Types of Descent:
Rules of residence ultimately serve to assemble in one place a particular aggregation of relatives along with their families of procreation. When a rule of residence gets fixed and gets followed generation after generation, it leads to the recognition of larger agglomeration of relatives or kin along with their families within a locality. Thus the seed for the conception of descent gets sowed. Descent concerns the tracing of relationships through succeeding generations. Descent is the sociological affiliation of children to their parents. That is why the reckoning of descent is said to be a cultural rule, A rule of descent affiliates an individual with a particular group of kin through known or presumed common ancestry, Descent rules determine group membership, inheritance of property, and succession to titles and offices. A rule of descent affiliates an individual with a particular group of kin with whom he is especially intimate, and to whom he is privileged to turn first for certain kinds of services including support and help that he cannot demand of other kin. Based on its cultural background, each society has devised its own rules of descent. However, when we look at the various rules of descent, we find that, based on their similarities and differences, they may be classified into a few broad categories as shown in the following diagram.
