ETHNONYM: Great Russians
The largest kin group was the patrilineal extended family. Descent was reckoned in the male line. Kinship terminology followed the standard European pattern, except that affinal kin were denoted by different terms, depending on the gender of the speaker. Kinship relations outside the nuclear family remain important even today, in terms of mutual assistance, the distribution of goods, and the pattern of rural migration.
STEPHEN P. DUNN AND ETHEL DUNN