Page 155 - DSOC402_SOCIOLOGY_OF_KINSHIP_ENGLISH

Unit 21: Forms and Functions of Family

(ii) Polyandrous Family/Husband: When a woman marries more than one men. Such fam- Notes
ilies are called polyandrous family. It has two part–When all brothers of family marry
a woman, it is called Addelphic polyandrous family. Secondly when husbands are
not “brothers only” but can be other relations, they are called Non-addelphic polyan-
drous family. Such families can be found in khus of Johsar Barbar, Roda of Nilgri and
Nayyars of Malabar and Tibbet.
(iii) Punaluam Family: When some brothers or many men marriage a group of ladies and
all men are commonly husband to them, that family is called punaluam.

(VII) Some Other Forms of Family
(a) Family of Origin or Orientation: A family where a person takes birth gets brought up is
called family of origin. The family have person’s parents and unmarried brothers and sis-
ters.
(b) Family of Procreation: A man forms the family oneself after marriage, it has man, wife and
their unmarried children.
(c) Consanguine Family: Linton says, “there are two types of families–Consanguine family
and marriage-related family. In consanguine family all the family members are blood re-
lated and not marriage related.”
For example: In Nayyar family, which is a Matriarchy, husband rarely stays in his wife’s
house. Often the women’s kins stay there.
(d) Affinal Family: Blood relatives and affinal/marital relatives both stay together but the main
focus is on affinal/relatives to maintain.
(e) Rural Family: There is a difference between a rural family and an urban family. Rural
families are influenced by rural environment and factors. Importance of agriculture and
dependence on nature are the basic characteristics of rural society which influence a ru-
ral families also. The smallest form of a rural family consists husband-wife and children.
There are different forms of families which emerged with the development of the society.
Dr. Reverse says that class were popular in the hunting and food collection age. In the age
of herdsman and the agriculture there might be mother land joint families. When plough
agriculture started with animal husband the father land joint families might be in fashion.
Nuclear families consisting husband wife and minor children are emerged due to industrial
capitalism.
Joint families are found in all agriculture priority societies in the world. The number of
members are more in these families in comparison of a nuclear family and two-three gen-
erations live together. Rural environment influenced the rural families and has given them
a specific form. This is why the characteristics of a rural family differ from other families.

Rural families have often paternal homes, paternal class and patriarchies. Prop-
erties is transferred to son from father, children’s class is identified through fa-
ther’s family and wife comes to stay in husband’s family after marriage.

(f) Urban Family: Urban families are different from rural families in form and functions. Nu-
clear families are emerged due to industrial capitalism, that consists husband-wife and mi-
nor children.

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