Discuss the importance of lineage and descent in kinship and family.

(i) it creates corporate groups which hold common rights and obligations with respect to other lineages. It means that all individuals belonging to a lineage are treated as one group by outsiders. (ii) property and name are passed through the lineage. (iii) residence prior to and after marriage is often determined by the rules of descent. (iv) Fortes argues that lineages are corporate groups are important in kinship based societies as power is held by the dominant lineage and passed down through it. Similarly, priestly positions are also determined through descent. For example, in patrilineal societies, property and power are held in the male line and relations while with the matrilineage are more informal. (v) Descent also determines rules for marriage as marriages with certain related lineages may be prescribed or proscribed.