ABSTRACT
Introduction The role of family and ethnic ties varies considerably across societies. Some countries have relatively small and cohesive nuclear families (e.g. Italy, Spain); others have a comparably small but more ‘independent’ organization (e.g. Scandinavian countries), other still have very big extended families with a pervasive role (e.g. most of Africa, Asia and Latin America). Why family structures have evolved in such a different way is a fascinating question which goes beyond the scope of the present chapter. This chapter will focus on the economic effects of different family structures, and in particular on the extent to which societies with more extended (or stronger) family ties benefit or lose from these ties in a strictly economic sense. I will adopt a microeconomic perspective, starting from the smallest unit of analysis – the nuclear family and the parent/child relationship – and then move to the broader notions of kin and ethnic group.1 Before proceeding, a terminological clarification is in order. The notions of ‘family’, ‘kin’, ‘clan’ and ‘ethnic group’ are quite complex and much debated upon in the anthropological literature. In this chapter, I will use the word ‘family’ to broadly refer to any form of blood relationship (hence encompassing very proximate and very distant ones), and use the terms ‘nuclear family’, ‘extended family’, ‘clan’, ‘kin group’ and ‘ethnic group’ when I need to employ narrower definitions. In that case, ‘nuclear family’ will identify a group of two parents and their children; and ‘extended family’ will include close relatives (such as grandparents, aunts/uncles and cousins) often living in close proximity. I will use the term ‘clan’ to identify a unilineal group of relatives living in one locality, and the term ‘kin group’ to denote a collection of various clans that comprises ‘socially recognized relationships based on supposed as well as actual genealogical ties’ (Winick 1956: 302). To define ‘ethnic groups’, on the other hand, I will refer to Max Weber’s definition:
groups that entertain a subjective belief in their common descent because of similarities of physical type or of customs or both, or because of memories of colonization and migration. This belief must be important for group
formation; furthermore it does not matter whether an objective blood relationship exists.
