Families are classified by several criteria: by form of marriage (monogamous, polygynous, polyandrous), by descent (patrilineal, matrilineal, double, bilateral, ambilineal), by residence after marriage (patrilocal, matrilocal, avunculocal, duolocal, bilocal, neolocal), by authority (patriarchal, matriarchal, egalitarian), by succession and inheritance, by the bond on which the family is based (conjugal or consanguine), and by size and composition (nuclear, extended, joint). This is the typological approach. It is complemented by the processual approach, which studies how a family grows and divides over time. G. P. Murdock grouped all families into the nuclear family and two composite forms: the polygamous family and the extended family.
This note sets out the typology of the family with corrected definitions and examples from India and other societies, for the UPSC Anthropology Optional. It belongs to Paper I, topic 2.4 (Types of family from the perspectives of structure, blood relation, marriage, residence and succession) in the Anthropology Optional syllabus.
Key points at a glance
- Typological approach: classifies families by marriage, descent, residence, authority, succession, inheritance, the basic bond, and size.
- Processual approach: studies the family's growth and decline as a cycle (Fortes' developmental cycle of the domestic group).
- By marriage: monogamous and polygamous (polygynous, polyandrous).
- By descent: unilineal (patrilineal, matrilineal), double, parallel, ambilineal and bilateral.
- By residence: patrilocal or virilocal, matrilocal or uxorilocal, avunculocal, duolocal, bilocal and neolocal.
- By authority: patriarchal, egalitarian; no society is known to be a true matriarchy, even where descent is matrilineal.
- By basic bond: conjugal (based on marriage) and consanguine (based on blood ties among siblings and their children) (Linton).
- By size: nuclear, extended (lineal or collateral) and joint.
- Murdock: nuclear family; composite families (polygamous and extended).
Approaches to the study of the family
| Approach | Question | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Typological | What kinds of family exist? | Classifies families into types by several criteria |
| Processual | How does a family change over time? | Studies the growth and decline of families as a cycle: expansion, dispersion and replacement (Fortes; Goody) |
The typological approach treats the family as a group of persons related by close kinship bonds, which exists to serve important cultural purposes. The form a family takes in a society depends on demographic, economic and political factors, and these forms change as the needs of the society change. A single family may also pass through several types in its lifetime: a nuclear family becomes a joint family when sons marry, and divides again at partition. The typological and processual approaches therefore complement each other.
I. Types by form of marriage
1. Monogamous family
A monogamous family is based on the marriage of one man and one woman. It is the simplest form, made up of a husband, his wife and their children. Monogamy is the most common form of marriage in practice, even in societies that allow polygamy, because few men can afford several wives. Many modern legal systems require it, such as the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.
2. Polygamous family
A polygamous family is made up of two or more nuclear families joined by a shared spouse. It has two forms.
(a) Polygynous family: a man is married to two or more women at the same time. The wives may share a household, or each wife may have her own hut and hearth in a shared compound. Polygyny was allowed in about 80 per cent of the societies in Murdock's sample, but in most of them only a minority of men had more than one wife.
| Society | Notes |
|---|---|
| Kulin Brahmins of Bengal | In the 19th century, high-ranking Kulin men married many wives because of hypergamy (kulinism); reformers such as Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar campaigned against it |
| Muslim societies | Islamic law allows up to four wives if they are treated equally; in practice most marriages are monogamous |
| Siwai of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea (Melanesia) | Studied by Douglas Oliver; wives' labour raised pig production and prestige |
| Naga groups | Chiefs among the Konyak Nagas traditionally had several wives |
| Gond and Baiga of central India | Polygyny allowed, often for economic reasons or when the first wife is childless |
| Tiwi of Australia; many African societies | Classic ethnographic cases of polygyny |
Polygyny may be sororal, when the wives are sisters (common among the Crow and other Native American peoples), or non-sororal, when they are not related.
(b) Polyandrous family: a woman is married to two or more men at the same time. Polyandry is rare.
- Fraternal (adelphic) polyandry: the husbands are brothers and usually live together with the wife. Examples: the Toda of the Nilgiri Hills, the Khasa of Jaunsar-Bawar (Dehradun district, Uttarakhand), Tibetans and the Nyinba of Nepal. Among the Toda, social paternity was assigned by the pursutpimi (bow-and-arrow) ceremony.
- Non-fraternal polyandry: the husbands are not brothers and need not live together. Example: the traditional Nayars of Kerala, whose women had several visiting husbands.
- Other cases: the Marquesans of Polynesia, and the Galo (Gallong) of Arunachal Pradesh, among whom polyandry has been reported in particular circumstances.
Endogamy and exogamy
Some notes describe "endogamous" and "exogamous" families. Strictly, endogamy and exogamy are rules of marriage, not types of family, but they shape the family.
- Endogamy: the rule of marrying within one's own group, such as caste, sub-caste, tribe, religious community or sect. In Kerala, Syrian Christian and Muslim communities generally marry within their own community and denomination. Caste endogamy is the most important rule of Hindu marriage.
- Exogamy: the rule of marrying outside one's own group, such as clan, gotra, lineage or village. Among the Jats of Haryana and other groups of northern India, the "four-gotra rule" forbids marriage into the gotra of one's father, mother, father's mother and mother's mother, and village exogamy is also common. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, prohibits marriage within sapinda relationship: within five generations on the father's side and three on the mother's side, unless custom permits.
II. Types by descent
Descent is the rule by which a person becomes a member of a kinship group through a parent. It determines group membership, and often inheritance and succession.
A. Unilineal descent
| Type | Rule | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Patrilineal (agnatic) | Descent traced through the father in every generation; both sons and daughters belong to the father's group, but only sons pass membership on | Most Hindu castes; traditional Chinese society; most Arab societies; Gond, Bhil, Kondh, Munda, Santal; the Nuer of South Sudan |
| Matrilineal (uterine) | Descent traced through the mother in every generation; both sons and daughters belong to the mother's group, but only daughters pass membership on | Khasi and Garo of Meghalaya; traditional Nayar and Tiyya of Kerala; Mappila Muslims of north Kerala and Lakshadweep islanders; Hopi of Arizona; Trobriand Islanders; Ashanti (for lineage) |
B. Double descent
Double (dual) descent means that a person belongs both to a patrilineal group through the father and a matrilineal group through the mother, and each group has different functions.
- Yako of Nigeria (Daryll Forde): land and houses pass through patrilineal clans; movable wealth and ritual duties through matrilineal clans.
- Toda of the Nilgiris: patrilineal clans (mod) control property and ritual, while matrilineal clans (polm) regulate marriage.
- Herero of Namibia: patrilineal and matrilineal groups with separate functions.
- Ashanti of Ghana: membership of a matrilineal lineage (abusua) through the mother, and of a patrilineal spirit group (ntoro) through the father.
C. Parallel descent
In parallel descent, men trace descent through their fathers and women through their mothers, so that sons and daughters of the same couple belong to different groups. It is very rare. The Apinayé of Brazil (Curt Nimuendajú) are the usual example: sons belonged to the father's ceremonial group and daughters to the mother's. Among the Mundugumor of New Guinea (Margaret Mead), the reverse ("cross" descent) applied: a son belonged to his mother's "rope" and a daughter to her father's.
D. Cognatic (non-unilineal) descent
In cognatic descent, a person can trace descent through both men and women.
| Type | Rule | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Ambilineal (optative) | A person chooses to affiliate with either the father's or the mother's descent group; the choice may differ from generation to generation. Useful where land is limited and people need flexibility. | Maori hapu of New Zealand; Samoans; Kwaio of the Solomon Islands (Melanesia), who trace cognatic descent with a patrilineal emphasis |
| Bilateral | Descent traced equally through both parents and all four grandparents. No descent groups form; instead each person has a personal network of relatives, the kindred. | Most Western societies; Iban of Sarawak (Borneo, Malaysia); Subanun of the Philippines; Inuit |
The difference between bilineal and ambilineal descent matters. Double descent means belonging to two lines at once. Ambilineal descent means choosing one line.
III. Types by residence after marriage
| Type | Where the couple lives | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Patrilocal | With or near the husband's father and his kin | Most Hindu castes; Bagata of Andhra Pradesh; Munda and Santal; Tallensi of Ghana |
| Virilocal | With or near the husband's kin (a broader term than patrilocal, used by many anthropologists) | Common in patrilineal societies |
| Matrilocal | With or near the wife's mother and her kin | Khasi and Garo of Meghalaya; Hopi |
| Uxorilocal | With or near the wife's kin (a broader term than matrilocal) | The "resident son-in-law" (ghar jamai) in many Indian groups; the Gond lamsena (service marriage), in which the groom works in his father-in-law's house; the Garo nokrom |
| Avunculocal | With or near the husband's mother's brother (Latin avunculus, "mother's brother") | Trobriand Islanders; Haida and Tlingit of the north-west coast of North America |
| Duolocal (natolocal) | Husband and wife each remain in their own natal household | Ashanti of Ghana; traditional Nayar; Na (Mosuo) of China |
| Bilocal (ambilocal) | The couple chooses to live with either the husband's or the wife's kin, according to need | Hawaiians; Iban; many hunter-gatherers |
| Neolocal | The couple sets up a new, independent home away from both sets of parents | Modern Western and urban societies; often cited for the Western Shoshone |
Residence usually matches descent: patrilineal societies are usually patrilocal, and matrilineal societies matrilocal, avunculocal or duolocal. Neolocal residence goes with bilateral descent and industrial economies.
IV. Types by authority
Authority is the right to exercise power and influence over family members.
| Type | Who holds authority | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Patriarchal | The father or eldest male; authority passes in the male line | Most Hindu joint families (the karta); Kondh, Oraon, Santal, Bhil |
| Matriarchal | The mother or eldest female | No society is known in which women as a group hold political authority over men; the term is used loosely for matrilineal societies |
| Avunculate (matrilineal with male authority) | The mother's brother or eldest male of the matrilineage | Nayar taravad, headed by the karanavar; Khasi, where the mother's brother (kni) traditionally managed affairs while the youngest daughter held the house |
| Egalitarian | Husband and wife share decisions and responsibilities equally; sons and daughters inherit equally | Modern urban families; supported in India by the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 |
Matrilineal is not the same as matriarchal. In matrilineal societies such as the Khasi and Nayar, descent and property pass through women, but authority is usually held by men: the mother's brother or the eldest man of the matrilineage. Women's position is generally stronger than in patrilineal societies, but it is not rule by women.
V. Types by succession
Succession is the transfer of an office, rank or title from one person to another.
- Patrilineal succession: office passes from a man to his son or another male agnate. Examples: Hindu ruling houses, village headmanship among the Bagata, Munda and many other groups.
- Matrilineal succession: office passes through women, usually from a man to his sister's son, not from woman to woman. Example: among the Khasi, the chief (syiem) is succeeded by a sister's son. Among the Garo, the village headman (nokma) is the husband of the heiress (nokna), so the office passes with the female line.
Families can accordingly be classified as patrilineal or matrilineal families.
VI. Types by inheritance of property
| Type | Who inherits | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Primogeniture | The eldest child, usually the eldest son | Nambudiri Brahmins of Kerala: only the eldest son married within the caste and managed the undivided estate, while younger sons formed sambandham unions with Nayar women; English aristocracy |
| Ultimogeniture | The youngest child (son or daughter) | Khasi: the youngest daughter (khadduh) inherits the ancestral house and cares for her parents; inheritance by the youngest son in some parts of medieval England ("Borough English") |
| Selected heiress | A daughter chosen by the parents, often but not always the youngest | Garo: the heiress (nokna) |
| Equal division | All sons, or all children, share | Hindu Mitakshara coparcenary among sons, extended to daughters in 2005 |
| Fixed shares | Shares set by religious law | Islamic law, under which a daughter receives half the share of a son |
VII. Types by the basic bond: conjugal and consanguine
Ralph Linton (1936) distinguished two types of family by the relationship at their core.
- Conjugal family: built around the marriage bond between husband and wife, with their children. Blood relatives of the spouses are on the fringe. Example: the nuclear family of the United States and urban India.
- Consanguine family: built around blood ties, usually a group of siblings (such as a mother, her sisters and brothers) and the sisters' children. Spouses are attached on the fringe and may not live with the group. Examples: the Nayar taravad and the Na (Mosuo) household.
A consanguine family is not the same as a consanguineous marriage, which is a marriage between relatives such as cross-cousins or uncle and niece. Consanguineous marriages are common in South India, for example among some Reddy, Tamil and other groups, and among many Muslim communities. They create a family in which husband and wife are related by blood, but the family can still be conjugal in structure.
VIII. Types by size, structure and composition
| Type | Composition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Nuclear (elementary, primary) family | Husband, wife and their unmarried children | Small and independent. Found in all societies, alone or within larger families. Each person usually belongs to two: the family of orientation, into which he or she is born, and the family of procreation, which he or she founds by marriage. |
| Childless couple (conjugal pair) | A married couple without children | Sometimes treated as a separate type |
| Extended family | Two or more nuclear families joined by blood ties, usually across three or more generations | May be lineal (vertical), such as parents with a married son, or collateral (horizontal), such as married brothers living together |
| Stem family | Parents living with one married child and his or her family, while other children leave | Described by Frédéric Le Play (famille souche); common in Japan (ie) and parts of Europe |
| Joint family | Several generations and married brothers sharing residence, kitchen, property and worship | The Hindu joint family |
The Hindu joint family
Irawati Karve defined the joint family as "a group of people who generally live under one roof, who eat food cooked at one hearth, who hold property in common and who participate in common family worship and are related to each other as some particular type of kindred". It may include the father and mother, their sons and the sons' wives, unmarried daughters, grandchildren, the father's brothers and their wives and children, and sometimes widowed or dependent relatives. It usually spans three or four generations and extends the parent-child and sibling relationships.
Traditionally, a joint family followed one occupation or business, which passed to the next generation. With education, urbanisation and globalisation, members now follow different occupations and often live in separate households, while keeping some joint property and obligations. A. M. Shah and I. P. Desai showed that many such families still function jointly despite separate residence.
Murdock's classification of the family
G. P. Murdock (Social Structure, 1949) classified families into the nuclear family and composite families.
| Type | Definition | Sub-types |
|---|---|---|
| Nuclear family | A married man and woman with their children, though in some cases one or more other persons may live with them | None |
| Composite family: polygamous | Two or more nuclear families joined by plural marriage, that is, by sharing one married parent | Polygynous, polyandrous |
| Composite family: extended | Two or more nuclear families joined by an extension of the parent-child relationship, such as the nuclear family of a married adult joined to that of his or her parents, usually across three or more generations | Classified by residence: patrilocal, matrilocal, bilocal and avunculocal extended families |
Murdock's key point is that the nuclear family is present in all these forms, either alone or as a building block of larger families.
Summary table: the typology of the family
| Basis | Types |
|---|---|
| Form of marriage | Monogamous; polygynous (sororal, non-sororal); polyandrous (fraternal, non-fraternal) |
| Descent | Patrilineal, matrilineal, double, parallel, ambilineal, bilateral |
| Residence | Patrilocal or virilocal, matrilocal or uxorilocal, avunculocal, duolocal, bilocal, neolocal |
| Authority | Patriarchal, matriarchal (theoretical), avunculate, egalitarian |
| Succession | Patrilineal, matrilineal |
| Inheritance | Primogeniture, ultimogeniture, selected heir, equal division, fixed shares |
| Basic bond | Conjugal, consanguine |
| Size and composition | Nuclear, extended (lineal, collateral), stem, joint |
| Relation to ego | Family of orientation, family of procreation |
Indian examples by type
- Patrilineal, patrilocal, patriarchal joint family: most Hindu castes of northern India; the Jats with their four-gotra rule.
- Matrilineal, matrilocal, ultimogeniture: the Khasi (khadduh) and Garo (nokna) of Meghalaya.
- Matrilineal, duolocal, consanguine, avunculate: the traditional Nayar taravad of Kerala.
- Fraternal polyandry: the Toda and the Khasa of Jaunsar-Bawar.
- Polygyny: the Gond, Baiga and Naga chiefs.
- Uxorilocal service marriage: the Gond lamsena.
- Double descent: the Toda.
For change in tribal family systems, see our note on tribal India, PVTGs, displacement and the development-versus-isolation debate.
Using this topic in a UPSC answer
- Begin with the two approaches: typological and processual.
- Use a summary table of bases and types; examiners reward organisation.
- Give one Indian and one non-Indian example for each type.
- Make key distinctions: matrilineal versus matriarchal; consanguine family versus consanguineous marriage; double versus ambilineal descent; extended versus joint family.
- Draw kinship diagrams: patrilineal and matrilineal descent lines; a polyandrous household; a joint family over three generations.
- Include Murdock's classification and Karve's definition of the joint family.
- Conclude with the processual view: family types change over the life of a family and with social change.
Likely questions: "Classify the types of family with suitable ethnographic examples." "Distinguish between matrilineal and matriarchal families." "Discuss the types of post-marital residence with examples." For structure and presentation, see our guide to anthropology answer writing with diagrams, thinkers and case studies.
Frequently asked questions
What are the types of family?
Families are classified by marriage (monogamous, polygynous, polyandrous), descent (patrilineal, matrilineal, double, bilateral), residence (patrilocal, matrilocal, avunculocal, duolocal, bilocal, neolocal), authority (patriarchal, egalitarian), succession and inheritance, the basic bond (conjugal, consanguine) and size (nuclear, extended, joint).
What is the difference between matrilineal and matriarchal?
Matrilineal refers to descent traced through the mother. Matriarchal refers to authority held by women. Matrilineal societies such as the Khasi and Nayar trace descent and property through women, but authority is usually held by the mother's brother or the eldest man, so they are not matriarchies.
What is avunculocal residence?
Avunculocal residence means that a married couple lives with or near the husband's mother's brother. It is found in some matrilineal societies, such as the Trobriand Islanders, where a man inherits from his mother's brother.
What is double descent?
Double descent means a person belongs both to a patrilineal group through the father and a matrilineal group through the mother, each with different functions. Examples are the Yako of Nigeria, the Toda of the Nilgiris and the Herero of Namibia.
What is the difference between a conjugal and a consanguine family?
A conjugal family is built around the marriage bond between husband and wife and their children. A consanguine family is built around blood ties among siblings and the sisters' children, with spouses on the fringe, as in the Nayar taravad (Linton).
What is ultimogeniture?
Ultimogeniture is inheritance by the youngest child. Among the Khasi of Meghalaya, the youngest daughter (khadduh) inherits the ancestral house and is responsible for caring for her parents.
How did Murdock classify the family?
Murdock distinguished the nuclear family from composite families. Composite families are either polygamous (nuclear families joined by a shared spouse) or extended (nuclear families joined across generations by the parent-child relationship).
What is the difference between an extended family and a joint family?
An extended family is any family of two or more nuclear families joined by blood ties across generations. The Hindu joint family is a specific form, defined by Irawati Karve as people living under one roof, eating from one hearth, holding property in common and sharing family worship.