The Structural-Functional Theory of Family and Kinship

Abstract

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.