UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY
AND POLITICS
Q2, 1ST SEM, S. Y. 2022-2023
KINSHIP
 It refers to the “web of social relationships”
that human form as a part of a family, which is
the smallest unit of society.
Types of kinship:
1. Consanguineal kinship – kinship based on
blood and considers as the most basic and
general form of relations. The relationship is
achieved by birth or blood affinity
2. Descent – refers to biological relationship. It is
often refers to an individual’s child or offspring
or his/her parents and ancestry
3. Lineage – refers to the line where one’s
descent is traced
Principles of descent:
1. Patrilineal descent - is established by tracing
descent exclusively through males from a
founding male ancestor.
2. Matrilineal descent - is established by tracing
descent exclusively through females from a
founding female ancestor
3. Bilateral descent - is a system of family
lineage in which the relatives on the mother's
side and father's side are equally important for
emotional ties or for transfer of property or
wealth
Family
 It is a social group that has the following
characteristics: (1) share common residence
(2) presence of economic cooperation (3)
reproduce offspring (4) include adults of both
sexes wherein at least 2 of whom uphold a
socially approved form of social relationship
(5) responsible for the socialization of infants
and children (George Peter Murdock)
 Is a group of individuals wherein the
relationship is based on consanguinity and
kinship (Kingsley Davis)
 Is a factory that devlopes and produces
human personalities (Talcott Parsons)
 Is an institutions that passes down the cultural
traditions of a society to the next generation
(Bronislaw Malinowski)
 A social and economic unit that consist of one
or more parents and their children (Ferraro &
Anfreatta, 2010)
There are several points from the definition of Ferraro
& Anfreatta:
1. A family is a socioeconomic unit. What makes
a group of individuals a family is their
dependency on one another with regard to
their social and economic activities. This
implies that the family acts as the primary
support group for its members as they
participate in the social processes within a
society. For this reason, as individual is often
disposed to consult with family members
during social and economic crises
2. A family can have one or more parents. In the
society that we grow up, a family usually
consist of 2 parents – a father and a mother.
However, this is not the norm for other
societies who could have one parent, a mother
or a father, or multiple parents due to multiple
marriages
3. A family can have parents who are not
married. Although the marriage of parents is
important in religious countries such as the
Philippines, it is not a prerequisite in other
societies. Hence as long as individuals are
socially and economically interdependent, they
can be considered family. In popular context,
this is also referred to as cohabitating couples
or domestic couples.
4. A family can have parents with same gender.
Although the same sex marriage is illegal in
most countries including Philippines, some
societies allow for the marriage of individuals
with the same sex.
5. A family should have at least one child. One of
the most crucial elements of a family is the
existence of children. Without a child, a couple
remains to be couple and not a family.
The two primary purposes of family are:
1. To orient the individual of the norms of the
society
2. To provide physical support as the individual
matures
Structures of families:
1. Nuclear family - is a family group consisting of
parents and their children, typically living in
one home residence.
2. Extended family - is a family that extends
beyond the nuclear family of parents and their
children to include aunts, uncles,
grandparents, cousins or other relatives, all
living nearby or in the same household.
Particular forms include the stem and joint
families.
3. Blended family - is a family where at least one
parent has children that are not biologically
related to their spouse. Either parent, or both,
may have children from previous relationships
or marriages.
4. Single-parent family - comprised of a
parent/caregiver and one or more dependent
children without the presence and support of a
 spouse or adult partner who is sharing the
responsibility of parenting.
5. Grandparents family - is a family with
grandchildren and no parents present in the
intervening generation.
6. Childless family – is family with two partners
who cannot have or don't want kids. In the
world of family types and dynamics, these
families are often forgotten or left out (even
though you can still have a family without
children).
What is Marriage?
 It is defined as the “socially or ritually
recognized union or legal contract between
spouses that establishes rights and obligations
between them, between them and their
children, between them and their in-laws
(Haviland et.al., 2011)
 a formal union and social and legal contract of
individuals that unites their lives legally,
economically, and emotionally
Requisites of a valid marriage:
1. Essential requisites (Article 2 Family Code)
 Legal capacity of the contracting parties who
must be a male and a female.
 Consent freely given in the presence of the
solemnizing officer.
2. Formal requisites (Article 3, Family Code)
 Authority of the solemnizing officer
 A valid marriage license
 A marriage ceremony which takes place with
the appearance of the contracting parties
before the solemnizing officer and their
personal declaration that they take each other
as husband and wife in the presence of not
less than two witnesses of legal age.
Forms of marriages:
1. Monogamy - is the socially sanctioned union
of two adults. In some societies this union is
restricted to a man and a woman, and in other
societies it can be two adults of any gender.
2. Polygamy - is the socially sanctioned union of
more than two adults at the same time. It is
commonly known as the plural form of
marriage. Adding partners is frequently a sign
of status and is considered an ideal for
families in polygamous societies. In some
cases, too, polygamy is practiced to address
extreme social stress due to things such as
warfare or skewed population distributions
caused by famine and high mortality rates.
a. Polygyny - is the more common form of
polygamy, is the marriage of one man to
more than one woman. There is often
marked age asymmetry in these
relationships, with husbands much older
than their wives. In polygynous
households, each wife commonly lives in
her own house with her own biological
children, but the family unit cooperates
together to share resources and provide
childcare. The husband usually “visits” his
wives in succession and lives in each of
their homes at various times (or lives apart
in his own). It is common, also, for there to
be a hierarchy of wives based on seniority.
Commonly in polygynous societies, larger
families are afforded higher social status
and they have stronger political and
economic alliances.
b. Polyandry - is comparatively rare, there is
one wife and more than one husband.
Polyandrous marriages minimize
population growth and may occur in
societies where there is a temporary surfeit
of males and scarcity of females or
scarcity of resources.
 Fraternal polyandry, brothers marry
a single wife. This is the most
common in Nepal, where it is
practiced by a minority of mainly
rural families. Fraternal polyandry
offers several benefits for societies
like Nepal with scarce resources
and dense population. Where there
is extreme scarcity of land acreage,
it allows brothers to share an
inheritance of land instead of
dividing it up. It reduces inequality
within the household, as the family
can thus collectively subsist on the
land as a family unit. Also, in areas
where land is scattered over large
distances, it allows brothers to take
turns living away from home to tend
herds of animals or fields and then
spending time at home with their
shared wife.
Secondary Marriages (Remarriage obligations)
1. Levirate Remarriage - If the husband dies and
there is a surviving wife (now widow), she will
marry one of her husband’s surviving brothers.
While levirate will not be invoked in every
case, it is quite common when there are young
children remaining within the immediate family
unit. Because levirate is usually practiced in
societies with polygynous families, a married
brother taking an additional wife will not
disrupt his existing family, and the new wife
and her children will remain within the lineage
where the children were born.
2. Sororate remarriage - The sororate applies to
situations in which the wife dies and there is a
 surviving widower. Under this remarriage rule,
the deceased wife’s lineage must provide a
replacement female, preferably the former
wife’s sister. If her sisters are already married
or there are no sisters available, another
female from the same lineage can be sent as
a replacement. Sororate allows young children
from the first marriage to remain with their
father in his lineage and also maintain a
symbolic and emotional bond with their
biological mother’s kindred.
3. Ghost marriage - is performed between one or
two deceased individuals in order to create an
alliance between lineages.
Arranged Marriages:
1. Child marriage – it happens when parents
arrange for the marriage of their child long
before the marriage takes place. The marriage
will be consummated in the future.
2. Exchange marriage – in these forms of
marriage, there is a reciprocal exchange of
spouses between families
3. Diplomatic marriage – it occurs when as
arranged marriage has been established
between royal or political families in order to
forge political or diplomatic alliances
4. Modern arranged marriage – the child’s
parents, with the consent of the child, choose
from several possible mates. The parents
organize a meeting with the potential partner
of their child. The 2 children will be given a
short time to get to know each other, after
which the child will choose whom he or she
will marry. In the process of choosing partner,
the parents would usually have a say in their
child’s choice
5. Cross-cousin marriage - marriage with the
offspring of a parent's opposite-sex sibling
6. Parallel -cousin marriage - the children of two bride’s family, but in this case the arrangement
same sex siblings marry involves the contracted labor of the groom,
whether before or after the marriage.
Marriage across cultures: 3. Dowry - is a form of material value, such as
1. Endogamy - is the practice of marrying within money, jewelry, house goods, or family
a specific social group, religious denomination, heirlooms, that the bride brings into her own
caste, or ethnic group, rejecting those from marriage to provide her with wealth within her
others as unsuitable for marriage or other husband’s lineage.
close personal relationships. Endogamy is
common in many cultures and ethnic groups Authorities in family:
2. Exogamy - is the social norm of marrying 1. Patriarchal family - is one in which the men
outside one's social group have all or most of the power and importance.
2. Matriarchal family - is one in which the rulers
Post-Marital Residency Rules: are female and power or property is passed
One of the biggest questions that newlyweds have to from mother to daughter.
answer is where to live and build a family after 3. Egalitarian family – it means that familial
marriage decision making power. is shared equally
1. Patrilocal residence structured by a rule that a among participants in an ongoing activity, that
man remains in his father's house after is, between. husband and wife in task
reaching maturity and brings his wife to live performance in the family.
with his family after marriage
2. Matrilocal residence – instituted by a rule that
a woman remains in her mother's household
after reaching maturity and brings her
husband to live with her family after marriage.
3. Bilocal residence – couples, upon marriage,
choose to live with or near either spouse's
parents
4. Neolocal residence – a newly married couple
resides separately from both the husband's
natal household and the wife's natal
household.
Marriage Compensations:
1. Bride wealth (Bride price) - is the transfer of
material and symbolic value from the groom’s
to the bride’s family.
2. Bride service - involves a transfer of
something of value from the groom’s to the