Family structures around the world: Part One

In the evolution of humans, families have been played an essential role, not only determining the survival of the individuals, but also the perpetuation of the species. The familial structure dictates the needs of a society and its perceptions on the world; they differ all throughout the world, thus explaining the differences in the evolution of societies. This two-parts article dives into the diverse world of families around the globe and explains how they have influenced the history.

Before the age of technology and globalization, the world had known many types of familial structures, which Emmanuel Todd, a French anthropologist and historian, has separated into multiple categories: the exogamuous clan, the endogamous clan, the authoritarian, the egalitarian nuclear, the absolute nuclear, the asymmetric, the anomic, the flexible system.  In part one, we will explore the Exogamous Family Structures.

The Exogamous Family Structures are defined by the fact that the individuals marry outside of their social units, or clans as Todd refers to them. Emile Durkheim, French sociologist suggested that the origin of this type of culture is religious, while Charles Darwin declared that exogamy arose from the strongest male dominating the other males and driving them out of the clan. Although the reasons for exogamy are unclear, its presence in society is undeniable.

The Exogamous Clan describes the exogamous families that live in clans, as most of the world has been doing all throughout history, with the exception of the West. This structure dominates Russia, former Yugoslavia, China, Mongolia and North India and other countries. In this family structure, the father has all the power over his descendants until his death, after which the sons form their own clans with their wives, in which they become the lord; the sons are equal in this families by rules of inheritance. In this type of family structure there is a lot of tension between the men and they take it out on the women, treating them very poorly. This can be seen especially in China where foot-binding and keeping wives permanently in their homes and in North India, where widow- burning was practiced..

The Authoritarian family structure in which by inheritance rules the brothers are unequal, as the first son inherits everything from the father. This lead to a belief of an indestructible lineage that must be preserved at all costs, thus the countries in which this family structures dominates have a deep sense of nationality and a great appreciation for their history. Examples are Germany, Sweden, Japan, Korea, Scotland, Catalans, and Jewish culture.

The Egalitarian Nuclear family breaks the clan structure, as the children move out of their parents household and starts their own families. Upon the death of the parents, the inheritance is split equally among the siblings, thus the name ‘Egalitarian’. In this family structure marriage is not arranged, but based on individual choice. Women have a lot of influence in these societies, due to the fact that they chose their partners. Principal regions in which this type of family thrives are: northern France, northern Italy, central and southern Spain, Romania, Poland, Latin America, Ethiopia, etc.

The Absolute Nuclear family is non-authoritarian, weakly unequal and weakly isolationist. It's fairly similar to the Egalitarian Nuclear type and to the Authoritarian type, as it upholds most of their characteristics, the only difference being the fact that there are no inheritance rules, parents using frequently a will. This system promotes individuality. This family structure dominates in the Anglo-Saxon world, Holland, Denmark.

These four main types of Family structures fall into the category of Exogamous families. In part two we will develop the other types of Family structures and explain how globalization impacted them.

Bibliography:

u  “The explanation of ideology: Family Structures and Social Systems” by Emmanuel Todd

u  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T6v3DhGhTc

u  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RFFwhbVqeU

u  https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/LvRL8442Cp7An6uqd/book-review-the-explanation-of-ideology#Evaluating_predictions

u  https://www.brianmicklethwaitsnewblog.com/2007/01/29/emmanuel-todd-2-the-eight-family-systems/

u  https://www.britannica.com/topic/exogamy

u  https://blog.ipleaders.in/endogamy-and-exogamy/#What_is_endogamy

Images:

u  https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexternal-preview.redd.it%2F9PricctWVU77AVY3PjVuMG4yEwkjkVYKMCapiKL7q1U.png%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3D277a7521b097038692d104b550c80ec5c0cf49f8

u  https://www.istockphoto.com/ro/fotografie/familia-unit%C4%83-%C3%AEmpreun%C4%83-gm1291450688-386562433