I believe this tradition of keeping the family close...
May I differ, Snowbird,
In French Caribbean overseas departments (Martinique, Guadeloupe, to which we can add French Guyana), I know from experience that one has to make a distinction between "registered" official families and "natural" ones, which are quite many. Only the former ones are, on the whole, close knitted, and certainly not the latter ones. I, personnaly, find different behaviour, as to shunning, in all communities, white, mixed, black, Indians (coolies as some call them, overthere) and Asians. Asians, particularly, are used to working professionally together within families and they are less likely to shun one another. Like Purps, I tend to think that one determining factor is whether those families have a -stick-to-the-rule elder among their members, in which case the atmosphere will be, indeed, more stiffling.