rokonsági

Rokonsági, or kinship, is the social and legal concept describing relationships among people based on ancestry or marriage. In anthropology and sociology, rokonsági ties organize family groups, define obligations, influence inheritance, residence patterns, and social roles. Rokonsági relations may arise from blood (consanguinity) or through marriage (affinity). They are studied through kinship diagrams, genealogies, and naming systems.

Kinship can be described along lineal and collateral lines. Lineal kin include parents and children and grandparents and grandchildren; collateral kin include siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Degrees of relatedness are used in law and genetics, often summarized as first-degree (parents, children, and full siblings), second-degree (half-siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts and uncles), and third-degree (great-grandparents, great-aunts, first cousins). The coefficient of relatedness is about 0.5 for first-degree, 0.25 for second-degree, and 0.125 for third-degree in standard models.

Kinship terminology varies by culture. Some languages distinguish many terms for different types of cousins; others group many relatives under broader terms. Classic systems include the Hawaiian, Iroquois, Crow, Eskimo, and Sudanese patterns, reflecting social organization and marriage rules in a given society.

Legal and social significance often stems from rokonsági. Inheritance, guardianship, and the legality of marriage can depend on kinship, with prohibitions on incest and restrictions related to consanguinity or affinity. Adoption and step-relations can modify kinship status, while modern families increasingly include non-biological ties, complicating traditional kinship concepts. Advances in genetics can illuminate biological relatedness, whereas social kinship remains shaped by culture and law.