Patterns of Exchange in Kinship Systems in Germany, Russia, and the People’s Republic of China

Abstract

The paper attempts to integrate two major theoretical approaches for the explanation of kinship relationships, namely the institutional approach of cultural anthropology and the interactionist approach of family sociology and social gerontology. It takes the institutional settings of kinship systems on the societal level into account and relates them to interactions within the kinship groups. These relations are formulated in two hypotheses: The lineagehypothesis refers to the selection of kinship members for interaction relationships; the welfarehypothesis refers to the selection with regard to the kind of relationship (functional solidarity and/ or emotional solidarity). The empirical analysis is based on an approach suggested by Silverstein et al. (1994) for intergenerational relationships. This approach is extended to include the analysis of kinship relationships with mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, mothers-in-law, fathers-in-law, sisters-in-law, and brothers-in-law. The empirical analysis is based on standardized interviews with mothers and grandmothers in Germany (N = 713), Russia (N = 649) and the People’s Republic of China (N = 823), having been collected within the research project “Value of Children in Six Cultures.” These three societies were chosen for the analysis of kinship relationships, because they differ systematically with regard to the institutional structure: Germany is neolocalbilinear, Russia and China are traditionally patrilocal-patrilinear, but with different modernization pathways. Thus, it can be investigated whether these institutional conditions have an impact on kinship interaction. The empirical analysis comprises 10.173 kinship relationships in total. The typological description of the kinship relationships, based on the interaction dimensions “structural opportunities,” “communication and emotional closeness” and “mutual help,” already reveals significant differences in the importance and the reach of kinship relationships in these three societies. In a subsequent multi-variate multi-level regression analysis, the effects of “society,” “position in the social structure,” “individual attitudes,” and “kinship structure” on “communication and emotional closeness” and “mutual help” are tested. This analysis reveals that the institutional structure of the kinship system has a much stronger effect on kinship relationships than socio-structural factors or individual family-related attitudes.