Chapter 10, Kinship and Descent Key Terms

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

bilateral descent A type of kinship system whereby individuals emphasize both their mother’s kin and their father’s kin relatively equally. clans Unilineal 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.

cognatic descent A form of descent traced through both females and males. collaterality Refers to kin related through linking relatives.

consanguineal relatives One’s biological or blood relatives. crow system A 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.

descent Tracing one’s kinship connections back through a number of generations. double descent A 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.

EGO The person in kinship diagrams from whose point of view we are tracing the relationship. Eskimo system The 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.

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

horizontal function of kinship The 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 system A 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.

kindred All of the relatives a person recognizes in a bilateral kinship system. kinship system Those relationships found in all societies that are based on blood or marriage.

lineages Unilineal descent groups whose members can trace their line of descent to a common ancestor. lineality Kin related in a single line such as son, father, and grandfather.

matriarchy The rule of domination of women over men. matrilineal descent A form of descent whereby people trace their primary kin connections through their mothers.

Omaha system A kinship system that emphasizes patrilineal descent Omaha system A 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 descent A form of descent whereby people trace their primary kin relationships through their fathers.

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

segmentation The 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 system An extremely particularistic and descriptive kinship system found in North Africa that is associated with patrilineal descent.

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