Family Structure, Kinship, and Life Course Transitions: Social Science Explorations of the Mishnah
Abstract
The Mishnah text, the foundational document of an emergent Rabbinic Judaism, is organized around the functioning of an imagined and constructed community. Among the core themes and theoretical frameworks that a social scientist invokes to study any society include particular attention to family values, generational relationships and the dynamics of family networks. Family themes are complex in their details since these are connected to social stratification-how social groups within societies are ranked, group boundaries and ‘otherness’-exclusion and inclusion, and the study of culture and values. Exploring the evidence in the 63 volumes that comprise the corpus of the Mishnah, this paper outlines a conceptual framework and reviews evidence to focus on how the Mishnah constructs family structure, family relationships, and life course transitions. We examine the Mishnaic construction of family transitions as well as the structure and variation of family processes; we address issues of adulthood and the transitions to adulthood and older age; ideals and images of marriage and divorce and the transitions to these statuses; the dynamics of parenthood and childrearing along with childbearing and family size. Thus, we explore how the Mishnah formulates ideals of generational continuity, the formation of families and family relationships (e.g., which family members are included in the extended family; who may marry whom), the core values and ideals associated with family, how families are sustained, and how they change over the life course.
© 2018 by Academic Studies Press, Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Table of Contents
- ESSAYS
- Sociological and Anthropological Approaches to the Study of the Evidence of the Mishnah: A Call to Scholarly Action and a Programmatic Introduction
- Family Structure, Kinship, and Life Course Transitions: Social Science Explorations of the Mishnah
- Religious Holidays, Values, and Rituals: Mishnaic Perspectives
- The Poor and Their Relief in the Mishnah: An Economic Analysis
- Rabbinic Prayer in Dialogue with Priestly Ritual: Palestinian Talmudic Aggada
- Mihnag in The Haye Adam—The Case of Kitniyot on Passover
- The Evolution of the Orthodox Jewish Community in Cleveland, Ohio, 1940 to the Present
- An 1899 Postal Card Offers a Unique Insight Into American Jewish History
- Nine Men Waiting for One More: The Psychology of the Minyan
- Consumption, Wastefulness, and Simplicity in Ultra-Orthodox Communities
- תיתכלהה תונשרפה יללכב חיש ינמסו הקיטמגרפ :'םירמוא שי' 'יכאלמ די' רפס לש
- תינויצ תידומיל תושדחתה—הנבי דעו הנבימ רדסהה תובישיב תיתד
- BOOK REVIEWS
- Mordecai Paldiel, Saving One’s Own: Jewish Rescuers during the Holocaust. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, 2017. 636 p
- Derek Taylor, Chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler, The Forgotten Founder. London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2018. xii + 260 p
- David Raab, The Democratic Evolution of Halakhah, A Political Science Perspective. Aspen, CO: Aspen Center for Social Values, 2018. 106 p
- Steven Weitzman, The Origins of the Jews. The Quest for Roots in a Rootless Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017. ix + 394 p
- Sándor Bacskai, One Step Toward Jerusalem: Oral Histories of Orthodox Jews in Stalinist Hungary. Translated by Eva Maria Thury. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2018. xxiv. + 235 p
- Wodzinski, Marcin, with cartography by Waldemar Spallek, Historical Atlas of Hasidism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018. 280 p
- Jessica Roda, Se réinventer au présent: Les Judéo-espagnols de France; Famille, communauté et patrimoine musical. Preface by Edwin Seroussi. Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2018. 268 p
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Table of Contents
- ESSAYS
- Sociological and Anthropological Approaches to the Study of the Evidence of the Mishnah: A Call to Scholarly Action and a Programmatic Introduction
- Family Structure, Kinship, and Life Course Transitions: Social Science Explorations of the Mishnah
- Religious Holidays, Values, and Rituals: Mishnaic Perspectives
- The Poor and Their Relief in the Mishnah: An Economic Analysis
- Rabbinic Prayer in Dialogue with Priestly Ritual: Palestinian Talmudic Aggada
- Mihnag in The Haye Adam—The Case of Kitniyot on Passover
- The Evolution of the Orthodox Jewish Community in Cleveland, Ohio, 1940 to the Present
- An 1899 Postal Card Offers a Unique Insight Into American Jewish History
- Nine Men Waiting for One More: The Psychology of the Minyan
- Consumption, Wastefulness, and Simplicity in Ultra-Orthodox Communities
- תיתכלהה תונשרפה יללכב חיש ינמסו הקיטמגרפ :'םירמוא שי' 'יכאלמ די' רפס לש
- תינויצ תידומיל תושדחתה—הנבי דעו הנבימ רדסהה תובישיב תיתד
- BOOK REVIEWS
- Mordecai Paldiel, Saving One’s Own: Jewish Rescuers during the Holocaust. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, 2017. 636 p
- Derek Taylor, Chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler, The Forgotten Founder. London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2018. xii + 260 p
- David Raab, The Democratic Evolution of Halakhah, A Political Science Perspective. Aspen, CO: Aspen Center for Social Values, 2018. 106 p
- Steven Weitzman, The Origins of the Jews. The Quest for Roots in a Rootless Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017. ix + 394 p
- Sándor Bacskai, One Step Toward Jerusalem: Oral Histories of Orthodox Jews in Stalinist Hungary. Translated by Eva Maria Thury. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2018. xxiv. + 235 p
- Wodzinski, Marcin, with cartography by Waldemar Spallek, Historical Atlas of Hasidism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018. 280 p
- Jessica Roda, Se réinventer au présent: Les Judéo-espagnols de France; Famille, communauté et patrimoine musical. Preface by Edwin Seroussi. Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2018. 268 p
