{"id":1457,"date":"2016-05-19T18:35:56","date_gmt":"2016-05-19T18:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontosociology-waymaker\/?post_type=chapter&p=1457"},"modified":"2024-04-25T15:39:17","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T15:39:17","slug":"lines-of-descent-and-family-stages","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-introductiontosociology\/chapter\/lines-of-descent-and-family-stages\/","title":{"raw":"Lines of Descent and Family Stages","rendered":"Lines of Descent and Family Stages"},"content":{"raw":"
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Learning Outcomes<\/h3>\r\n
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  • Differentiate between lines of decent and residence<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

    Residency and Lines of Descent<\/h2>\r\nDescent <\/strong>refers to\u00a0the socially recognized links between ancestors and descendants or one's traceable ancestry and can be\u00a0bilateral<\/strong>, or traced through either parents, or\u00a0unilateral<\/strong>, or traced through parents and ancestors of only one sex. The former occurs\u00a0in the United States\u00a0because\u00a0both paternal and maternal ancestors are considered part of one\u2019s family. The latter, unilateral descent, is practiced in the other 40 percent of the world\u2019s societies (O\u2019Neal 2006).\r\n\r\nThere are three types of unilateral descent: patrilineal<\/strong>, which follows the father\u2019s line only; matrilineal<\/strong>, which follows the mother\u2019s side only; and ambilineal<\/strong>, which follows either the father\u2019s only or the mother\u2019s side only, depending on the situation. In partrilineal societies, such as those in rural China and India, only males carry on the family surname. This gives males the prestige of permanent family membership while females are seen as only temporary members. U.S. society assumes some aspects of partrilineal decent. For instance, most children assume their father\u2019s last name even if the mother retains her birth name.\r\n\r\nIn matrilineal societies, inheritance and family ties are traced to women. Matrilineal descent is common in Native American societies, notably the Crow and Cherokee tribes. In these societies, children are seen as belonging to the women and, therefore, one\u2019s kinship is traced to one\u2019s mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and so on (Mails 1996). In ambilineal societies, which are most common in Southeast Asian countries, parents may choose to associate their children with the kinship of either the mother or the father. This choice may be based on the desire to follow stronger or more prestigious kinship lines or on cultural customs such as men following their father\u2019s side and women following their mother\u2019s side (Lambert 2009).\r\n

    Tracing one\u2019s line of descent to one parent rather than the other can be relevant to the issue of residence. In many cultures, newly married couples move in with, or near to, family members. In a patrilocal<\/strong> residence system it is customary for the wife to live with (or near) her husband\u2019s blood relatives (or family of orientation). Patrilocal systems can be traced back thousands of years. In a DNA analysis of 4,600-year-old bones found in Germany, scientists found indicators of patrilocal living arrangements (Haak, et al 2008). Patrilocal residence is thought to be disadvantageous to women because it makes them outsiders in the home and community; it also keeps them disconnected from their own blood relatives. In China, where patrilocal and patrilineal customs are common, the written symbols for maternal grandmother (w\u00e1ip\u00e1<\/em>) are separately translated to mean \u201coutsider\u201d and \u201cwomen\u201d (Cohen 2011).<\/p>\r\n

    Similarly, in matrilocal<\/strong> residence systems, where it is customary for the husband to live with his wife\u2019s blood relatives (or her family of orientation), the husband can feel disconnected and can be labeled as an outsider. The Minangkabau people, a matrilocal society that is indigenous to the highlands of West Sumatra in Indonesia, believe that home is the place of women and they give men little power in issues relating to the home or family (Joseph and Najmabadi 2003). Most societies that use patrilocal and patrilineal systems are patriarchal, but very few societies that use matrilocal and matrilineal systems are matriarchal, as family life is often considered an important part of the culture for women, regardless of their power relative to men.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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    Watch It<\/h3>\r\nThe selected clip from this video explains how to view family through a sociological lens, then examines both marriage and residential patterns in different societies.\r\n