DIVORCE AND KINSHIP

The Impact of Divorce on Kinship



The Impact of Divorce on Kinship

Introduction

All humans are classified, at birth, within a system of kin relations. This system of relations organizes a society in a systematic way, such that it provides for the continuity of those relationships, and for the continuation of the society, through time (David, 2010, pp.74). Ideally, the kinship system is perpetual and classifies all children at birth and maintains those classifications even after death; people continue to be sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers, and so on. The depth of the genealogical memory of groups varies tremendously, however. In some groups, the knowledge of the genealogy of one's ancestors can go several generations back, as in the lists of ancestors found in biblical genealogies (Nowak& Laird, 2010, pp.125). On the other hand, such knowledge in other groups may only go as far back as grandparents or great-grandparents, as is common in North America (Peters-Little, 2000, pp.65). The depth of genealogical knowledge is, however, not as significant as the idea that kin relations persist through time.

When examining the research on divorce and its impact, there is an understandable focus on children, grandparents and the divorcees. They are the people most influenced and disturbed by, the dissolution of a marital arrangement. However, there is little or not information on how divorce influences other people.

The fact is that divorce has major ripple effects across all types of relationships that people tend not to think about(Cosmides, 2007, pp. 727). For example, most couples form friendships with other couples. They go out together, dine together, share personal stories together and provide mutual support and comfort. When one of the couples separates and divorce, the couple must make substantial adjustments to the ways in which they live (Peters-Little, 2000, pp.65). They experience a sense of loss. Even if they manage to remain friends with one of the now divorced individuals, things are not the same because the entire foundation upon which these relationships were built is now changed.

This paper gives an overview of the kinship structures as they are prevalent in my culture and society and discusses the impact of divorce on kinship.

Discussion

Background

There are all sorts of rituals found in human societies that occur to bring about the incorporation of a baby into the social structure of the society into which it is born. Baby showers, infant baptisms, and the naming of the infant herself are some of the ways that the social position and classification of the new member of society are recognized and reified (Azadarmaki et.al, 2000, pp.22).

Kin relations consist of two fundamental types: consanguineal and affinal. Consanguineal kin relations are blood relations (Daftare, 2003, pp.34). When a person is born, he is genetically closely related to his mother, to his mother's siblings and their offspring, to his mother's parents, to his father, and to his father's siblings and their offspring, and to his father's parents. Consanguineal relations are the primary structuring categories of the entire kinship ...