Gender Calculus Of Evolutionary Psychology

Running head: ANTHROPOLOGY: KINSHIP 1
Anthropology: Kinship
Name
Institution

ANTHROPOLOGY: KINSHIP 2
Anthropology: Kinship
Prompt 1
In contemporary anthropological works, the concept of kinship has caused great
interest among anthropologists. Scholars acknowledge that kinship has existed for a long time
and it is the central and fundamental cornerstone in the formation of a society or a
community. In essence, every society is formed from the foundations of a family. The
functions of kinship include determining who gets to marry who and determines instances
where a marital status that is a taboo in the society. Besides, it is responsible for determining
the members’ rights and obligations in every sacrament and religious activity. The strength of
the community’s bonds depends on the strengths that are exhibited by the individual kinship
bonds within families in the family. By definition, kinship can be regarded as the bond that
ties each member of a family to the other. Individual members of a family are referred to as
units. According to Schneider (1980), kinship is the "blood relationship, the fact of shared
biogenic substance". The scholar asserts that kinship is defined by the "mother-child" bond
which serves as the most fundamental bond in the family. In his book, the scholar also argues
that the blood relationship between family members is the strongest and cannot be lost,
regardless of the social as well as the legal measures in any community. The scholars tend to
suggest that considering that societal bonds are derived from kinship bonds, societal bonds
cannot outweigh kinship bonds. Members of a particular kinship may be ready to defy
societal rules, regardless of the implications.
Sahlins (2013) refutes the arguments of scholars that define kinship as a biological
phenomenon. McKinnon (2001), identifies kinship as a biological factor. The scholar defines
kinship as a “naturalized” biological concept. Franklin’s discussion of kinship as a biological
factor starts with her attempt to encompass biology as a cultural phenomenon. Franklin,

ANTHROPOLOGY: KINSHIP 3
therefore, is of the opinion that the issue of kinship must and should be considered a cultural
issue. According to Sahlins, however, kinship is purely a social affair. In his article, the
scholar asserts that kinship is defined from the social perspective. In this article, the scholar
conducts research on the concept of kinship among the various communities such as the Inuit,
the Korowai, Eskimos, along with other small tribes. The investigation by Salins proves that
kinship is defined by the social categories that define society. Cultural categories include
religion, language, politics, economy, and arts.
The categories of culture that comprise of religion, language, politics, economy, as
well as arts, are very instrumental in the strengthening of cultural bonds. In many instances,
kinship bonds are further strengthened by the bonds that exist between the categories of
culture. Religion, for instance, is viewed as a uniting factor for many families. As a result, it
is common for many kinship members to subscribe to the same religion. In a contemporary
context, individuals that deviate from the religion subscribed by other kinship members
usually weaken their bonds to their families. The economic conditions also serve as a very
important factor when analyzing and examining the strength of kinship bonds. Improvement
in economic conditions, in many cases, translates to stronger and more consistent kinship
bonds. However, in some family settings, the richer or wealthier the families get, the more
distant the family members become from their other family members. In such families, the
improvement of economic conditions has an inverse relationship with kinship bonds, in that it
ends up weakening the kinship bond. Nonetheless, language, as well as politics, play a major
role in the determination of the strength of kinship and societal bonds. Families and
communities function most effectively when the individual units of families and the societies
share common languages and political affiliations.