Abstract
This paper aims to clarify the nature of the family in bilateral societies in Southeast Asia by reviewing the late Dr. Koichi Mizuno's studies on "multihousehold compounds" in Northeast Thailand, in comparison with kin groupings among Kedah Malays.
In his early analysis, Dr. Mizuno grasped the multihousehold compound as an extended family, but gradually he revised this concept. Later he analysed familial forms from the viewpoint of cultural pattern, comparing Thai and Japanese families, and as a result characterized the Thai family pattern as a radial extension of core kin combined with dyadic relationships.
Anthropological studies on the Thai family have in general depicted it in one of two ways : as a nongroup-like cluster of dyads, or as a social group with a clear-cut boundary. This difference, we believe, is partly attributable to regional differences between the areas where field work was conducted, but also derives from the viewpoint adopted, as exemplified in the locus of Dr. Mizuno's career.
This paper presents the view, from a comparative perspective that overrides this difference, that the family among Thais and Malays is no more than a social circle of interwoven dyadic relations which, because of its very flexible nature, may intrinsically take a variety of grouping patterns, depending upon circumstances.
