LINEAGE

descent group reckoned through only one parent, either paternal (patrilineage) or maternal (matrilineage). All members of such a group trace their common ancestry to a single person. A lineage is exclusive in its membership and is normally corporate, its members exercising rights in common and being collectively subject to obligations. A lineage may comprise any number of generations but commonly is traced through 5 or 10. Lineage structure may be regarded as a branching process, as when two or three founders of small lineages are represented as brothers. The groups thus constitute a single larger lineage in which the smaller groups are segments. This structure may lend stability to a society; since the lineages are considered permanent groups, political and religious relationships are perpetuated over time through the preservation of the lineal segments. In societies lacking central political authority, territorial groups often organize themselves around lineages; as these are usually exogamous, marriage becomes a means of bridging the various groups.