Conceptions of collaterality in modern Europe: Kinship ideologies from companionship to trusteeship
Models of collaterality derived from historical accounts of intestate law, prohibitions on marriage, and socioeconomic sources seem useful for studying the interrelationship between family and society in four European countries (Austria, Finland, Germany, and Ireland). Some kinship models are ego-focused and are consistent with companionate marriage, dual career families, ties to contemporaries, relatively low fertility, lower socioeconomic status, and ideological universalism. Still other conceptions emphasize line of descent (or ascent) and transmission of symbolic family estate. These kinship orientations support the special interests of religion, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, view marriage as a contract between spouses and a unity of affines, regard the maternal role as especially salient, and have comparatively higher economic and occupational standing. Moreover, these corporate kinship orientations seem to be associated with the degree to which pluralism is an important criterion in the structuring of society.
Anthropology, Cultural, Law, Sociology, Individual and Family Studies
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign