Patrilineal descent is a kinship system in which an individual's family membership, lineage identity, and inheritance are traced exclusively through the father's line, so that children belong to their father's descent group while daughters, upon marriage, typically shift their formal affiliation to their husband's lineage. Rights, property, family names, and titles pass from father to son, and historically this principle underlay European practices such as agnatic primogeniture and the Salic law tradition, which excluded women from inheriting thrones and estates in parts of medieval and early modern Europe. Patrilineal systems account for roughly 44 percent of societies catalogued in Murdock's Ethnographic Atlas, especially prominent in East Asia, the Middle East, much of Europe, and parts of Africa and South Asia.
Facts
Descent RuleSourced to the subject's own accountLineage membership, inheritance, and group affiliation pass exclusively through the male line, from father to children (especially sons); daughters typically transfer formal lineage affiliation to their husband's family upon marriage. 1 Typical RegionSourced to the subject's own accountHistorically and currently widespread, especially prominent in East Asia (notably China), the Middle East, much of Europe, and parts of South Asia and Africa; roughly 44 percent of societies in Murdock's Ethnographic Atlas. 1 PrevalenceSourced to the subject's own account Patrilineal Descent
Filter Results3 entries
FAQs
Is patrilineal descent the most common kinship system worldwide?
No. Patrilineal descent accounts for roughly 44 percent of societies in Murdock cross-cultural samples, the single largest unilineal share but not a worldwide majority once bilateral, matrilineal and other systems are counted.
Patrilineal descent is the largest single unilineal kinship system, accounting for roughly 44 percent of societies catalogued in George Murdock's Ethnographic Atlas, and it is especially prominent in East Asia, the Middle East, much of Europe, and parts of South Asia and Africa. It is not, however, a worldwide majority on its own: bilateral descent is the standard system across modern Western and industrialized societies, and matrilineal descent remains well documented among societies including the Trobriand Islanders, the Minangkabau of Indonesia, and several Native North American peoples. The 44 percent figure describes the largest share among named descent systems, not universal practice.
Connections
Associated With
Traditional Berber (Amazigh) kinship reckons descent patrilineally through named clan and tribal lineages.
The Chinese lineage system, zongzu, is a historically prominent, large-scale institutional expression of patrilineal descent, organizing property, ritual and identity through the male line across many generations.
Double descent systems reckon descent patrilineally for some purposes, commonly property and political office, alongside a separate matrilineal line for others.
Fulani, Social Groups Fulani (Fulbe) society traditionally reckons descent patrilineally, with lineage determining clan membership and cattle inheritance.
Hmong, Social Groups Hmong society is organized into patrilineal clans, roughly eighteen recognized clan names, with descent and clan membership passed through the father's line.
Found in patrilineal societies, with the mirrored generation-collapsing logic applied to the mother's, non-patrilineal, side.
Source Wikipedia: Omaha Kinship
Patrilocal residence, in which a couple settles with or near the husband family, is the residence pattern most commonly paired with patrilineal descent.
Segmentary lineage systems, documented among the Nuer, Tiv and many other societies, are built on patrilineal descent, with the genealogical distance between any two patrilineal segments determining the scope of their political alliance or opposition.
Frequently co-occurs with patrilineal descent in the complex, stratified societies where the system is documented.
Source Wikipedia: Sudanese Kinship
Rule Category Of
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Amhara - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Armenians - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Bedouin - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Bengali - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Circassians - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Fulani - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Han - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Hmong - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Igbo - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Kurds - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Maasai - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Nuer - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Ojibwa - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Parsi
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Pathan - Kinship
Source Wikipedia: Rajput
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Somalis - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Tamil - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Wolof - Kinship
Source Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Zhuang - Kinship
Shaped By
Lévi-Strauss's The Elementary Structures of Kinship (1949) analyzed descent and alliance rules, including patrilineal systems, as structural permutations of a limited set of underlying relations.
Source Wikipedia: Structuralism
Studied By
The Nuer are patrilineal; his Nuer trilogy, beginning with The Nuer (1940) and Kinship and Marriage Among the Nuer (1951), is the foundational study of Nuer patrilineal segmentary lineage organization.
Source Wikipedia: George Peter Murdock
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Patrilineality
Wikipedia- opening definition; Agnatic succession section
- opening definition: "family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage"
- prevalence discussion
- Agnatic succession section
Lead
Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage.
View the Source Wikipedia: Structuralism
WikipediaShaped By: Structuralism, Lévi-Strauss section on kinship analysisView the Source Wikipedia: Sudanese Kinship
Wikipedia: Omaha Kinship
Wikipedia: George Peter Murdock
WikipediaStudied By: George Peter Murdock, List of major worksQuote, Studied By: George Peter Murdock, List of major works
Correlations of Matrilineal and Patrilineal Institutions. // G. P. Murdock (ed.) Studies in the Science of Society, New Haven: Yale, 1937.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Maasai - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Maasai, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Maasai, Kin Groups and Descent
The Maasai are a patrilineal people, with shallow dispersed lineages that extend for only one or two generations beyond the oldest living elders.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Igbo - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Igbo, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Igbo, Kin Groups and Descent
Igbo society places strong emphasis on lineage kinship systems, particularly the patrilineage, although some Igbo groups, such as the Ohaffia, have a matrilineal descent system, whereas groups like the Afipko Igbo have a double descent system.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Fulani - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Fulani, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Fulani, Kin Groups and Descent
The Fulani are patrilineal and patrilocal.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Somalis - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Somali, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Somali, Kin Groups and Descent
The Somali system of patrilineal descent embraces the whole nation in a genealogical grid and claims ultimate descent from the Qurayshitic lineage of the prophet Mohammed.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Bedouin - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Bedouin, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Bedouin, Kin Groups and Descent
Like all Arabs, the Bedouin are patrilineal.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Pathan - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Pashtun, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Pashtun, Kin Groups and Descent
Descent is patrilineal.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Han - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Han Chinese, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Han Chinese, Kin Groups and Descent
Han people have had patrilineal kin groups since the period of the earliest written history, and a hierarchical arrangement of clans was the basis of stratification in the feudal order of the Shang and Zhou periods.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Hmong - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Hmong, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Hmong, Kin Groups and Descent
Hmong society is divided into a number of named exogamous patrilineal clans similar to the Chinese surname groups.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Wolof - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Wolof, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Wolof, Kin Groups and Descent
Groups of contiguous residential groups usually consist of patrilineages.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Circassians - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Circassians, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Circassians, Kin Groups and Descent
Descent was patrilineal.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Armenians - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Armenians, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Armenians, Kin Groups and Descent
While this term may refer to the immediate relatives of a single parent or grandparent, it is also used to describe patriarchal, patrilineal clans that included ancestors in the male line, sometimes extending as far back as six or eight generations.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Bengali - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Bengali, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Bengali, Kin Groups and Descent
The commonest kin group in rural Bengal is the homestead-based patrilineal extended family, whose members jointly own homestead land and may-but usually do not-also own agricultural land in Common.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Tamil - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Tamil, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Tamil, Kin Groups and Descent
Most Indian Tamils are patrilineal and patrilocal, though the Dravidian system equally accommodates matrilineal descent as among some Sri Lanka Tamils, including Muslims, and some castes in Kerala.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Zhuang - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Zhuang, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Zhuang, Kin Groups and Descent
Beyond the three-generation household, the significant group is the localized patrilineage, which shares a common surname and traces descent from a common ancestor.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Ojibwa - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Ojibwe, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Ojibwe, Kin Groups and Descent
Clan membership was reckoned patrilineally.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Kurds - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Kurds, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Kurds, Kin Groups and Descent
Kurdish kin groups are based on patrilineal descent.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Amhara - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Amhara, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Amhara, Kin Groups and Descent
The extended patrilocal, patrilineal, patriarchal family is particularly strong among holders of rest land tenure, but is found, in principle, even on the hamlet level of sharecroppers.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Nuer - Kinship
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Nuer, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Nuer, Kin Groups and Descent
Nuer domestic groups are based on the ideal of patrilateral descent.
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale): Parsi
Countries and Their Cultures (Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Gale)Rule Category Of: Parsis, Kin Groups and DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Parsis, Kin Groups and Descent
Descent is patrilineal.
Wikipedia: Rajput
WikipediaRule Category Of: Rajput, Lead, Patrilineal DescentQuote, Rule Category Of: Rajput, Lead, Patrilineal Descent
The term Rajput covers various patrilineal clans historically associated with warriorhood: several clans claim Rajput status, although not all claims are universally accepted.
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