Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family

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Lewis Henry Morgan's Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family (1871) is a foundational work in anthropology that established the scientific study of kinship systems. Morgan investigated how different cultures designated relatives, noting significant variations from the Anglo-American convention. He discovered that kinship terms varied widely, leading him to distinguish between "descriptive" systems, which differentiate lineal and collateral kin, and "classificatory" systems, where some collateral relatives share terms with lineal ones.12

Morgan's research into kinship terminology led to his theory of social evolution, proposing that societies progressed through stages from "savagery" to "barbarism" and finally to "civilization," driven by changes in food production and technology. While his evolutionary stages have been largely superseded, his work on kinship systems remains influential.13

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Lewis Henry Morgan
…influential pioneer elaboration of kinship, Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family (1871). This work inaugurated the modern anthropological study of kinship systems as the basic organizing principle in most preindustrial societies.
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…influential pioneer elaboration of kinship, Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family (1871). This work inaugurated the modern anthropological study of kinship systems as the basic organizing principle in most preindustrial societies.
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kinship terminology
…Henry Morgan, whose pioneering work, Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, was published in 1871. An important element in Morgan’s formulation was the distinction between classificatory and descriptive systems of kinship. In a classificatory system some collateral kin—relatives not in ego’s direct line of descent or ancestry—are…
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…Henry Morgan, whose pioneering work, Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, was published in 1871. An important element in Morgan’s formulation was the distinction between classificatory and descriptive systems of kinship. In a classificatory system some collateral kin—relatives not in ego’s direct line of descent or ancestry—are…
Read More