European Kinship Today: Patterns, Prospects and Explanations
This paper presents findings from the quantitative analysis of network data – regarding mutual assistance, kinship awareness, and the spatial concentration of kinship ties. It demonstrates the existence of both macro-regional and urban-rural differences, and shows that there appears to be an elective affinity between involvement in farming and close kinship ties. I comment on the implications of these findings for different anthropological perspectives on kinship, and also for theories of contemporary changes in kinship and fertility patterns. Finally I consider the relationship between kass’s quantitative and ethnographic findings, and their joint implications for future theory-building and research.