Types of Unilineal Descent Groups

Lineage is a kin group that consists of members who are the unilineal descendants of a common ancestor whose identity is traceble.A lineage is generally does not include members belonging to more than five generations.

Clan is a kin group that consists of members who are the unilineal descandents of a common ancestor whose identity is forgotten and hence remains fictitous.A clan is thus a larger kin group than the lineage and includes members belonging to many generations.

Phratry is a very large kin group which consists of some linked clans and which appears in a combination of more than two such equivalent groups in a society.

Moiety is when a society is divided only into two equal halves then each half is called a moiety.Each moiety consists of several linked clans and lineages.Such a division of society into two halves is usually known as dual organization.