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Nuclear Families and Kinship Groups in Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Djamchid Behnam
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In the course of the last fifty years, there has been a slow, but continuous and decisive, transformation of the Iranian family.

In its traditional form, the Iranian family shows three basic characteristics: a certain inbreeding between relatives, a sense of masculine primacy, and a special attachment to the land where the father was born. The woman enjoys no social, professional or political freedom, while the male, the only breadwinner and the only one entrusted with any responsibility, is considered master after God. To belong to a kinship group, a lineage, represents for him an attachment to a respected, well-defined trunk, which guarantees the life and continuity of the family and grants him a place in society. Among the nomads, as well as in the villages, we see the family as the unit of production and of consumption. At the same time, in the cities, the family is not only the unit of consumption, but in the work of craftsmen (which is flourishing in the urban centers) we still see retained the familial aspect. This rule finds its origins not only in Moslem law and in the post-Islamic history of Iran, but also in the traditions and religions of ancient Persia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 19 , Issue 76 , December 1971 , pp. 115 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © 1971 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

References

1 The principal surveys whose results have been used in this study are: a) P. Vieille, M. Kotobi, Origine des ouvriers de Téhéran, Institute of Social Studies and Research, University of Teheran, August 1965, mimeogr. (French text); b) Etude sur la fécondité et quelques caractéristiques démographiques des femmes mariées dans quatre zones rurales d'Iran, Institute of Social Studies and Research, University of Teheran, 1968, ronéo (French text); c) The following three surveys conducted under the direction of the author of this article: Enquête sur la famille et le mariage dans 78 villages de la côte Caspienne, Department of Popular Traditions of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Teheran, 1970; Enquête sur la famille et le mariage dans trois centres sociaux de la banlieue de Téhéran, Superior School of Social Assistance, Teheran, 1970; Enquête sur les ménages dans la ville de Tabriz, Moghtader-Andreff Bureau of Engineering Consultants, 1968; d) Monographs of Iranian villages, studies conducted by my students at the University of Teheran, 1959-1969.

2 A survey on the fecundity of the women in four rural regions showed the distribution of the members of the households, according to their relationship with the head of the household, to be the following: heads of households 18.3%, spouses 18.5%, sons 29.8%, daughters-in-law 0.6%; children of sons 0.9%, sons-in-law 0.1%, children of daughters 0.2%, other members of the family 5.5%, household workers 0.4%.

3 In principle, the number of extended families is more elevated in the country (5.65% in the country compared to 3.08% in the cities). Taking the rate of urbanisation seen in the different types of household, we find that 40% of these are citydwellers, with the exception of the three-generation families, of which only 25% live in the city versus 75% in the country.

4 Origine des ouvriers de Téhéran, p. 42.

5 R. Murphy and L. Kasdan, The Structure of Parallel Cousin Marriage, American Anthropologist, Vol. 61, 1959.

F. Barth, Father's Brother's Daughter Marriage in Kurdistan, " Southwestern Journal of Anthropology," Vol. X, 1954.

P. Bessaignet, Le système des mariages chez les Chah-Savan, Teheran, 1960.

J. Chelhod, Le mariage avec la cousine parallèle dans le système arabe, "L'Homme," Vol. X, n. 3-4.

J. Cuisinier, Endogamie et exogamie dans le mariage arabe, "L'Homme," Vol. II, n. 2, 1962.

6 Chelhod, op.-cit., p. 114-115.

7 Chelhod, op. cit., p. 125.

8 H. T. Khizaneh, "A Study on Endogamy and Distances between Places of Birth of Spouses…," Tenth International Seminar on Family Research, Tehran, 1968.

9 According to a study made by M.H. Sarmadi in the villages of the region of of Gorgan (in the north of Iran).

10 J. Cuisinier, Matériaux et hypothèse pour une étude des structures de la parenté en Turquie, "L'Homme." vol. IV, n. 1, 1964.

P. Bourdieu, Sociologie de l'Algérie, P.U.F., 1958.

T. Nakuno, Etudes récentes sur l'évolution de la famille japonaise, "Revue internationale des sciences sociales," vol. XIV, n. 3, 1962.

11 J. Mogey, Les progrès des recherches sur la famille, "Revue Internationale des sciences sociales," vol. XIV, n. 2, p. 441-442.