Family: Variations and Changes Across Cultures
In order to study psychological phenomena cross-culturally, it is necessary to understand the different types of family in cultures throughout the world and also how family types are related to cultural features of societies. This article discusses: The definitions and the structure and functions of family; the different family types and relationships with kin; the ecocultural determinants of variations of family types, e.g, ecological features, means of subsistence, political and legal system, education and religion; changes in family in different cultures; the influence of modernization and globalization on family change throughout the world. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. This article is available in Online Readings in Psychology and Culture: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/orpc/vol6/iss3/3
Sex, Gender, and Kinship: A Cross-Cultural Perspective
(NOTE: Each chapter contains notes.) 1. Introduction. 2. Sexuality. Why Is Reproduction Sexual? Sexuality in Primates. Culture Channels Sexuality. 3. Gender, Division of Labor, and Social Behavior. 1. Physical Differences Between Human Females and Males. Division of Labor by Gender. Gender and Personality. On the Status of Women. 4. Marriage and other Mated Relationships. The Stable Mated Relationship. The Meaning of Marriage. Forms of Marriage: How Many Does One Marry? 5. Marriage and the Incest Taboo. Forbidden Sex: How Universal the Incest Taboo? Explaining the Incest Taboo. 6.Extension of the Incest Taboo. Cousin Marriage and the Incest Taboo. Other Marital Shoulds and Shouldn'ts. 7. Getting Married. Courtship and Mate Selection. Transacting Marriage. Celebrating Marriage. 8. The Marital Relationship. Sex within Marriage. To Be or Not to Be Close. 9. Divorce and Remarriage. Divorce. Widows and Widowers. 10. Marital Residence: Who Goes Where, Why, and What Are the Consequences? Residence, Family, and Kin Groups. Marital Residence and the Place of Women. Determinants of Post-Marital Residence. 11. FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD. Family Extension and Societal Complexity. Variation within Societies. Family and Household. Female-Focused Families. Other Implications of Family Variation. 12. Desent Groups: Kinship Beyond the Family. Reckoning Descent. Why Do Descent Groups Develop? Descent Group Structures. The Unlikely Chinese Descent Group. 13. Reflections. 1. The Gender Focus of Social Groups. The Culture of Violence. Societal Complexity and the Transformation of Kinship. Where Will It All End? References. Index.
The Tsadik and His Soul’s Sparks: From Kabbalah to Hasidism
The present study shows the continuity between the Safedian Kabbalistic view of the relations between the sparks of a certain soul, and the Hasidic theory, that was conceived of as innovated by and characteristic of 18th century Hasidism, as to the responsibility of the Tsadik for the sparks that belongs to his soul. In the two literatures, the rescue of a spark of one's soul is related to the beautiful captive woman that is conceived of as an externalization of an inner dimension of the righteous person, immersed in a shell.