The Structure of the Peasant Family

Abstract

An examination of community studies of peasant life reveals consistencies and variations in family structure. The findings demonstrate a strong patri‐orientation, the rarity of polygyny, and the absence or weakness of larger kin‐based corporate structures in the forty‐six communities analyzed. Three patterns of family structure, each closely associated with a particular mode of inheritance, were found: (1) patrilocal stem with patrilineal impartible inheritance, (2) patrilocal joint with patrilineal partible, and (3) nuclear with bilateral inheritance. Proceeding from ecological presuppositions, the factors of (1) land scarcity and (2) the dominant state organization were examined as potentially salient influences. The data indicate that while land scarcity appears to be a contributory influence in the development of stem families, the variations in family structure are best accounted for not simply by the existence of the larger political community, but more specifically by the social and political forces emanating from the centers of power.