Unilineality is a system of determining

descent group Descent may refer to: As a noun Genealogy and inheritance * Common descent, concept in evolutionary biology * Kinship, one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology **Pedigree chart or family tree **Ancestry **Lineal descendant **Heritage ** ...

s in which one belongs to one's father's or mother's line, whereby one's descent is traced either exclusively through male ancestors (patriline), or exclusively through female ancestors (matriline). Both

patrilineality Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritan ...

and

matrilineality Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...

are types of unilineal descent. The main types of the unilineal descent groups are lineages and clans. A lineage is a unilineal descent group that can demonstrate their common descent from a known

apical ancestor Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. All living beings are in fact descendants of a unique ancestor commonly referred to as the last universal comm ...

. It is also called the simple unilineal descent.

Unilineal descent organization and deep Christianization

Recent researchUnilineal Descent Groups and Deep Christianization: A Cross-Cultural Comparison
, ''Cross-Cultural Research: the Journal of Comparative Social Science'' 37/1 (2003), p. 132–156. on the unilineal descent organization has studied variables that are usually regarded as the main causes of the decline of

unilineal descent Unilineality is a system of determining descent groups in which one belongs to one's father's or mother's line, whereby one's descent is traced either exclusively through male ancestors (patriline), or exclusively through female ancestors (matril ...

organization – viz. statehood, class stratification and commercialization – along with one not previously considered: deep Christianization, defined here as having been Christianized over 500 years before ethnographic study. The research demonstrated that the traditionally accepted causes of the decline are less significant than deep Christianization, while the presence of unilineal descent groups correlates negatively with communal democracy and is especially strong for complex traditional societies. Its conclusion is that as ,

Christianization Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...

might have contributed to the development of modern democracy by helping to replace unilineal descent organization in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

Unilineal descent organization and deep Christianization

Notes

See also