Bilateral Descent

Bilateral, or cognatic, descent is a kinship system in which an individual traces relatedness through both the mother's and the father's lines equally, rather than privileging one parental line as unilineal systems do. Relatives on both sides of the family carry roughly equal weight for emotional ties, social obligation, and often the transfer of property, and because both sides are recognized simultaneously, bilateral descent generally does not produce the sharply bounded, corporate descent groups (clans or lineages) characteristic of strictly patrilineal or matrilineal systems. It is the standard kinship pattern in modern Western, industrialized societies, including the United States. Some societies combine principles, as among the Himba, where every person belongs simultaneously to a patriclan and a matriclan, with inheritance following the matriclan.