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In developing countries kinship is more important than the developed countries. In India for example, the joint family system has broken down with social change of industrialisation and urbanization. But joint family sentiments still persist and are very important in the economic and religious matters.

However, India is different from tribal societies found in it and elsewhere because these are not large corporate descent group such as clans and lineages. In this, India is similar to the west because kinship is not important for economic, political, religious and legal matters.

There is development of separate economic institutions, like companies and banks, separate political institutions such as parliament and bureaucracy separate religious institutions such as temples and monasteries and separate legal institutions such as courts and police. However it must be noted that kinship does play an important role in each of these activities and many banks and companies are controlled by like Birlas and Tatas. Politicians and bureaucrats get into politics on the basis of family connections and family is important in religious and legal matters. The hold of kinship on other institution has not been eliminated in India and so the study of kinship is very important for such developing countries.

In tribal societies in India and elsewhere, kinship is the basis for the operation of economic, political, religious and legal institutions, and therefore many large kinship groups such as clans and lineage exist to fulfill all the activities. Kinship is also important for the purpose of arranging marriages, because in these societies there is a clear preference for marrying certain kinds while other kinds are prohibited in marriage. Examples of the importance of kinship in tribal societies are there in Evans Pritchard’s study of the lineage based on political system of the Nuer of Southern Sudan and Durkheim’s study of the clan based on totemic religion of Australian tribes.

Descent

Descent is one of the principles of kinship organisation, whereby a child is socially affiliated with the group of his or her parents. Groups are formed on this basis and social solidarity is maintained by the balanced opposition between them. In this system marriage is merely a way of recruitment of women to the group in order to reproduce and continue the line. An alternative understanding of kinship organisation is one by the basis of marriage alliance, so that groups bear children in order to marry other groups and to maintain solidarity of the society.

There are six possible ways for the transmission of descent group membership, from parents to children. They are

1. Patrilineal, where descent is traced in male line from father to son.

2. Matrilineal, where descent is traced in female line from mother to daughter.

3. Double or bilineal, means both matrilineal and patrilineal descent are being practiced in the same society, but they are used for different purposes as in the case of Yako tribes of Nigeria. Immovable property such as land is transferred patrilineally, while movable property such as cattle is transferred matrilineally.

4. Cognatic. There is tracing of descent and passing of property through both males and females on both the father’s and mother’s side.

5. Parallel. A very rare form, where descent lines are sex-specific. Men transmit to their sons, while women to their daughters.

6. Cross or alternative. Here, men transmit to their daughters, and women to their sons.

Inheritance

Rules of inheritance tend to coordinate with the reckoning of descent in most societies, but not necessarily in a one to one manner. In most parts of India, immovable property such as land and housing was inherited only by sons. On the other hand, movable property in the form of cash and jewellery was given to the daughter at the time of her marriage, with a certain amount of jewellery also passing from the mother-in-law to the daughter-in-law.

In addition to property of various kinds, rights and obligations, crafts and skill might be passed on in accordance with kinship roles. Succession to office, kinship and to other social roles and statuses is also very often determined by kinship criteria.

Rules of Residence

Rules of residence, meaning residence after marriage, are an important variable in a kinship system, and substantially affect the quality of personal relations within the kin network. If husband and wife set up their own independent home after marriage, as is usually the case in modem western society, residence is said to be ‘Neolocal.’

When the wife goes to live with the husband in his parent’s home residence is described as patrilocal or virilocal. And where husband moves to live with the wife’s parents, it is known as matrilocal.

And when the newlywed moves to reside with the husband’s maternal uncle, it is called Avunculocal, it was observed by Malinowski in Trobriand Islands.