Final answer:
Kinship is culturally constructed and varies across cultures, with its definition extending beyond just biological relationships to encompass cultural practices such as adoption. The study of kinship exposes various rules and social structures in different societies.
Step-by-step explanation:
Like race, kinship is culturally constructed, meaning that the ways in which people perceive and define kin relations vary across different cultures. It is the culture that determines who is considered family, rather than strictly biological relationships. For instance, the practice of adoption demonstrates how individuals who are not genetically related can still be recognized legally and culturally as family. Anthropologists, such as Lewis Henry Morgan, Bronislaw Malinowski, and A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, have historically studied the diversity and institutional nature of kinship, revealing its varied roles in different societies. Kinship systems provide guidelines on how to interact with and what expectations there are for certain relationships, and these systems are part of a wider network of social and biological relationships that structure society at different levels.