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.