ABSTRACT
There is widespread agreement that the form of the kinship system in preindustrial England was, in anthropological terminology, ego-centred '; that is to say, it was focused on individuals. While historians of the household economics approach have been most influenced by sociology and social theory, those investigating kinship tend to look to ideas originating in social anthropology. In many societies, one of the major functions of a kinship system is to create a circle within which marriage is not possible, because it is considered to be incest. However, kinship not only provided a proof of status; it also offered a useful resource that could be called upon to further economic or political ambitions. One possibility is that kinship functioned differently for contrasting social groups. It is also possible that historians have failed to put sufficient stress on geographical diversity, which may have had a profound effect on relations with kin where different social and economic systems predominated.
