SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND SOCIAL MOBILITY

A. DEFINITION

Social Stratification refers to a system by which society ranks categories of people into hierarchy. It also refers to
hierarchical relationships between different groups as if they were arranged in layers or strata.

It is the hierarchical arrangement and establishment of social categories that may evolve into social groups together
with statuses and their corresponding roles.

Social Stratification may be viewed as a social structure, as a social process, or as a social problem.

o As a social structure, it may be viewed as the differentiation of statuses and social roles into ranked orders
termed by sociologists as “institutionalized inequality.”

o As a social process, it may be viewed as the splitting up of society into social categories that develop into
social groups cooperating, competing, conflicting – for the status quo or social change.

o As a social problem, it involves bitter feelings of discontent and of strong demands for equality or “social
justice.”

B. DIMENSIONS OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

Max Weber’s View on Social Stratification

Max Weber took a multidimensional view of social stratification and identified three components: (a) class, (b) status
group, and (c) party.

1. Economic Resources – refers to the material products, resources and even the control of the means of
production. It may range from hunting or fishing grounds to farmland to money. It consists of:

a. Wealth – things which people own and is based on what people have which is often inherited.
b. Income – refers to the amount of money people received and it consists of how much people get. (e.g.
wage & salary (return on labor), and interests and dividends (return on property)

2. Prestige – refers to social respect, honor, admiration and recognition associated with a particular social status,
usually granted by an individual or a collectivity for a performance or qualities they consider above the
average. Sociologists identify two kinds of prestige:

a. Esteem – consists of appreciation and respect a person wins in his or her daily interpersonal
relationships. Such is potentially open to all. (e.g. friends, classmates)
b. Honor – associated with specific statuses (social positions) in society regardless of personality, or
willingness to help other individuals. (e.g. chief justice, congressman, university president, etc. who
acquire prestige simply by virtue of their positions and social statuses).

3. Power – refers to the ability of individuals/groups to realize their will in human affairs, even if it involves the
resistance of others; It is the ability to make others do what they do not want to do; It is influence based on the
threat of force.

ASPECT / DIMENSION CRITERION / STANDARD GROUP NAME

Economic Economic Resources Class
Social Prestige Status Group
Political Power Party
Weber used the following terms:

 Class – refers to people who have a similar level of wealth and income.
 Status Group - refers to people who have the same prestige or lifestyle, independent of their class
positions.

Karl Marx’s View on Social Stratification

From his observations in England and his analysis of nineteenth-century capitalism, he saw socio-economic
stratification as a sharp and simple division between two opposed classes:

1. Bourgeoisie – capitalists; the owners of the means of production like factories, mines and large farms.
2. Proletariat – the working class; the property-less workers; made up of people who had to sell their labor in
order to survive.

Theories on Social Stratification (Structural-Functionalism and Conflict Theory)

Structural-Functionalism Social Conflict Theory

Stratification is universal, necessary and inevitable.
Social organization shapes the stratification system.
Stratification arises from the societal need for
integration, coordination, and cohesion.
Stratification facilitates the optimal functioning of
society and the individual.
Stratification is an expression of commonly shared
social values.
Power is usually legitimately distributed in society.
Tasks and rewards are equitably allocated.
The economic dimension is subordinate to other
dimensions of society.
Stratification systems generally change through
evolutionary processes.
Stratification is unjust and unnecessary.
Stratification system shapes social organizations.
Stratification arises from group conquest,
competition and conflict.
Stratification impedes the optimal functioning of
society and the individual.
Stratification is an expression of the values of
powerful groups.
Power is usually illegitimately distributed in society.
Tasks and rewards are inequitably allocated.
The economic dimension is paramount in society.
Stratification systems often change through
revolutionary processes.

C. TYPES OF SOCIETIES

Anthropologists conventionally distinguish three types of societies in terms of the degree to which different social
groups have unequal access to advantages:

1. Egalitarian Society – contains no social groups with greater or lesser access to economic resources, power
and prestige. It is a society in which there are many positions of prestige as there are people who wish to fill
them.

 Egalitarian does not mean that all people within such societies are the same. There will always be
differences among individuals in age and gender and in such abilities or traits such as hunting skills,
perception, health, creativity, physical prowess, attractiveness, and intelligence.

 Even in an egalitarian society, differential prestige exists. But, although some persons may be better
hunters or more skilled artists than others, there is still equal access to status positions for the people of
the same ability.

 Egalitarian groups depend heavily on sharing, which ensures equal access to economic resources despite
differences in acquired prestige. For instance, in some egalitarian communities, some members achieve
higher status through hunting. But even before the hunt begins, how the animal will be divided has
already been decided according to custom.

 Egalitarian societies use a number of customs to keep leaders from dominating others. Criticism and
ridicule can be very effective. Disobedience is another strategy.
 Sample Cases:
 Mbuti of Central Africa – shut down an overassertive leader.
 Hadza – make fun of the leader and sometimes a particularly domineering leader may be killed by
community agreement.
 !Kung – kill the domineering leader.

2. Rank Society – characterized by social groups with unequal access to prestige or status but not significantly
unequal access to economic resources or power. Unequal access is often reflected in the position of chief, a
rank to which only some members of a specified group in the society can succeed.

 In rank societies, the position of chief is at least partly hereditary. For example, in Polynesian societies,
the rank is genealogical. Usually the eldest son succeeded to the position of chief and different kinship
groups were differentially ranked according to their genealogical distance from the chiefly line.
 Chiefs are often treated with deference by people of lower rank. For instance, among the Trobriand
Islanders of Melanesia, people of lower rank must keep their heads lower than a person of higher rank.
 While there is no question that chiefs in rank societies enjoy special privilege, there is some controversy
over whether they really do also have material advantage.

3. Class Society – characterized by groups that have substantially greater or lesser access to economic
resources, prestige and power.

Class – is a category of persons who all have about the same opportunity to obtain economic resources,
power and prestige.
Status – is the position or rank of an individual in relation to others within a society.
Role – is the expected pattern of behavior for a given status.

Two Types of Class Systems:

1. Open Class Systems – allows high upward and downward movement (social mobility) that is based on
individual effort and achievement rather than factors relating birth.
2. Closed Class / Caste System - a system where social stratification is based on ascription, based
exclusively on factors of birth.

Caste – is a ranked group in which membership is determined at birth and marriage is restricted to members
one’s own caste. The only way you can belong is being into the group; and since you cannot marry outside
the group, your children cannot acquire another caste status either.

Example: Caste Systems of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka

Hindu Caste System

Varnas – the four principal categories that make up the Hindu Caste system.

a. Brahmans – highest caste; the priests and scholars of Hinduism. Mahatma Gandhi s an example.
b. Kshatriyas – next in rank after the Brahmans; the rulers and warriors of India. The revered Gautama
Buddha came from this class.
c. Vaishyas - next below the Kshatriyas; the merchants and small farmers.
d. Sudras – landless peasants and laborers.
e. Untouchables – Westerners’ term referring to those people whom Hindus refer to as casteless or
pariah; they are outside the caste system and are considered unclean.

Is there equal access in terms of:

TYPE Economic Social Stratification
Prestige Power
Resources
EGALITARIAN YES YES YES Minimal
RANK YES NO YES Moderate
CLASS NO NO NO Extreme
D. HISTORICAL BASIS OF THE PHILIPPINE CLASS SYSTEM

The Three Distinct Social Classes in Pre-Spanish Period

1. Maharlika – they are the chiefs/datus and those belonging to the noble class who owned large amount of
lands.
2. Timawa – freemen of lesser rank than the chiefs.
3. Alipin - slaves.

Stratification in the Hispanic Period in the Philippines

1. Peninsulares – the elite group of Spain-born Spaniards who held lucrative church and state positions.
2. Creoles / Crillos – the Philippine-born Spaniards occupying an elite bracket but discriminated against with
regard to position. They freely intermarried with the Peninsulares.
3. Mestizos – the result of intermarriage between the upper peninsular-creole class.
4. Indios – native Filipinos who compromised the lower group. Within their communities, the three Pre-
Spanish classes remained. However, the nobility had been replaced by the principalia.
Principalia – composed of governadorcillos and sacristans (fiscales) and the cabeza de barangay including
their eldest sons and those who had formerly held office, as well as minor office holders in the various native
communities.

The Three Classes in the Philippines (at Present)

1. Upper Class – basically composed of the new and old rich, of which the latter enjoys higher prestige. Most
of the people belonging to this class would engage in occupations such as managerialship, ownership of
companies and being presidents or directors of some corporations.
2. Middle Class – includes professionals like teachers, office workers, small industry owners and managers of
small business and small firm owners. They give importance to education since they believe that it is the
easiest channel for social mobility.
3. Lower Class – includes those who do not have access to schooling due to poverty. They have the lowest
income if not underemployed or unemployed.

E. SOCIAL MOBILITY

Social Mobility – the movement of an individual or a group within a stratification system that changes the individual’s
or group’s status in society. It focuses on people’s movement within stratification systems. Some factors which affect
social mobility are: hard work, social structure, society’s values and norms (education, religion), marriage, and luck.

Types:

1. Vertical – refers to the movement of individuals or groups from lower to higher status (upward) or from
higher to lower (downward). It can operate intragenerationally (movement during the lifetime of one
individual) or intergenerationally (changes in the social level of a family through one or more generations.)
2. Horizontal – movement that involves a change in status with no corresponding change in social class. This
kind of mobility may come about because of changing one’s occupation, marrying into a certain family, and
others.

Geographical Migration (Physical Mobility) – the movement of people from one geographical spot to another. It
includes forced relocation of large groups of people, eviction, and dispossession of unwanted people, voluntary
permanent migration from one country to another, or from one region to another within the same country, as well as
local residential residences. It also includes fluidity exemplified by people commuting from home to office or factory,
making business trips and taking vacations.

Types:

1. Voluntary Migration – free movement. Factors include economic opportunities (greener pastures), political
reasons, religious liberty, educational opportunities, and natural calamities.
2. Forced Migration– takes forms such as the expulsion of unwanted people, forced evacuation during
calamities, transportation of slaves.
KINSHIP, FAMILY AND MARRIAGE
I. KINSHIP

A. Kinship Defined

 It is the socially recognized system of relationships (including rights and responsibilities) between people in
a culture who are held to be biologically related or who are given the status of relatives by marriage,
adoption, or other ritual.
 It is the broad-ranging term for all the relationships that one is born into or creates later in life and that are
considered binding in the eyes of the society.

B. Common Features of Kinship Systems

 A lengthy infant maturation period that requires a major commitment from one and usually both parents to
nurture and educate dependent children.
 The presence of marital bond that creates permanent and ideally exclusive sexual and economic
relationship between two or more people.
 Division of labor based on sex.
 A prohibition on intercourse and marriage between close kin, which creates widely articulated network of
individuals related by birth and marriage. (INCEST TABOO)

C. Basic Types of Kinship Relations

1. CONSANGUINES / CONSANGUINITY – from the Latin words “con” and “sanguis” which means “with the
blood.” It refers to the connection or relation of persons descended from the same stock or common ancestor.
(A.K.A. blood relatives)

2. AFFINAL RELATIONSHIPS / AFFINITY – relationships established through marriage. It is extended to the

parents of the husband and those of the wife, including their siblings. The suffix in-law is used to distinguish
these relationships from those of the other relatives. (The kinsmen of one’s spouse.)

3. FICTIVE RELATIONS – referred to as “non-kin kin”. A fictive member is an adopted member who takes on
obligations and instrumental and affectional ties similar to those of conventional kin. (e.g. godparents, adopted
children, namesake kin, kapitbahay).

D. The Structure of Kinship

Anthropologists frequently use the following symbols to illustrate kinship relationships which may be combined to
represent a family consisting of a married couple and their children.

- MALE = - MARRIAGE BOND

- FEMALE - DESCENT BOND

E. Divisions of Descent Systems

1. UNILINEAL DESCENT – affiliates a person with a group of kin through descent links of one sex only (either
males only or females only). There are three basic types of unilineal descent:

a. PATRILINEAL DESCENT – the most frequent rule, affiliates an individual with kin of both sexes related
to him or her through men only. (FATHER)
b. MATRILINEAL DESCENT – affiliates an individual with kin of both sexes related to him or her through
women only. (MOTHER)
c. AMBILINEAL DESCENT – affiliates an individual with kin related to him or her through men or women.
(EITHER FATHER OR MOTHER).

2. COGNATIC KINSHIP SYSTEM – descent can be traced through either or both parents. Here, the principles
of patrilineal and matrilineal are used to affiliate individuals with different sets of kin for purposes. (EITHER
OR BOTH).
3. BILATERAL KINSHIP SYSTEM – refers to the fact that one’s relatives on both mother’s and father’s sides
are equal in importance or, more usually, in unimportance. It asserts that a person is equally descent from
both parents and relatives on both father’s and mother’s side of the family. (BOTH)

F. English-Style Kinship Structure and Terminologies

 Most Western societies employ English-style kinship terminology. This kinship terminology commonly occurs
in societies based on conjugal (or nuclear) families. Members of the nuclear family use descriptive kinship
terms:

1. Father: the male parent

Genitor - one’s biological father
Step-father – affinal father
Foster Father – fictive father
2. Mother: the female parent
Genitrix – one’s biological mother
Step-mother – affinal mother
Foster mother – fictive mother
3. Son: the males born of the mother; sired by the father
4. Daughter: the females born of the mother; sired by the father
5. Brother: a male born of the same mother; sired by the same father
Half-brother - a male sibling who shares only one parent with another sibling.
Step-brother – a male sibling who does not share common biological parents with another sibling.
6. Sister: a female born of the same mother; sired by the same father
Half-sister - a female sibling who shares only one parent with another sibling.
Step-sister - a female sibling who does not share common biological parents with another sibling.

 Members of the nuclear families of members of one's own (former) nuclear family may be classified as lineal
or as collateral. Kins who regard them as lineal refer to them in terms that build on the terms used within the
nuclear family:

1. Grandparent
Grandfather: a parent's father
Grandmother: a parent's mother
2. Grandchild
Grandson: a child's son
Granddaughter: a child's daughter

 For collateral relatives, more classificatory terms come into play, terms that do not build on the terms used
within the nuclear family:

1. Uncle: father's brother, father's sister's husband, mother's brother, mother's sister's husband
2. Aunt: father's sister, father's brother's wife, mother's sister, mother's brother's wife
3. Nephew: sister's son, brother's son
 4. Niece: sister's daughter, brother's daughter
5. Cousin: the most classificatory term; the children of aunts or uncles.

II. MARRIAGE

There is no single definition of marriage that is adequate to account for all the diversity found in marriages cross-
culturally.

A. Marriage Defined
Marriage is defined generally as a “formal and durable sexual union of one or more men to one or more women which
is conducted within a set of designated rights and duties.”

1. It is “formal.” – socially recognized and approved.

2. It is “durable.” – with the intent of permanence.
3. It involves “sexual union.” – refers to sexual intimacies with sexual intercourse.
4. It is conducted within a set of designated rights and duties. – there are statuses and roles.

It means socially approved and sexual economic union usually between a woman and a man. It is presumed, by both
the couple and others, to be more or less permanent, and it subsumes reciprocal rights and obligations between the
two spouses and between spouses and their future children.

Rights Allocated by Marriage:

1. Marriage can establish the legal father of a woman’s children and the legal mother of a man’s.
2. It can give either or both spouses a monopoly in the sexuality of the other.
3. It can give either or both spouses rights to the labor of the other.
4. It can give either of both spouses rights over the other’s property.
 5. It can establish a joint fund of property – a partnership – for the benefit of the children.
6. It can establish a socially significant relationship of affinity between spouses and their relatives.

B. Universal Categories of Marriage Partner Selection

1. ENDOGAMY – from the Greek words, “endo” (within) and “gamos,” (marriage). It is the social rule which
requires marriage within a group to which one belongs. It dictates that one should marry within one’s clan or
ethnic group. (eg. Caste group of India, Masai Warriors of East Africa, Tutsi of Rwanda, Royal incest such
as the Incas of Peru, Ancient Egypt and traditional Hawaii.).

Endogamy can be seen as functioning to express and maintain social difference, particularly in stratified
societies.

Homogamy – is the practice of marrying someone similar to you in terms of background, social status,
aspirations, and interests.

2. EXOGAMY – from the Greek words, “ex” (outside) and “gamos” (marriage). It is the social rule which
requires marriage outside the group. It prescribes that one should marry outside one’s clan or ethnic group.
(eg. Filipinos).

3. LEVIRATE AND SORORATE - In levirate, a man is required to marry the wife of a deceased brother.
Sororate, on the other hand, requires the widower to marry the unmarried sister as the successor to his
deceased wife. It obliges the woman to marry her deceased sister’s husband. The existence of such
customs indicates the importance of marriage as an alliance between groups.

4. PRE-MARITAL RELATIONSHIP – engaging in a number of mating before they finally settle down to assure
sexual compatibility and fertility of the woman.

C. Forms of Marriage based on the Number of Spouses Permitted

1. MONOGAMY – marriage with one spouse exclusively for life. Violation of this norm may result to
concubinage, adultery, or bigamy.

SERIAL MONAGAMY – marriage to one spouse at a time.

2. POLYGAMY - also known as plural marriage. It may assume three forms:

a. POLYGYNY – is the marriage of one man to two or more women at the same time. Even in cultures
that approve of polygamy, monogamy still tends to be the norm, largely because most populations tend
to have equal sex ratios. It is more common than polyandry because, where sex ratios are not equal,
there tend to be more woman than men. Multiple wives tend to be associated with wealth and prestige.

Examples:

 Siwai of South Pacific – increase in pig herds that may result from polygyny is a source of prestige for
the owner.
 Tanala of Madagascar – requires the husband to spend a day with each co-wife in succession.
 Tonga of Polynesia – grant the first wife the status of chief wife while the other wives are called small
wives.

b. POLYANDRY – the marriage of a woman to two or more men at the same time. It is quite rare, being
practiced almost exclusively in South Asia. Among the Paharis of India, polyandry was associated with
a relatively low female population which was itself due to covert female infanticide. In other cultures, it
 resulted from the fact that men traveled a great deal, thus, multiple husbands ensured the presence of a
man in the home.

Other Examples:

 Tibetans, Sinhalese of Sri Lanka, and Marquesan Islanders of Polynesia

c. GROUP MARRIAGE – several males are married to several females.

D. Ways of Getting into Marriage

1. PAYMENT OF BRIDEWEALTH. Some groups get a wife by the payment of progeny price or better known as
bridewealth. Brideprice is rejected as an appropriate label, because the connotations of a sale are imposed. The
payment of bride price serves as the following functions:

a. To act as an insurance against divorce.

b. To replace the lost member of the family.
c. To legitimize the groom as a member of the bride’s family.
d. To find out if the wife is treated with sincerity.
e. To ensure the stability of marriage.

DOWRY – valuables given to the husband from the wife’s family at the time of the marriage ceremony.

2. SUITOR SERVICE – rendering service to the girl’s parents in their house. Upon approval of the parents, the guy
cannot start courting the girl he loves.

3. INTERFAMILIA EXCHANGE – marriage in this arrangement involves a brother and/or sister is married to a
sister and/or brother from another family.

SISTER EXCHANGE – the husbands trade sisters to be each other’s wives in order to keep any group from
losing a woman.

4. MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE – bride is subject to a tug of war between her clan and the prospective groom. This
could be done by abductions.

5. INHERITANCE OF WIVES – similar to levirate and sororate marriage. The Bura tribes of North Nigeria allow a
man to inherit his grandfather’s wives.

6. ADOPTIVE MARRIAGE – a common practice in Indonesia and Japan. A man may obtain a wife by being
adopted into her family. Instead of being a son-in-law, he becomes the son of the bride’s family. This is usually
practiced by prominent families who do not have sons to continue the family heritage. The bridegroom is made
to change his family name into that of the prospective bride’s surname.

7. ELOPEMENT – another traditional way of getting a wife common in every society. It happens when the parents
refuse the match and the only way for the couple to live together as husband and wife is to run away or elope.

8. WIFE STEALING – in a society which social competition among men is a means of obtaining social status, no
home is truly safe. To steal another’s wife proves that the guy is a better man than the one whose wife was
stolen.

9. ROMANTIC LOVE - typically, anthropologists have overlooked romantic love as a factor in interpersonal
relationships of the people they study, but this has begun to change. As motifs of romantic love have become
widespread, globally, it has come to play an increasingly important role in the selection of marriage partners,
even to the extent of being a basis for resistance against arranged marriages, for example.
III. FAMILY

A. Family Defined

 A family can be defined simply as any group of people who live together. Families exist in all sizes and
configurations and are essential to the health and survival of the individual family members, as well as
to society as a whole. The family is a buffer between the needs of the individual member and the
demands and expectations of society. The role of the family is to help meet the basic human needs of
its members while also meeting the needs of society. (Friedman, Bowden, & Jones, 2003)

 Duval (1977) defined a family as two or more people who are related through blood, marriage, adoption,
or birth. Friedman (1922) expanded that definition by including two or more people who are
emotionally involved with each other and live together. The latter definition includes more of the
different types of current family structures in which members may be unrelated either biologically or
legally.

Basic Characteristics:
1. It involves a union of two or more people by tie of marriage, blood or adoption.
2. As a group, the members usually live together under one roof and they constitute a single housekeeping
unit.
3. As a group, the members have their respective role relationships as husband, wife, son and daughter.
4. As the members of the family enjoy life together, they tend to create common culture through the period of
socialization since birth.

B. Functions of the Family

Families have functions that are important in how individual family members meet their basic human needs and
maintain their health. The family provides the individual with the necessary environment for development and social
interactions. Families are also important to society as a whole because they provide new and socialized members for
society. Five major functions of the family are as follows:

 Physical. The family provides a safe, comfortable environment necessary for growth, development, and
rest or recreation.
 Economic. The family provides financial aid to family members and also helps meet monetary needs of
society.
 Reproductive. The reproductive functions of the family is raising children and regulating sexual behavior.
 Affective and Coping. The affective and coping function of the family involves providing emotional comfort
to family members. It also helps members to establish an identity and to maintain that identity in times of
stress.
 Socialization. Through socialization, the family teaches, transmits beliefs, values, attitudes, and coping
mechanisms; provides feedback; and guides problem-solving society.

C. Forms of Family based on Internal Organization

1. NUCLEAR FAMILY / TRADITIONAL FAMILY – is composed of a husband and wife and their children in a
union recognized by the other members of the society. The parents might be heterosexual or homosexual, are
often married or in a committed relationship, and all members of the family live in the same house until the
children leave home as young adults. The traditional family may be composed of biologic parents and
children, adoptive parents and children, surrogate parents and children, and stepparents and children.

Types:

a. Classic Nuclear Family – the family where the father was the family member who went to work,
providing economic security, whereas the mother stayed at home, providing physical and emotional
safety and security. Although many people still consider the nuclear family the ideal, it is no longer the
dominant structure in our society.
 b. Contemporary Nuclear Family – still has the same basic form, but the roles of the members have
changed considerably. The two major causes of this change are increased education and career
opportunities for women and changes in our economy resulting in a need for additional income to
maintain a desired standard of living. As a result, two-career families, in which both parents work
outside the home, have become the norm instead of the exception.

c. Blended Family – traditional family which is formed when parents bring unrelated children from
previous relationship together to form a new family.

2. EXTENDED FAMILY – is composed of two or more nuclear families, economically and socially related to each
other. (e.g. Filipinos, Slovakians)

3. JOINT FAMILY – the structure where the married siblings together with their spouses and children reside in
one house.

4. HOUSEHOLD – it refers to the members of the family. It may consist of one individual or 100 individuals who
may or may not be related to each other. Individuals not related to each other become part of the household
on the basis of sharing the same residence as well as performing the same domestic functions. In the
Philippines, domestic helpers are part of the household and at time, especially among the middle class families
they are considered members of the family.

5. TRUNCATED FAMILY – lays stress on the grandparent-grandchildren relationship. This type is formed when
the parents die, grandchildren assume the responsibility of caring for their grandchildren. Other reasons
include parents’ economic incapacity, illness and separation.

6. STEM FAMILY – consists of two families: the family of orientation (the family into which one is born into) and
the family of procreation (the family established through marriage).

7. SINGLE-PARENT FAMILY. Single parents may be separated, divorced, widowed, or never married.
Increasing numbers of never-married men and women are choosing to become parents.

Common Types:

a. Matrifocal Family – the only parent left is the mother.

b. Patrifocal Family – the only parent left is the father.

8. OTHER FAMILY STRUCTURES. In addition to traditional and single parent families, cohabiting adults and
single adults are other family structures.

Other structures:

a. Cohabiting Family – composed of individuals who choose to live together for a variety of reasons –
relationships, financial need, or changing values. It includes unmarried adults (of any age, including
retired people who choose not to marry because it would impose financial hardship) living together,
and communal or group marriages.
b. Binuclear Family – where divorced parent assume joint custody of children.
c. Dyadic Nuclear Family – where the couple chooses not to have children.
d. Single Adults – may not be living with others, but they are part of a family or origin, usually have
social network with significant others, or may even regard a pet as family. Most single adults living
alone are either young adults who achieve independence and enter the workforce or older adults who
never married or are left alone after the death of a spouse.

D. Forms of Family based on Residence

1. PATRILOCAL – mandates that the new couple live with or near the domicile or abode of the husband’s father.
Here, the son stays and the daughter leaves, so that the married couple lives with or near the husband’s
parents.
 2. MATRILOCAL – instituted by a rule that a woman remains in her mother’s household after reaching maturity
and brings her husband to live with her family after marriage. Sons, conversely, move out of their natal
household after marriage to join her wife’s household.

3. AMBILOCAL/BILOCAL – means that the newly married couple live with the husband or wife’s parents. This
couple may also choose to live with one set of parents for a while then move to the other depending on factors
like the relative’s wealth or status of the families, the wishes of the parents or certain personal preferences of
the bride and the groom. About 9% of the world’s societies have ambilocal residence.

4. NEOLOCAL – allows the newly married couple to reside independently of the parents of either groom or bride.
Married couples live apart from the relatives of both parents.

5. AVUNCULOCAL - requires that the newly married couple reside with or near the maternal uncle of the
groom. Here the son and his wife settle with or near his mother’s brother. This type of residence is very rare
and the arrangement is brought about by economic and political reasons.

6. VIRILOCAL – a newly married couple lives with the husband’s kin.

7. UXORILLOCAL – newly married couple lives with the wife’s kin.

E. Forms of Family based on Authority

1. PATRIARCHAL – authority is vested in the oldest male in the family, often the father. (eg. Traditional Chinese
families).

2. MATRIARCHAL - the authority is vested in mother or the mother’s kin (usually the oldest). The oldest female,
usually the mother serves as the authority figure in the household.

3. EGALITARIAN – the husband and wife exercise a more or less equal amount of authority.

4. MATRICENTRIC – emerged recently due to employment of fathers away from home… other provinces and
even other countries. The prolonged absence of the father gives the mother position in the family. (vs.
PATRICENTRIC)

F. Incest Taboo

INCEST TABOO – the prohibition of sexual intercourse or marriage between some categories of kin. The most
universal aspect of the incest taboo is the prohibition of sexual intercourse or marriage between mother and son,
father and daughter, and brother and sister.

THEORIES OF INCEST TABOO:

1. CHILDHOOD-FAMILIARITY THEORY
Proponent: Edward Westermarck
 The theory states that persons who have been closely associated with each other since earliest childhood
such as siblings, are not sexually attracted to each other and therefore would avoid marriage with each
other.

2. FREUD’S PSYCHONALYTIC THEORY

Proponent: Sigmund Freud
 The theory suggests that the incest taboo is a reaction against unconscious, unacceptable desires. He
suggested that the son is attracted to his mother (as a daughter is to her father) and as a result feels
jealousy and hostility toward his father. But the son knows, that these feelings cannot continue, for they may
lead the father to retaliate against him, therefore these feelings must be renounced or repressed.
3. FAMILY DISRUPTION THEORY
Proponent: Bronislaw Malinowski
 The theory suggests that sexual competition among family members would create so much rivalry and
tension that the family could not function as an effective unit. Because the family must function effectively
for society to survive, society has to curtail competition within the family. The familial incest taboo is thus
imposed to keep the family intact.

4. COOPERATION THEORY
Proponent: Edward Tylor (elaborated by Leslie A. White and Claude Levi-Strauss)
 The theory emphasizes the value of incest taboo in promoting cooperation among family groups and thus
helping communities to survive. Early humans developed the incest taboo to ensure that individuals would
marry members of other families. The tie created by intermarriage would serve hold the community
together.

5. INBREEDING THEORY

 The theory focuses on the potentially damaging consequences of inbreeding, or marrying within the family.
People within the same family are likely to carry the same harmful recessive genes. An offspring from the
same family is likely to die early of genetic disorders than to that of an offspring from unrelated spouses.

G. FAMILY DISORGANIZATION

Separation, annulment, desertion, and divorce may bring about the break-up of families. Society is very much
concerned with the consequences brought about by the dissolution of families, consequences which are suffered by
both the married couple and their offspring. To circumvent the threat of family dissolution, society has adopted
controls in the form of laws. These laws vary in different cultures.

The ideal expectation of society is that the marriage and family will endure until the death of one of the spouses;
however, certain circumstances may lead to maladjustments in marital relations and the only solution is the breakup
of the marriage and family.

When one of the partners to the marriage deliberately severs his ties and leaves his family, the act is called
desertion. Separation is the result of desertion; it breaks up the marriage relations partially, although the marriage
remains in force; the husband and wife either, informally or illegally, set up separate households. Annulment is the
process which makes the marriage contract null and void, decide that there was no marriage at all. The absolute
dissolution of marriage bonds is divorce.

The Philippines does not recognize divorce; death alone dissolves the marriage relation. However, the Family Code
of the Philippines (1988) provides for legal separation as the alternative to divorce. It also provides for different
bases for legal separation.

1. Divorce – the complete dissolution of marriage.

2. Annulment – the process by which a marriage is pronounced null and void. This means that the marriage did not
exist at all due to some legal interpretations; therefore, there is no marriage.

3. Legal Separation – granted by the court of law, allowing the married couple to separate from “bed and board.” For
all intents and purposes, they have nothing to do with one another, except under the provisions of law like
community property; but their marriage exists and any one of them cannot marry another in the lifetime of the other.