Sociology / Soc 1289 · Atom · ~20 seconds
Bilateral and Unilateral Descent
Video not yet published
to the StudyWalks catalog
to the StudyWalks catalog
State
Bilateral descent traces kinship through both parents equally; unilateral descent traces it through one parent's line only, whether patrilineal (father's line) or matrilineal (mother's line).
Show
A U.S. child's surname commonly follows the father's line even though inheritance and kinship are otherwise traced bilaterally.
Watch for
A society's descent rule and its power structure are related but not identical; a matrilineal society is rarely matriarchal.