Anthropology 101 - CH8

Genitor

A biological father.

Kinship

A culturally defined relationship established on the basis of blood ties or through marriage.

Descent group

A group of kin who are descendants of a common ancestor, extending beyond two generations.

Lineage

A group of kin whose members trace descent from a known common ancestor.

Matrilineage

A lineage formed by descent in the female line.

Patrilineage

A lineage formed by descent in the male line.

Exogamy

A rule specifying that a person must marry outside a particular group.

Matrilineal descent

A rule that affiliates a person to kin of both sexes through females only.

Patrilineal descent

A rule that affiliates a person to kin of both sexes through males only.

Phantry

A unilineal descent group composed of a number of clans whose members feel themselves to be closely related.

Clan

A unilineal group whose members believe themselves to be descended from a common ancestor but who cannot trace this link through known relatives.

Totem

An animal, plant, or other aspect of the natural world held to be ancestral or to have other intimate relationships with members of a group.

Unilineal descent

Descent group membership based on links through either the maternal or the paternal line, bot not both.

Corporate descent groups

Permanent kinship groups that have an existence beyond the membership at any given time.

Consanguineal relatives

Relatives by blood.

Affinal

Relatives by marriage, in-laws.

Bilateral descent

System of descent under which individuals are equally affiliated with ther mothers' and their fathers' descent group.

Descent

The culturally established affiliation between a child and one or both parents.

Nepotism

The granting of privilege or favoritism on the basis of family relationships.

Pater

The socially designated father of a child, who may or may not be the biological father.

Kinship system

The totality of kin relations, kin groups, and terms for classifying kin in a society.

Succession

The transfer of office or social position between generations.

Inheritance

The transfer of property between generations.

Kinship terminology

The words used to identify different categories of kin in a particular culture.