Page 14 - DSOC402_SOCIOLOGY_OF_KINSHIP_ENGLISH

Sociology of Kinship

Notes proves that family is recognized as unilateral group. The description of Moris Oplre is totally
wrong that a family is a unilateral group in villages of northern India.

Unilateral Group: Generation, Lineage

Many other type of kinship groups are also there. These are different from a family in meaning
of that, in this either of party is totally ignored. Thus such groups are unilateral. These groups
are not ancient than family on historical point of view, therefore these are not found in ancient
and common societies of the world. Such groups are neither found in Kadar nor in Andaman
Islanders. These are found essentially in rarely developed Kumar, Baiga and mostly other tribes
of India. Even though, where it is found, the family neither gets extinct nor loses its importance.
Unilateral group is based on differentiation between two categories of kinships. Every person
selects any one of them for him. This type of differentiation and selection is an introduction of
people, progressive in social view and developed in intellectual view. In functional view, these
groups based on unilateral principles fulfill those several needs by means of the recognition of
social relations which do not come in the working region of a family. This avoids mutual strug-
gle and co-existence is possible between family and unilateral groups.
The simplest type of unilateral group is Lineage. All possible unilateral blood relatives are its
members. When expansion of such group includes all the members in its related to common
descent than such expanded group is called a clan or lineage. In this way a clan or lineage is an
organisation of some dynasties whose descents can ultimately joined with a pseudo ancestor
which may be a man or animal, tree or plant or any non-living objects. Redcliff-Brown defines
dynasty differently in that meaning in which we have defined lineage.

Dynasty group is used for those members of dynasty which are alive in a spe-
cific period. Clan is also a blood related group but its members are not joint
dwellers.

In unilateral groups, commonly the most comprehensive group is Lineage. This is constructed
of those unilateral blood relatives who are grouped in the form of exogamous group. Formally,
joint dwelling (uni-regional) and peculiar relation with any animal, plant or physical object
(Totemism) are the two unanimous characters for establishing the Lineage. In this way, accord-
ing to definition of Reverse, Lineage is that exogamous part of a tribe whose members are tied
on the basis of the belief in common descent and they own one totem or uni-regional dwelling.
Lowy hadn’t given place to totemism in his definition, because it is absent in American, African
and Asian Lineages. He also abandoned the uni-regional dwelling from his definition without
giving any reason. Lowy had possibly done that because due to base on pseudo kinship gener-
ally Lineage may be expanded in a broad region, as it is applicable on Australian Sib or Hindu
Clan. Mordock had called Lineage, common kinship group because in this, principle of blood
related kinship and uni-regional dwelling are included. It is different from Sib or Lineage of
Lowy and for this Mordock has used the term “Unilateral Blood-Related Kinship Group” whose
most comprehensive character is exogamy (94.4% of sample of Mardock). In support of indis-
pensible relation between exogamy and lineage Lowy had given a strong reason. He told that if
people started marrying in their kinship group then a time may come when to differentiate uni-
lateral and bilateral descents will become impossible because all people will become related to
one another in bilateral form. Therefore, it is the exogamous character of lineage, which makes
lineage an special group. It may be very true principle but there is doubt that whether ancient
people may so much logical like educationists? All the members of one age group were called
by a word means uterine brother; it means that all are like uterine brother, thus marrying among
themselves is felt as proximate relation which is difficult to establish.

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