Kinship

noun (uncountable and countable)

/ˈkɪnʃɪp/

The network of social relationships based on blood (consanguinity), marriage (affinity), or socially recognised bonds that define family and community structures. In Indian sociology, kinship systems — governed by rules of descent (patrilineal, matrilineal, or bilateral), exogamy/endogamy, and inheritance — shape land ownership, political alliances, and caste reproduction. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 codified kinship rules for Hindus, prohibiting marriage within certain degrees of consanguinity.

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

In North Indian villages, kinship networks function as informal credit and insurance institutions — a finding that complicates the assumption that formal banking alone can address rural financial exclusion.

Synonyms

family tiesconsanguinityrelatednessblood tiesaffinitylineageclan bonds

Antonyms

strangersunrelatednon-kinoutsiders

🌱 Word Family

kin (noun/adjective), kindred (noun/adjective), kinsman/kinswoman (noun), kinfolk (noun)

🔡 Root

Old English cynn = family, race, kind + -ship = state, condition; literally 'the state of being of the same kind/family'

📜 Etymology

From Old English cynn (family, race, kin — related to modern German Kind, child) and the suffix -ship (denoting a state or condition). The compound 'kinship' entered Middle English as a way to describe the social and legal state of family relatedness. Anthropological study of kinship was systematised by Lewis Henry Morgan in Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family (1871), which remains foundational to the field.

🧠 Memory Hook

KIN = family (your next of kin). KINSHIP = the SHIP (state/relationship) of being KIN. Imagine a ship carrying your entire family across the sea — everyone on board is KIN, connected by blood or marriage. That network of connections is KINSHIP.

👥 Society 📖 Seen in: Salient Features of Indian Society — D...

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