Chapter 10, Kinship and Descent

1. Chapter 10, Kinship and Descent Key Terms

2. affinal relativesKinship ties formed through marriage (that is, in-laws). ambilineal descentA form of descent that affiliates a person to a kin group through either the male or the female line.

3. bilateral descentA type of kinship system whereby individuals emphasize both their mother’s kin and their father’s kin relatively equally. clansUnilineal descent groups comprised usually of more than 10 generations consisting of members who claim a common ancestry even though they cannot trace step-by-step their exact connection to a common ancestor.

4. cognatic descentA form of descent traced through both females and males. collateralityRefers to kin related through linking relatives.

5. consanguineal relativesOne’s biological or blood relatives. crow systemA kinship system, associated with matrilineal descent, in which similar terms are used for (1) one’s father and father’s brother, (2) one’s mother and mother’s sister, and (3) one’s siblings and parallel cousins.

6. descentTracing one’s kinship connections back through a number of generations. double descentA system of descent in which individuals receive some rights and obligations from the father’s side of the family and others from the mother’s side.

7. EGOThe person in kinship diagrams from whose point of view we are tracing the relationship. Eskimo systemThe kinship system most commonly found in the United States; it is associated with bilateral descent. Usually, a mother, father, brother, and sister are found in a nuclear family.

8. fictive kinshipRelationships among individuals who recognize kinship obligations although the relationships are not based on either consanguineal or affinal ties. Hawaiian systemAssociated with ambilineal descent, this kinship system uses a single term for all relatives of the same sex and generation.

9. horizontal function of kinshipThe ways in which kinship systems, by requiring people to marry outside their kinship group, integrate the total society through marriage between otherwise unrelated kin groups. Iroquois systemA system associated with unilineal descent in which the father and father’s brother are called by the same term, as are the mother and mother’s sister.

10. kindredAll of the relatives a person recognizes in a bilateral kinship system. kinship systemThose relationships found in all societies that are based on blood or marriage.

11. lineagesUnilineal descent groups whose members can trace their line of descent to a common ancestor. linealityKin related in a single line such as son, father, and grandfather.

12. matriarchyThe rule of domination of women over men. matrilineal descentA form of descent whereby people trace their primary kin connections through their mothers.

13. Omaha systemA kinship system that emphasizes patrilineal descent. In this system the mother’s patrilineal descent is distinct only by sex and not by one’s generation. patrilineal descentA form of descent whereby people trace their primary kin relationships through their fathers.

14. phratriesA unilineal descent group composed of a number of related clans. reproductive technologiesRecent developments, such as in vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood, and sperm banks, which are making the reckoning of kinship relationships more complex.

15. segmentationThe process that takes place within a lineage whereby small subdivisions of a lineage will oppose one another in some social situations but will become allies in other social situations. Sudanese systemAn extremely particularistic and descriptive kinship system found in North Africa that is associated with patrilineal descent.

16. unilineal descentTracing descent through a single line (such as matrilineal or patrilineal) as compared to both sides (bilateral descent). vertical function of kinshipThe way in which all kinship systems tend to provide social continuity by binding together different generations.