ABSTRACT
In working-class neighbourhoods of Istanbul, Turkey, kinship is metaphorically conferred on those people who do what kin do: that is, participate in relations of collective reciprocal assistance with no calculation of return. This ‘fictive’ kinship draws in resources, whether they be labour, goods, food, money, information or services from unrelated outsiders, and is crucial for the economic survival of the urban poor. ‘Fictive’ kinship has also been harnessed to the world economy by providing a model for relations of production between home-workers and home-work distributors producing for export. By constructing their piecework labour (production paid by the piece) as an expression of their social role —as a form of collective reciprocal assistance-rather than as ‘work for pay’, women avoid the onus of working outside the home or taking over their husbands’ role as provider. The male distributors also ‘help’ their neighbours by providing them with income opportunities. The relationship is couched in the language of kinship.
