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MATRILINEAL SOCIETIES
Societies in which descent is traced through mothers rather than through fathers. In such societies property is often passed from mothers to daughters and the custom of matrilocal residence may be practiced. In such systems, the descendants of men are their sister's children and not their own, who belong to their mother's matrilineage. Matrilineage is sometimes associated with polyandry or group marriage where women have a variety of sexual partners and lines of male descent are uncertain. See: PATRILINEAL DESCENT / BILINEAL DESCENT / .

Last updated 2002--0-9-

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Athabaca University ICAAP

© Robert Drislane, Ph.D. and Gary Parkinson, Ph.D.
The online version of this dictionary is a product of
Athabasca University and
ICAAP

*This social science dictionary has 1000
entries covering the disciplines of sociology, criminology, political
science and women's study with a commitment to Canadian examples and
events and names