This paper discusses how a social system based on bilateral and non-hierarchical kinship is able to establish and maintain systems of authority. The Muga Lahu in Yunnan practise a bilateral and non-lineal kinship system based on the gender equality principle, and communal life is also based on equal couples’ kinship networking, bound to non-lineal ties through marriage. The Lahu here never prac...

The principal sources for Aristotle's account of the family are Politics I and II and Nicomachean Ethics VIII. In Politics I, the oikos (family, household) is defined as that specific form of koinwnia (community, association) which integrates individuals into a common life that enables them to become, as members of an oikos, members of a polis (political community, city-state) as well. In Nicom...

On the Origin of the Family This paper presents an overlapping generations model to explain why humans live in families rather than in other pair groupings. Since most non-human species are not familial, something special must be behind the family. It is shown that the two necessary features that explain the origin of the family are given by uncertain paternity and overlapping cohorts of depend...

Since the mid-2000s, a number of Western countries have witnessed an increase in children born into ‘alternative’ or ‘queer’ families. Parallel with this queer baby boom, online media technologies become intertwined most people’s intimate lives. While these two phenomena appeared simultaneously, their integration has seldom been explored. In attempt to fill gap, present article explores ways wh...

Kinship terminology is a reflection of the kinship system in language. produced through marriage and family relationships. Terminology that refers to such has gradually been refined over time. Due historical developments influences, Mongolian increased became more specific from 13th century until today. Loanwords are an inevitable result contacts with different languages influenced by this proc...

Abstract Kinship care is the long-term caring arrangement within family constellation for children who cannot remain with their birth parents. Despite being most prevalent alternative worldwide, there are significant gaps in knowledge about kinship and few children’s perspectives research. This article focuses on how views, understood through theories of recognition, can assist understanding li...

Several mathematical models have been proposed for kinship studies. We propose an alternate structural model designed to be so simple logically and intuitively that it can be understood and used by anyone, with a minimum of complication. It is called a P-system, which is short for parental system. The P-system incorporates the best features of each of the previous models of kinship: a single re...