KINSHIP AND DESCENT

 

Descent Groups

Membership in a group by lineal descent from a real or mythical ancestor

Restricted by

Locality

Choice

Making sex jurally relevant

 

Unilineal Descent

Patrilineal Descent and Organization

Matrilineal Descent and Organization

Double Descent

System tracing descent matrilineally for some purposes and patrilineally for others

Ambilineal Descent

Individual may affiliate with the mother’s or father’s descent group

Provides flexibility

 

Functions of Descent Groups

Sense of belonging

 

Lineage

Corporate descent group whose members trace their genealogical links to a common ancestor

 

Clan

Noncorporate descent group

Members claim descent from a common ancestor

Members do not know the genealogical links to that ancestor

Totemism

 

Phratries and Moieties

Phratry

Unilineal descent group composed of two or more clans with common ancestry

Moiety

Descent group that makes up half of a society

 

Bilateral Descent and the Kindred

 

Evolution of the Descent Group

Not common among foragers

Important for horticultural, pastoral, and agricultural societies

Bilateral descent and kindreds result when small domestic units are of primary importance

 

Kinship Terminology and Kinship Groups

Eskimo

Hawaiian

Iroquois

Crow

Omaha

Sudanese

 

END