On Quibblings over Squabblings of Siblings: New Perspectives on Kin Terms and Role Behavior

Abstract

Anthropologists often claim that kin terms label behavioral roles as well as categories of kin. It is argued here that the closest relative in a category typically enacts not one role but several and that this coalescence of roles occurs only under typical or ideal circumstances. More distant kinsmen in a category may enact one or 2 of these roles, or none. Thus confusion results when the kin term is used to label the cluster of roles or when theories build on an isomorphism between kinship terminology and role system.