Kinship and Descent

1
Chapter 21

• Kinship and Descent

2
Chapter Outline

• What are descent groups?
• What functions do descent groups serve?
• How do descent groups evolve?

3
Descent Groups

• Members share descent from a common ancestor
  through a series of parent-child links.
• Unilineal descent establishes kin group
  membership exclusively through the male or female
  line.

4
Patrilineal Descent Groups

• Male members trace their descent from a common
  male ancestor.
• A female belongs to the same descent group as her
  father and his brother.
• Authority over the children lies with the father
  or his elder brother.

5
Sources of Tension in Patrilineal Descent Groups

• The requirement for younger men to defer to older
  men.
• Requirement for women to defer to men, as well as
  to the women of a household they marry into.

6
Matrilineal Descent Groups

• Descent is traced through the female line.
• Does not confer public authority on women, but
  women have more say in decision making than in
  patrilineal societies.
• Common in societies where women perform much of
  the productive work.

7
Sources of Tension in Matrilineal Descent Groups

• Husbands authority lies not in his own household
  but in that of his sister.
• Unsatisfactory marriages may be ended easily,
  resulting in higher divorce rates than
  patrilineal societies.

8
Functions of Descent Groups

• Provide aid and security to their members.
• Repositories of religious tradition, with group
  solidarity enhanced by worship of a common
  ancestor.

9
Lineages

• Made up of consanguineal kin who can trace their
  genealogical links to a common ancestor.
• Marriage of a group member represents an alliance
  of two lineages.
• Lineage exogamy maintains open communication and
  fosters exchange of information among lineages.

10
Clans

• Created when a large lineage group splits into
  new, smaller ones.
• Members claim descent from a common ancestor
  without knowing the genealogical links to that
  ancestor.
• Clan identification is often reinforced by totems.

11
Kindred

• A small circle of paternal and maternal
  relatives.
• A kindred is never the same for any two persons
  except siblings.

12
Kinship Terminologies

• The Hawaiian system
• The Eskimo system
• The Iroquois system
• Omaha system
• Crow system
• Sudanese or descriptive system

13
Terms for the Concepts of Mother and Father
in Western Societies

• Genetic mother
• Carrying mother
• Nurturing mother
• Complete mother
• Genetic/carrying mother
• Genetic/nurturing mother
• Carrying/nurturing mother
• Genetic father
• Nurturing father
• Complete father