Kinship and Descent (Part II)

This program begins by defining "kindred" and looking at the role of kindred in food-foraging societies. The program then examines the various types of kinship and descent groups in horticultural societies and how such groups handle larger political and economic functions and domestic and social activities. Next, the program describes how societies based on intensive agriculture or industrialization have developed such institutions as centralized government to assume the organizing functions handled by kinship and descent groups in other societies. Illustrative examples in the program include the kinship terms of the Baruya, the Navajo matrilineal villages organization and terminology, and the social patterns in Greek villages that reflect both patrillineal and matrilineal descent practices. Some of the six major systems of classifying kin are diagrammed and illustrated in this program.