Kinship, Demography, and Inequality: Review and Key Areas for Future Development

Kinship relations play a crucial role in structuring populations and shaping individual outcomes. Differences in kinship among individuals, cohorts, and subpopulations are one important aspect of these structures. Demography and related disciplines have proposed sophisticated approaches to study kinship in recent years. We argue that the development of a demography of kinship that centers on these processes will help advance the field of demography as a whole. Here, we review four key substantive areas of kinship research in demography: (1) kin supply and intergenerational transfers; (2) demographic change; (3) kin loss; and (4) social stratification. For each area, we identify important gaps in the literature and avenues for future research. We then review available methods and data sources to advance each of these areas, and conclude with an agenda to foster the study of the demography of kinship in general and kinship inequalities specifically.