book chapter

West Indian family structure

University of Washington PressSeattlePublished In 1962 • Pages: i-vii, 1-23, 125-311

By: Smith, M. G. (Michael Garfield).

Abstract
This source is a demographic study of household composition and patterns of sexual union in West Indian societies. The survey sample is comparative and includes rural and urban households on the islands of Carriacou, Grenada, and Jamaica. All those sampled are rural peasants or urban lower class. The author finds three types of family structure including: extra-residential sexual unions, consensual co-habitation (common-law marriage), and marriage. Individuals tend to cycle through these types as they age, however the urban areas of Grenville, Grenada and Kingston, Jamaica are considered to be more disorganized and, although all three forms coexist, they do not form a developmental series. The analysis integrates historical data from the period of slavery as well as comparative data on other Caribbean and African societies.
Subjects
Composition of population
Comparative evidence
Urban and rural life
Age stratification
Gender status
Marriage
Family
Grandparents and grandchildren
Illegitimacy
culture
Jamaicans
Region
Middle America and the Caribbean
Sub Region
Caribbean
Document Type
book chapter
Evaluation
Ethnologist-5
Analyst
Martin Malone ; 1976
Field Date
1955
Coverage Date
1804-1955
Coverage Place
Jamaica; Grenada; Grenville, Grenada; Kingston, Jamaica; Carriacou, Grenada; Nigeria
Notes
by M. G. Smith
At head of title: The American Ethnological Society, Viola E. Garfield, editor; a monograph from the Research Institute for the Study of Man
Extraresidential mating has been marked for Category 836. The statistical tables referred to in the text are located at the end of each chapter, on pp. 145-162, 181-197, and 226-242.Only the sections dealing with Jamaica have been processed for the Files. In the processed sections, material specifically on the other societies has been zeroed out, but where it is employed in comparison with the Jamaican data, it has been marked for Category 171.
Only pages i-vii, 1-23, 125-311 have been processed for the Files
Includes bibliographical references(p. 303-305)
LCCN
61014502
LCSH
Family--West Indies, British