Page 69 - DSOC402_SOCIOLOGY_OF_KINSHIP_ENGLISH

Unit 10: Kinship as an Organising Principle: Descent Groups Corporate Groups and Local Groups

account of one, some people are linked by kinship on the basis of ancestory, then they are called Notes
cognates.
In case, they have a male ancestor, they are called Patrilineal Kin. On the other hand, if their
ancestor is a female, they are called Matri-lineal Kin.

Those kin, who are linked directly, are called Lineal Kin and those who are ex-
tended [like paternal uncle, nephew (paternal uncle’s son)] may be termed as
Co-lateral kin but not Lineal Kin.

10.2 Approaches to the Study of Kinship
Roughly, the studies of kinship in India have two approaches—(1) Ancient Texts, (2) Humano-
logical Viewpoint.
In the Indian society, the social institutions are basically linked to the literary and classical cus-
toms.
The sociologists too, have viewed such art work with an approach to Indology. For instance,
K.M. Kapadia and P.N. Prabhu openly used the ancient texts for studying Kinship. Erawati
Karve and G.S. Ghuriye too, used the ancient texts, specially Sanskrit texts. Surely, this ap-
proach to the ancient texts have helped us to understand the continuity of kinship.
The humanologists have studied Kinship with two approaches: Descent approach and Marital
approach. The humanologists who studied kinship with Descent approach, say, we get help
from our consanguinal kin in day to day affairs (work). These consanguinal kin are parents and
children. When these consanguinal kin are recognised on the basis of Descent approach, or are
defined, then the sociologists therm it as Descent group. The Descent group has six forms:
1. Patriarchal: Here, the Descent is detemined on the basis of a male (man). this means Line-
age continues from father to son.
2. Matriarchal: In this Descent, the lineage determination follows the custom of going from
mother to daughters.
3. Dual Descent: This Descent is also called Dual Descent. Here, the Descent is determined by
the lineage of both the father and the mother, for various motives. for example, in one line-
age system, the property goes away while in the other lineage system immovable property
is given for inheritance.
4. Bilineal Descent: In this Descent, the lineage of both the parents is taken into account. It
is the group of mixed kinship–of both the father and the mother. The membership of this
group includes both the Matrilineal and Patrilineal system.
5. Parallel Descent: This descent is very rare. Here, the Descent is based on gender. The mem-
bership of this Descent passes from men to sons and from women to daughters.
6. Optional Descent: This descent is also found rarely. Here, the lineage is passed from men
to their daughters and from women to their sons.
Commonly, two kinds of Descent systems are found in our country— Patrilineal Descent
and Matrilineal Descent.
The Patrilineal Descent is more common. ‘Through the description and analysis of Kinship rela-
tions in Descent group, we get sufficient and elaborate socio-classical information on some types
of kinship systems in India. For example, Guff (1956) has analysed the unity of descent system
on the basis of the group rights regarding land. He has elaborately discussed the role of inter-

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