A Primer on the Family

By Razie Mah

Why a series of primers?
These primers provide in depth coverage of the nested form constructs in the book: How to Define the Word “Religion”.
Primers 1 and 2 developed the category-based nested forms discussed in “the meaning underlying the word ‘religion’”.
The next several primer address “the presence underlying the word ‘religion’”. This presence can be appreciated through a fully differentiated model of “humans in our current Lebenswelt”. Humans exist in society. Humans organize. Human live as individuals in community. Each of these modes of existence relate to one another as a nested form:
Society( Organization( potential of Individual in Community))
Primer 3 diagrams the individual in community. Primers 4 and 5 present the organization tier. Primer 6 introduces the institution level of the society tier, starting with an example, the family. Primer 7 reviews How Institutions Think (1986) by British anthropologist Mary Douglas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Razie Mah
• Release date: Apr 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9781942824053

Razie Mah

See website for bio.

Book preview

A Primer on the Family

Razie Mah

Published for Smashwords

7815 U0’

2015 AD

Notes on Text

The sixth primer introduces the content level of the society tier. This level is called institutions.

Note: Single quotes and italics are often used to group words together for easier reading.

In order to convert Ubaid Zero Prime to Anno Domini, subtract 5800.

Table of Contents

What is an Institution?

Evolution and Familyorg

Evolution and Familyinst

First Summary

The Three Logics of Familyinst

The Nature of Family Gods

The Co-evolution of Familyinst and Familyorg

The Co-evolution of Gods and Demiurges

Ancient Myth and the First Singularity

Second Summary

Righteousness

Interpellation and the Family

Fitting In

The Organization Tier is Localized and Delocalized

Individuals in Familyorg

Third Summary

What is an Institution?

0001 An institution puts its own organization (as well as other organizations) into perspective.

The institutionaC belongs to the content levela of the society tierC. The society tierC brings the organization tierB into relation with the potentials of 'the individual in the community tier'A.

This is technically rendered as follows:

SocietyC( organizationB( potential of 'individual in communityA'))

Currently, the big picture looks like this:

0002 What is an institution?

I want to start with an example. The family is a foundational institution.

Or, is the family a foundational organization?

Ah, the family must be both.

In fact, I have already discussed the family as a metaphor for the organization tier. I will label the family in the organization tier: familyorg.

0003 The image of the family allows me to discuss institutions in an intuitively rich milieu. After all, the family belongs to the Lebenswelt that we evolved in. So, we instinctively appreciate the family as an institution and an organization. If what I write sounds old fashioned, that is because the family is as old and as fashioned as human culture itself.

In terms of the category-based nested form, the family may first be diagrammed as an undifferentiated nested form. Then, this single undifferentiated nested form may differentiate into an interscope. In the process, each element in the undifferentiated nested form expands into a complete nested form.

Evolution and Familyorg

0004 Familyorg characterizes the entire Homo genus. Chimpanzee and other wild apes do not exhibit male-female pair bonding to the extent that the Homo genus does. The familyorg may be one of many adaptations to the desiccation of eastern Africa, between 5 and 3 million years ago. Tropical forest gives way to savannah.

Food resources in tropical forests are concentrated. A female great ape can both forage and care for her child. The resources of mixed forest and savannah consist of widely separated sites of seasonally dependent resources. The female great ape can no longer both forage and care for her child, because she must travel from one temporarily rich location to another.

What evolves?

The hind limbs of our ancestors adapt to bipedal walking. Perhaps concurrently, male-female pair bonding overcomes the challenge that the female faces. The male becomes the female’s helper. A bonding