ABSTRACT
The goal of this chapter is to present a reconceptualization of the construct "familism." This reconceptualization is based upon the belief that rural familism may be treated fruitfully as a structural phenomenon rather than as a set of activities interpreted solely within a family-as-a-group context. Unlike past and present treatments of familism that have assumed family life to center around a set of group activities and interactions located within the confines of the household, we argue for an approach to rural familism as expressing at least two forms of kinship principles.
