Kinship and descent
Kinship and descent is one of the major concepts of
cultural anthropology. Cultures worldwide possess a wide range of systems of tracking
kinship and descent. Anthropologists break these down into simple concepts which are common among many different cultures.
A descent group is a
social group whose members claim common ancestry. A
unilineal society (such as the
Iroquois system) is one in which the descent of an individual is reckoned either from the mother's or the father's descent group. With
matrilineal descent individuals belong to their mother's descent group (Not however through the mother directly. Usually descent is counted through the mothers brother, along with inheritance). With
patrilineal descent, individuals belong to their father's descent group.
In a society which reckons descent
bilineally, or bilaterally (such as the
Eskimo system), descent from both father and mother is equally important.
Some societies reckon descent patrilineally for some purposes, and matrilineally for others. For instance, certain property and titles may be inherited through the male line, and others through the female line. This arrangement is sometimes called double descent.
Societies can also consider descent to be
ambilineal (such as
Hawaiian system) where offspring determine their lineage through the
matrilineal line or the
patrilineal line.
A lineage is a descent group that can demonstrate their common descent from an
apical ancestor. Lineages can be matrilineal or patrilineal, depending on whether they are traced through mothers or fathers, respectively. Whether matrilineal or patrilineal descent is considered most significant differs from culture to culture.
A
clan is a descent group that claims common descent from an apical ancestor (but often cannot demonstrate it, or "stipulated descent"). If a clan's apical ancestor is nonhuman, it is called a
totem. Examples of clans are
Scottish,
Irish,
Tlingit,
Chechen,
Chinese and
Japanese clans.
A
phratry is a descent group containing at least two clans which have a supposed common ancestor.
If a society is divided into exactly two descent groups, each is called a
moiety, after the
French word for
half.
The Western model of a
nuclear family consists of a couple and its children. The nuclear family is ego-centered and impermanent, while descent groups are permanent (lasting beyond the lifespans of individual constituents) and reckoned according to a single ancestor.
Kinship calculation is any systemic method for reckoning kin relations. Kinship terminologies are native taxonomies, not developed by anthropologists.
The notion of the nuclear family has been largely dismissed, as have other theories which argue for a universal core unit of kinship.
Kinship and descent have a number of ramifications, which vary widely between legal and social structures.
Most human groups share
a taboo against
incest; which relatives are forbidden from
marriage but the rules tend to vary widely once one moves beyond the nuclear family. At
common law, the prohibitions are typically phrased in terms of "degrees of consanguinity."
More importantly, kinship and descent enters the legal system by virtue of
intestacy, the laws that at common law determine who inherits the estates of the dead in the absence of a
will. In
civil law countries, the doctrine of
legitime plays a similar role, and makes the lineal descendants of the dead person forced
heirs. Rules of kinship and descent have important public aspects, especially under
monarchies, where they determine the
order of succession, the
heir apparent and the
heir presumptive.
The six major kinship systems identified by
Louis Henry Morgan in his
1871 work
Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family are:
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Crow kinship (an expansion of Bifurcate Merging)
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Eskimo kinship (also referred to as Lineal kinship)
*
Hawaiian kinship (also referred to as the Generational system)
*
Iroquois kinship (also known as Bifurcate merging)
*
Omaha kinship (also an expansion of Bifurcate Merging)
*
Sudanese kinship (also referred to as the Descriptive system)
*
Family*
Family history*
Genealogy of the British Royal Family*
The Nature of Kinship: An Introduction to Descent Systems and Family Organization*
Kinship and Social Organization: An Interactive Tutorial (University of Manitoba)
