The Structural-Functional Theory of Family and Kinship

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2962319
AutoresHarry M Johnson (Harry M. Johnson, is Professor of Sociology, University of Illinois, Urbana, III, USA, autor correspondente)
Ano1971
Volume2
Fascículo2
Páginas133-144
Data de publicação1971-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Comparative Family Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0047-2328 • E-ISSN: 1929-9850
EditoraUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/jcfs.2.2.133
OpenAlexW2980058137
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5

After consideration of the many possible functions of kinship systems, the author adopts a definition that does not refer directly to functions: a kinship system is an elaborate institutional pattern controlling collectivities and roles that are focused upon, or ascribed on the basis of, sexual unions, biological relatedness through sexual unions and common residence. Reasons are given for treating the family as a "social system" rather than a "group" of concrete personalities. The author discusses eight invariant foci for the comparative analysis of all kinship systems and summarizes reasons for the near-universality of the nuclear family and the primary incest taboo. The relative distinctiveness of the modern independent nuclear family and four of its advantages are specified in functional and evolutionary terms. To prevent misunderstanding, however, the author makes eight further points or qualifications and discusses briefly some of the problems of the independent nuclear family. The paper ends with the observation that the so-called structural-functional approach can synthesize the results of a good deal of research that is not explicitly structural-functional. The paper itself leans above all on Talcott Parsons but also draws upon Ralph Linton, George Peter Murdock, Claude Levi-Strauss, and William Goode, among others

Epistemology · Fictive kinship · Genealogy · Kinship · Nuclear family · Optimal distinctiveness theory · Personality · Personality psychology · Residence · Sociology · Anthropology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · History · Marriage and Sexual Relationships · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology