Economic Change, Social Mobility, and Kinship in Serbia

Abstract

Remarkable demographic, ecological, and economic changes occurring in Serbia, from the Middle Ages to the present period of industrialization, have effected clear alterations in kinship structure. Movement to more favorable farmlands from highland pastoral regions in the 19th century resulted in an increased size and span of household groups but in a replacement of the old tribal system by village organization. The lines of agnatic corporacy have shifted, some functions (such as political activity) passing beyond the lineage and others (such as common production and consumption) collapsing into the nuclear family. Nevertheless, kinship ideology shows a remarkable persistence in spite of these demographic, economic, and structural changes. The old agnatic biases remain. Kin linkages are phrased largely in agnatic terms, preferences for kinsmen show virifocal bias, and important assets are still controlled largely by men, who take precedence in public and ritual activities.