Reading in Kinship in Urban Society

Book excerpt: Reading in Kinship in Urban Society is a collection of articles that deal with family and kinship in urban settlements. It provides comparative ethnographic data and introduces studies and approaches found outside British social inquiry. Organized into four parts, this book first introduces kinship systems and the recognition of relationships in various communities. It then identifies the functions of kinship systems and pays particular attention to inheritance of property. After discussing patterns of mate selection and marital relationships, it turns to the effects of urbanization on family life. This book ends with a discussion about the family life of elderly people. Anthropologists and sociologists studying the relation of kinship to societies will find this book invaluable.