Write short note on Lineage and Descent from a sociological perspective (in about 150 words). (2011)
Descent is the social rule that links a person to ancestors and so to a group. It can be patrilineal, matrilineal, double or cognatic. A lineage is a unilineal descent group whose members trace demonstrable links to a known ancestor. A clan (such as the gotra) claims a common ancestor who cannot be traced.
Sociological significance
- A. R. Radcliffe-Brown and Meyer Fortes saw descent groups as corporate units that hold property, office and ritual. E. E. Evans-Pritchard‘s Nuer lineages kept order without a state.
- Descent regulates exogamy, inheritance, succession and residence. Examples are gotra exogamy and the matrilineal Nayar taravad managed by the male karnavan.
- Feminist scholars link patrilineal descent to son preference and control over women’s sexuality.
Conclusion
Industrialisation and law are weakening descent’s corporate role. Under the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, daughters became coparceners. In Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma (2020) the Supreme Court held this right arises by birth. Yet lineage still shapes marriage choice, caste identity and ritual in India.