas’ family, the women handle all situations involving ill family members; in a way, they are the caregivers of the family. When an elderly family member is sick they tend to be place in a nursing home, since not all of the family members live close to each …show more content…
In terms of immediate Alexas includes her godparents, while I only include my parents and siblings. Alexas and her siblings plan to establish a nonindustrial society. They plan to collaborate and incorporate their career paths to initiate a family organization. My siblings and I beliefs are focused on maximizing. Maximizing is “trying to gain the largest margin of individual profit.”(Gonzalez J., Classic Economic Western Theory) In Alexas’ family, when someone is sick the members living closest to the ill person is responsible for taking care of them or they are sent to a nursing home. (Alexas, personal interview) In my family everyone helps regardless of where they live. The differences reflect our respective kinships different levels of importance on different