Integrating the In-Laws: Class and Kin Support Within Marriage in Urban Kenya

This study compares affinal kin relationships in low-income and higher-income families in Nairobi, Kenya.

In most studies of kinship structure and relationships in sub-Saharan Africa, culture serves as the basis upon which norms and expectations of kin are differentiated. While important, within the context of increasing economic inequality, it may be that marriage and kinship expectations and practices are also increasingly differentiated by social class, reflecting increasing social stratification in family formation and organization.

Narrative and thematic analysis were used on qualitative data from 46 in-depth interviews with 28 low-income, and 18 middle- and high-income women and men, married or living with a partner, to understand class-based differences in kin integration by gender.

Across class, among women, the levels of affinal kin integration varied; among men, those in the low-income category described very limited affinal-kin integration due to economic constraints, whereas their higher-income peers were able to maintain close ties with affinal kin mainly attributable to having advanced in the union formalization process. At the same time, however, higher-income participants-both men and women-expressed a desire for greater couple-level autonomy in decision-making.

There are emerging class-based differences in the structure and value of support from and relationships with affinal kin, which, in turn hold important implications for the reproduction of social stratification.