Learn about affinal kinship, collateral relatives, and lineal kinship. Understand the different forms of grouped kinship relations, and find examples.
Updated: 04/14/2022
Kinship Types and Examples
Meaning of Kinship
Kinship refers to relationships within a community or family. These family ties bond people together in a society and provide organization and structure for relationships. These bonds, created by marriage, reproduction, adoption, and occasionally social structures, can provide a social hierarchy and can even be legally binding. For example, kinship can also be used to establish social norms for guidelines and communication, as well as obligations of different members. Certain behaviors that are acceptable in one type of kinship may not be socially acceptable in other kin relationships. These close relationships help guide relationships and provide social feelings of safety and security. Kinship is often utilized to help in situations where someone may be displaced. Through social services, the elderly and children may find a home and support through kinship care as opposed to being placed too far from their normal environment. This lesson will discuss the types of kinship in detail.
Types of Kin
With my husband and I both having four siblings, my kids have plenty of aunts and uncles. Making it even harder for my younger children to keep things straight, most of our siblings are married, causing my younger ones to ask things like, 'Now, is Uncle John your brother or daddy's, or is he just married to Aunt Sarah?' In other words, they get a bit confused by the branches of their family tree. This is because our Western culture recognizes not just lineal and collateral kin as family, but also affinal kin as well. Guessing that these terms are rather foreign to most of us, today's lesson will seek to explain them.
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Types of Kinship
Kinship can be broken down into consanguineal, affinal, and social. Consanguineal includes direct blood relatives such as parents and children (lineal kinship), and siblings (collateral kinship). Marriages are considered affinal kinship. Another type of kinship can include social which is not through blood or marriage but instead through community or religious connection.
Family trees can track lineages and kinship. In the tree shown, the kinship can be tracked for the subject titled Ego, the dark triangle. In this diagram the men are represented by triangles and the females by circles. The subject, Ego, is male. His parents labeled Fa and Mo are shown to be married with an equal symbol. The parents also have a second child, a girl. Siblings in the chart are shown with a line down directly from a horizontal line under their parents. For example, the mother (Mo) is shown to have two siblings: a sister (MoSi) and a brother (MoBr). Both of these siblings are married and each have two children. This gives Ego four cousins on his mother's side. His father's side is mirrored by an uncle (FaBr) and aunt (FaSi). They are also married with two children each.
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Understanding how to read this diagram will be important while discussing the types of kinship below. In fact, the concept of kinship is what has defined the terms we are familiar with in our culture such as aunt, uncle, cousins, etc.
Lineal Kinship
Lineal kinship is an individual's direct ancestors or descendants. Lineal is defined as the direct parents and grandparents OR the children and grandchildren. An example of linear kin would be a grandparent. The individual labeled Ego in the image has a linear kinship to his father (Fa) and mother (Mo). Ancestry can be traced in a line (linearly) through the reproductive lineage from the great grandparents. Another example of lineal kinship could be seen by observing the father's sister (FaSi) through his children, labeled cross cousins, or through his parents (not shown on the table).
Collateral Kinship
Collateral relatives are an individual's siblings and their sibling's dependents. This is different from lineal kin because it is not a direct ancestor or descendant. Collateral kin includes sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews. In the same diagram shown, collateral kinship would include Ego's female sibling as well as any children she may have in the future. From the perspective of the father in the chart (Fa), the collateral kin would include his brother (FaBr) and sister (FaSi) as well as the cross cousins and parallel cousins on the father's side.
Affinal Kinship
Affinal kinship is defined as an individual's family through marriage. An example would be the spouse of collateral or lineal kinship. Ego's sister's future spouse would be an example of an affinal kinship. From the perspective of the mother (Mo), the affinal kinships would include her sibling's spouses, MoSi's husband, and MoBr's wife.
Social Kinship
Some social scientists include a third category of kinship called social kinship where bonds are formed irrespective of blood relation. This social bond brings together individuals who may not share lineage but aids in setting guidelines in communities and creating societies. This grouping may include religious communities, close friends, and mentors.
Kinship and Culture
Kinship relationships help to establish norms within a society and to determine social hierarchies. These norms may vary from society to society in terms of expectations. In Western culture, for example, parents, grandparents, and children tend to form family groups and care for each other. In some cases, aunts and uncles are included in this primary circle. In some indigenous societies, individuals from a common ancestor are grouped together and called clans. Norms within the clan include marriage rules, rivalry, cultural traits, inheritance, and social standing.
Unilineal descent is utilized most commonly where ancestry is affiliated more with one side of the family than the other as opposed to bilineal, where both sides share descent equally. In the United States, cultural norms are usually patrilineal with the husband taking a wife, however, other cultures focus on matrilineal descent where the bloodline is traced through the mother's side.
Lesson Summary
Kinship, normally familial ties that bond people together in a society, can be created by marriage, reproduction, and even close relationships. Kinship helps to provide a social hierarchy and can even be legally binding. Kinship can be broken down into lineal, collateral, affinal, and social. The definition of lineal kinship includes an individual's parents and grandparents, children and grandchildren; their direct linear descendants. Collateral relatives includes lineage through blood siblings and their offspring. Affinal kinships are relationships through marriage. Some researchers include social kinships which are connections through community or religious interaction.
Kinship rules and titles are dependent upon cultural preferences. While bilineal descent includes equal descent from both parents, unilineal is more common and includes matrilineal (bloodline traced through the mother) or patrilineal (bloodline traced through the father). Other cultures can include different, even more complicated structures. These lineages and kinship structures lead to varying expectations and community structures.
Lineal Kin
For our purposes, we'll start with lineal kinship. Lineal kin are defined as an individual's direct ancestors or descendants. Using the familiar idea of a family tree, your lineal kin are the people that are directly below you or above you. To make it easy, we can think of them as the main trunk of your family tree.
When speaking of your ancestors or those who have come before you, your lineal kin are your father and your mother, your grandparents, your great grandparents, and so on. However, they're not your aunts and uncles or your cousins. They're not even your siblings!
When speaking of your descendants, or those coming after you, your lineal kin are your children, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren, and so on. However, they're not your nieces, your nephews, or your cousins.
Collateral Kin
Next, there is collateral kinship. Collateral kin are an individual's siblings and their siblings' descendants. They are also the siblings of an individual's lineal, or direct kin. Putting it in simpler terms, these are sort of the side branches of your family tree. Unlike lineal kin, who you have descended directly from, or who have directly descended from you, your collateral kin are your sisters and your brothers, your aunts and your uncles, your nieces and your nephews, and even your cousins.
With this definition in mind, collateral kinship sounds a whole bunch like our Western idea of family. However, there is one group of people missing.
Affinal Kin
With this, we come to affinal kin. Affinal kin are simply an individual's family through marriage. In other words, they're your in-laws. They're your mother-in-law and your father-in-law. They're also your sister-in-law and your brother-in-law. However, it just doesn't stop there.
Your affinal kin are the people of your family who you don't even share a drop of genetic makeup with. Affinal kinship is the reason my kids call my sister's husband 'Uncle Wayne.' It's also the reason they consider him just as much their uncle as they do my brother John, the guy who is actually part of their bloodline.
Lesson Summary
When dealing with kin, there is great variation across the globe. This variation usually takes on three main forms: lineal, collateral, and affinal.
First, lineal kin are defined as an individual's direct ancestors or descendants. Stated simply, these are the people that you have directly descended from or those who have directly descended from you. Next, there is collateral kin. Collateral kin are an individual's siblings and their descendants. They are not your direct ancestors or descendants, but they are family that you share blood ties to.
Last, there are affinal kin, an individual's family through marriage. Putting it in very Western terms, these are your in-laws. Whether they be your mother-in-law, brother-in-law, or your uncle by marriage, your affinal kin are those you consider family, even though you share no biological ties.
Learning Outcomes
The objective at the end of the lesson is to:
- Understand that there are three different types of kin
- List the family members that are considered lineal kin
- Describe who collateral kin are
- Explain the family members who are considered affinal kin
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Video Transcript
Types of Kin
With my husband and I both having four siblings, my kids have plenty of aunts and uncles. Making it even harder for my younger children to keep things straight, most of our siblings are married, causing my younger ones to ask things like, 'Now, is Uncle John your brother or daddy's, or is he just married to Aunt Sarah?' In other words, they get a bit confused by the branches of their family tree. This is because our Western culture recognizes not just lineal and collateral kin as family, but also affinal kin as well. Guessing that these terms are rather foreign to most of us, today's lesson will seek to explain them.
Lineal Kin
For our purposes, we'll start with lineal kinship. Lineal kin are defined as an individual's direct ancestors or descendants. Using the familiar idea of a family tree, your lineal kin are the people that are directly below you or above you. To make it easy, we can think of them as the main trunk of your family tree.
When speaking of your ancestors or those who have come before you, your lineal kin are your father and your mother, your grandparents, your great grandparents, and so on. However, they're not your aunts and uncles or your cousins. They're not even your siblings!
When speaking of your descendants, or those coming after you, your lineal kin are your children, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren, and so on. However, they're not your nieces, your nephews, or your cousins.
Collateral Kin
Next, there is collateral kinship. Collateral kin are an individual's siblings and their siblings' descendants. They are also the siblings of an individual's lineal, or direct kin. Putting it in simpler terms, these are sort of the side branches of your family tree. Unlike lineal kin, who you have descended directly from, or who have directly descended from you, your collateral kin are your sisters and your brothers, your aunts and your uncles, your nieces and your nephews, and even your cousins.
With this definition in mind, collateral kinship sounds a whole bunch like our Western idea of family. However, there is one group of people missing.
Affinal Kin
With this, we come to affinal kin. Affinal kin are simply an individual's family through marriage. In other words, they're your in-laws. They're your mother-in-law and your father-in-law. They're also your sister-in-law and your brother-in-law. However, it just doesn't stop there.
Your affinal kin are the people of your family who you don't even share a drop of genetic makeup with. Affinal kinship is the reason my kids call my sister's husband 'Uncle Wayne.' It's also the reason they consider him just as much their uncle as they do my brother John, the guy who is actually part of their bloodline.
Lesson Summary
When dealing with kin, there is great variation across the globe. This variation usually takes on three main forms: lineal, collateral, and affinal.
First, lineal kin are defined as an individual's direct ancestors or descendants. Stated simply, these are the people that you have directly descended from or those who have directly descended from you. Next, there is collateral kin. Collateral kin are an individual's siblings and their descendants. They are not your direct ancestors or descendants, but they are family that you share blood ties to.
Last, there are affinal kin, an individual's family through marriage. Putting it in very Western terms, these are your in-laws. Whether they be your mother-in-law, brother-in-law, or your uncle by marriage, your affinal kin are those you consider family, even though you share no biological ties.
Learning Outcomes
The objective at the end of the lesson is to:
- Understand that there are three different types of kin
- List the family members that are considered lineal kin
- Describe who collateral kin are
- Explain the family members who are considered affinal kin
To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
Create your account
Frequently Asked Questions
What are collateral relatives?
Collateral relatives are blood-related. These include siblings as well as siblings' offspring. An individual's nieces and nephews are considered collateral relatives.
What is affinal kinship and what is an example of it?
Affinal kinship relates to family relationships that are linear. This lineage includes parents, grandparents, children, and grandchildren. Affinal kinship can be traced from great grandparents down to great grandchildren.
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BackKinship Types & Examples | Lineal, Collateral & Affinal Relatives
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