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The biological tree would be represented by a triangle with the man at the apex and extended to his descendants, and by an inverted triangle viewed by a man looking at his ancestors. There would be no genealogical line, except when a relationship was established between two individuals of different generations. The line would exclude from consideration all the other individuals in the biological tree. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
But every time a relationship was established between two individuals of different generations, a new line would be drawn for the sake of convenience. Thus if your great-grandmother through your father (father's mother's mother) had been married to your great-grandfather through your mother (mother's mother's father), your biological tree would have fewer branches than the perfect biological tree and fewer lines could be drawn. ... Brothers call each other by terms designating "born before me, takes precedence over me, comes before me, etc.," or the converse "born after me" etc.' The oldest male calls all the males in his fraternity by one term, and the youngest calls all the male members of his fraternity by another term. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Thus, taken from the standpoint of every member of a fraternity speaking of every other member, they are all equated (as are their cousins, both cross and parallel). A child of any one of these individuals will follow his father's identifications and call all these men by one term, although he is cognizant of the paternity of his father ... The importance of the senior and junior lines and of the degree of relationship played a large part in the Maori social and political life. For example, if one tribe was visiting another, the old man who was the specialist on genealogies, and incidentally was an honored man for this accomplishment, would recite the genealogies. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
He would start at the very beginning when the first boat-load landed at that spot, over twenty generations before, and finally come to the split where two brothers became separated by having gone on different expeditions, or something of that nature. These two tribes are now the descendants of the two brothers. They are relatives and all of the members of the two tribes know their relationships to one another. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
The senior group, by establishing itself as such, is then in the position to command respect and a certain amount of deference from the junior group. But this was really a ceremonial usage of the genealogy and while the two groups were together it had its place ... When a marriage between two groups, or of a chiefly man in a group came about, or the death of an important individual, other groups visited them. Then the recounting of genealogies began and relationships would be established. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Thus they would know whether to treat a man with respect or whether to expect a man to treat them with respect, as well as the individual treatments due to brother-sister relationship and so on. When two tribes came together they started their recounting of the genealogies from the original settler and came down perhaps five, ten or fifteen generations when a split occurred and a younger male left the main group to settle somewhere else. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
At this point the old man would say "and so and so, the younger, went away. I leave him to you." Then he would go on showing how his line, and particularly he, was the direct descendant of the original settler. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
In this way he would establish his seniority and prestige. The other group would thus be placed in the position of being the junior lineage and therefore of less importance and prestige. A member of the visiting group would recognize the genealogy and pick up where the old man had "given him his ancestor." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
He would continue the line down and show that he and his people were the relatives of the other group in the junior lineage and therefore of less importance and prestige in that locality. In his own locality, the visitor might have prestige by right of conquest or from intermarriage. A member of the visiting group would recognize the genealogy and pick up where the old man had "given him his ancestor." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
He would continue the line down and show that he and his people were the relatives of the other group. In this way he, at the same time, acknowledges that his tribe is the junior group in that particular lineage and in that district. The genealogical status, which is of course the biological tree, excluding the branches for the most part, was established and memorized. This was of the utmost importance in the tribe, especially for the chiefs. This was a mark of rank, prestige and honor." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Richard F. Salisbury described a sort of conical-like clan structure similar to the Polynesian one, although of a much less developed nature, in New Guinea. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
The ramage or conical prevailed in early China, during the Longshan culture period and the period of the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties).Robert E. Murowchick wrote the following about the Longshan culture in "China: Ancient Culture, Modern Land": "a kinship system in which people live in lineages; the status of members within the lineages, and of the different lineages themselves are dependent upon their proximity to the main line of descent from founding ancestor to current lineage head, probably through male primogeniture (as suggested by all texts relating to early China). Apparently the Longshan people were organized, according to early historical records, as ancient Chinese people were, into segmentary lineages, and their political status, both within lineages and between them, was predetermined in a hierarchical fashion. This kind of kinship groups is sometimes referred to as the conical clan, and is often prevalent among societies that tend to branch off and send the branch segments to colonize new territories, where they establish new settlements and new polities".C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky wrote the following about the period of the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang and Zhou) in "Archaeological Thought in America": "The Chinese state of the Three Dynasties, which did possess both law and military force, was, nevertheless, built upon a hierarchical system of segmentary lineages, where the distance away from the main line of patrilineal descent determined political status and the share of political power. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Members of these lineages inhabited the walled towns, which constituted stratified networks ruled by the state government. the king sat at the top of the conical clan and, at the same time, at the top of the hierarchical state". Bruce G. Trigger wrote the following about the Shang dynasty in "Understanding Early Civilizations: A Comparative Study": "Family life in Shang China was structured by patrilineal descent. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Each corporate descent group (zu) inhabited a single community, and its male members worked a tract of land or practised a particular craft. Among the upper classes, two or more generations of a family belonging to a corporate descent group lived, under the authority of its senior male member, in a house composed of living rooms, shrines, reception halls, and work areas arranged around a series of open courts. Commoners appear to have lived in smaller, possibly nuclear family houses, but married sons remained subject to the authority of their fathers and uncles. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Each corporate descent group traced its origin to a single male ancestor who was venerated by all his male descendants. Within the descent group patrilineal descent lines were hierarchically organized, with descent from elder brothers invariably ranking higher than descent from younger brothers. The oldest member of the senior line (da zong) was the group's leader and the sole person who could perform rituals honouring the group's deceased founder and chief guardian spirit. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
When a group had expanded until it contained over one hundred nuclear families (this was estimated to take seven generations), it split into two and the junior branch moved off to establish a new group. It is generally assumed that already in Shang times all the patrilineal descent groups that could trace themselves back to a common ancestor shared a surname and constituted an exogamous clan (xing). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Clans took the form of large ramages, which meant that their various descent lines (zu, shi) were ranked in terms of their genealogical proximity to the clan's founder. ... Most lower-class Shang Chinese were monogamous. To ensure the birth of sons, who would perpetuate their lineage, upper-class men frequently acquired secondary wives. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
... The male heir of a man's position was normally the eldest son of his first chief wife".He wrote the following about the specific case of the inheritance of political power: "Strong emphasis was placed at all levels of Shang society on the ranking of descent lines within clans and on birth order among siblings of the same sex. Power and authority passed from a man to his eldest son or from older to younger brothers within a specific descent line. Supreme power was vested in the senior line of the Zi clan. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Males who were closely related to reigning or previous kings held important court offices or administered territories. Regional offices tended to remain hereditary in the senior male line of their occupants. As the state expanded, new territories were established where younger sons of officials might be installed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Thus officials of higher genealogical status tended to hold land closer to the centre of the state and participated in the functioning of the court while others lived farther away. As lineages expanded, it was increasingly difficult to find positions for younger sons that would allow them to maintain an upper-class lifestyle. Territories were also assigned to leaders of clans that supported the Zi, while some conquered rulers were allowed to govern all or part of their former territories as Shang vassals. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
These officials were permitted to marry female members of the royal clan, and some of the most important of them married women of the royal lineage. The Shang upper class thus became a network of officials related directly or indirectly to the king. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Officials who governed administrative territories bore the titles hou (archer lord? ), bo (patriarch? | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
), and tian or dian (field lord). While these positions normally were hereditary, successors, at least at the higher levels, had to be confirmed by the king, who could also promote or remove individuals from their offices. Officials who headed junior branches of a clan remained ritually and socially subordinate to the leaders of the senior branches from which they had split off, even when they lived far apart".During the time of the Zhou dynasty, patrilineal primogeniture (the tsung-fa system) was also the norm, as Li Hwei explains in "The ramage system in China and Polynesia". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
He wrote: "All the essential features of the Polynesian ramage -the principle of fission and dispersion, the succession by primogeniture, the differentiation of rank through the operation of seniority, the localization of the ramage groups,- are present in Chou Tsung-fa system in ancient China. Both of these systems involve patrilineal inheritance and the prevalence of adoption, but involve no exogamy. Both of them are reflected in the system of ancestral temples. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
... the Tsung-fa system in the Chou dynasty in ancient China is essentially similar to the ramage system among the modern Polynesians". Li Hwei also points out that the ramage system of the Paiwan (an aboriginal Taiwanese tribe) was based on a rule of absolute primogeniture (the eldest child inherits regardless of sex), not on a rule of patrilineal primogeniture (eldest son inherits) as in China and Polynesia. The tsung-fa system, also called "extensive stratified patrilineage", was defined as follows by the anthropologist Chang Kuang-chih: "The tsung-fa system of Chou is characterized by the fact that the eldest son of each generation formed the main line of descent and political authority, whereas the younger brothers were moved out to establish new lineages of lesser authority. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
The farther removed, the lesser the political authority". According to Tao (1934: 17–31), "the Tsung-fa or descent line system has the following characteristics: patrilineal descent, patrilineal succession, patriarchate, sib-exogamy, and primogeniture".K.E. Brashier writes in his book "Ancestral Memory in Early China" about the tsung-fa system of patrilineal primogeniture: "The greater lineage, if it has survived, is the direct succession from father to eldest son and is not defined via the collateral shifts of the lesser lineages. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
In discussions that demarcate between trunk and collateral lines, the former is called a zong and the latter a zu, whereas the whole lineage is dubbed the shi. ... On one hand every son who is not the eldest and hence not heir to the lineage territory has the potential of becoming a progenitor and fostering a new trunk lineage (Ideally he would strike out to cultivate new lineage territory). ... According to the Zou commentary, the son of heaven divided land among his feudal lords, his feudal lords divided land among their dependent families and so forth down the pecking order to the officers who had their dependent kin and the commoners who "each had his apportioned relations and all had their graded precedence""Patricia Ebrey defines the descent-line system as follows: "A great line (ta-tsung) is the line of eldest sons continuing indefinitely from a founding ancestor. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
A lesser line is the line of eldest sons going back no more than five generations. Great lines and lesser lines continually spin off new lesser lines, founded by younger sons". Strong traits of the tsung-fa system of patrilineal primogeniture survived in the lineage organizations of north China until the communist era. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Myron L. Cohen writes in "Kinship, Contract, Community, And State: Anthropological Perspectives On China": "The north China data reveal a dimension of agnatic kinship previously not seen as significant in lineage organization. In what I call the fixed genealogical mode of agnatic kinship patrilineal ties are figured on the basis of the relative seniority of descent lines, so that the unity of the lineage as a whole is based upon a ritual focus on the senior descent line traced back to the founding ancestor, his eldest son, and the succession of eldest sons. ... lineages can be subdivided into branches based upon the nonequivalence of lines of descent. A branch tracing its origin from the eldest son of the founding ancestor is seen to be in a relationship of ritual superiority to those branches deriving from the younger brothers. Members of different branches are thus related to each other not only in terms of common descent, but also on the basis of permanent horizontal ties between senior and junior descent lines".This type of unlineal descent-group later became the model of the Korean family through the influence of Neo-Confucianism, as Zhu Xi and others advocated its re-establishment in China. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
In South Asia, the Aryans were also organized in a system of ranked patrilines where senior patrilines were superior to junior patrilines: "The bifurcation in clan status increased, with status differences between lines descending from an older and younger son, with specially higher status given to those who demonstrated leadership qualities--the ability to lead cattle, raids, to protect the clan, to establish new settlements, and to manage alliances with other clans. The rajanya families were characterized as chariot-riders and warriors, while the vish were sedentary folk, producers of pastoral and agricultural items. They were the lesser status, junior lineages in clans and as such they had the obligation to give some of their product to the rajanyas and to priests and bards. They were to give the oblations--sacrificial items--which the priests offered at ritual ceremonies which the rajanya organized. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
The priests, which came to be known as brahmins, legitimized the superior status and authority of the rajanya at these rituals. (Brahmin is often also spelled Brahman.) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
They invest the chiefs with attributes of the deities." The Paite had a similar system, strongly based on primogeniture and patrilineality and reinforced by a characteristic system of name-giving: "Position of a child in a family determines who will be its name-giver. The first son of the second son receives his name from his father's eldest brother or father's father. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Any first born son of younger sons receives his name from paternal side to emphasize patrilineality and seniority of the child concerned. The first sons of the younger brothers also get names from paternal kinsmen while the first daughter gets her name from her maternal kinsmen. As in the case of the third child of the eldest brother the tanupi gets a chance to give name to the third child of the younger brother. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Death of the first child or the second child in childhood reverts the process. ... The rule of giving names to the children of more brothers cannot follow the same procedure in precision. Importance is given to the first son of the eldest son in which case the male line is strictly adhered to. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
The eldest son of the eldest son or eldest brother is the link between the generation of his father and his own children. He is also the lineage leader. Formerly he was known as tuulpi, e.g. ritual leader of the lineage. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
This line of descent is the main line in conical clan system of the paite. So long as it continues to exist this senior descent line is regarded as innpi (principal house) by the younger brothers or the cadet lines. The name-giving system of the Paite serves as an infallible record of pedigree. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Depth of generation is acertainable through the name giving system as every grandfather transmits the last word of his name to his eldest grandson born to his eldest son. By correlating the names of grandsons and grandfathers one can determine whether a particular son is the eldest son of the eldest son or they are the younger ones. So a son of a younger brother cannot easily claim seniority over the son of the eldest brother and his descendants. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
The eldest son of the eldest brother has muniments to defend his seniority in the derivation of his name. When a child is born in a family the villagers say, "So and so gives birth to a child". What is the sex of the infant? | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
What is its position in the family? asks someone. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
"It is the third child and the first female child in the family" comes the answer. "Well! If it is so, she will get her name from the female tanupi" concludes the other. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Since patriliny and primogeniture are so much emphasized in Paite society the younger brothers and sisters of the ascending generations are not remembered in the next few generations. But the names of the eldest sons or brothers in each generation are more or less well remembered in subsequent generations as the name-giving system reveals it." A conical clan system also prevailed among the Nagas. In the beginning it vas based on a principle of male ultimogeniture, being very similar to Kachin gumsa; however, when all available land had been divided between communities in a given neighbourhood, male primogeniture became the dominant principle. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Owen Lattimore wrote that the Mongols have a clan structure comprising ruling and subordinate clans, and that the elite clans are themselves internally divided into junior and elder lineages. Karl Kaser attributes the inexistence of different terms to designate an elder and a younger brother in European languages to the high prevalence of ultimogeniture among the European peasantry. Although male primogeniture came to be almost universal in the European aristocracy, peasants practiced both male primogeniture and ultimogeniture, and thus there was no overall preeminence of elder over younger brothers or vice versa. He says that among peoples of Inner Asian origin, by contrast, seniority between sons was emphasized, and thus there were separate terms to designate elder and younger brothers in their languages. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Indeed, the Mongol kinship, for example, is according to Lévi-Strauss one of a type where sons must be carefully distinguished according to seniority, because of the complexity of the right of inheritance, which contemplates not only seniority of birth but also of patriline. The anthropologist Herbert Harold Vreeland, who visited three Mongol communities in 1920, published a highly detailed book with the results of his field study, "Mongol community and kinship structure", now publicly available. In this book he explained the ranking system prevalent in traditional Mongol communities.He said about the Khalka Mongols: "The family was based on monogamous marriage. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Polygyny occurred, but was very rare and countenanced only for reason of sterility in the first wife. ... Custom required that at least one of the man's sons should remain always with the parents to care for them in their old age and to inherit the core of the family's property; but other sons were generally given separate shares and their economic independence, plus the movable nature of the property itself, made it possible for them to leave their father's camp. ... The terms abaga and aca are used to express not only ascendant-descendant generational ranking, but also the relative seniority of two collateral lines. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Where successive generations descend patrilineally from two brothers, the line from the elder brother is the senior line, and the line from the younger brother is the junior line. All successive generations in the senior line are senior to corresponding generations in the junior line, and are known collectively as the abagiin üye ("uncle" generations); reciprocally, all generations in the junior line are known as the aciin üye ("nephew" generations). Hence, persons in corresponding generations in two collateral lines refer to each other reciprocally as abaga aha/egci and aca hüu/hüuhen. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Under these circumstances, relative age terms are not employed. That is, Ego cannot say abaga düu for an abaga cousin younger than himself, nor aca aha for an aca cousin older than himself. The reason for this is clear: the Khalka system distinguishes between paternal cousins solely on the basis of the relative seniority of the two brothers who head the collateral lines, and makes these distinctions by using generation terms (abaga, aca) instead of relative age terms (aha, düü). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
The relative age of two cousins is not considered in the reckoning. ... The terms üyeeld, hayaald, etc. are combined with the terms abaga and aca so that collateral kinsmen may be distinguished not only according to whether they are in ascendant or descendant generations, or of senior or junior rank, with respect to the speaker. Where equality of age and generation tended to minimize reserve, seniority ranking tended to increase it - i.e. in the presence of one's age and generation equals, one was more reserved if they were of senior rank than if they were of equal rank. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
... Younger siblings addressed elder siblings as aha or egci, and were in turn addressed by their personal names. If there were several elder siblings of same sex, the younger sibling generally addressed only the eldest as aha or egci, and the others by abgailana terms. ... Ordinarily, younger siblings did not call elder siblings by their personal names. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
... An elder brother could punish a younger brother by striking him, and the younger brother was expected not to strike back if he was not of age. When he came of age, he could strike back with impunity. However, a family was criticized by outsiders if two brothers had a long-standing feud, and quarrels between siblings were considered worse than those between spouses. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
... An elder brother couuld ask a younger brother to perform certain services for him - e.g. saddle his horse - but younger brothers did not expect the service to be reciprocated. ... When an elder brother assumed trusteeship of the family after the father's death, he did not merit from his brothers all the respect shown to the father by his sons. In such cases, younger brothers often fought with elder brothers over shares allotted to them at the time the property was finally divided; this is one of the reasons why fathers liked to divide property before their death". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
About the Chahar Mongols he wrote: "The family was based on monogamous marriage. Polygyny occurred, but was very rare and countenanced only for reason of sterility in the first wife. ... With respect to the authority structure of the family, there appears to have been little difference between the Mongol families of Taibas Pasture and those of the Narobanchin territory ... The father, or the eldest brother, was nominal head of the house by virtue of age seniority; he controlled the capital wealth of the family, supervised the work of junior male members, and in general disciplined the males, although he had the right to discipline daughters as well, short of striking. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
... The Chahar kinship terminology system presented here appears to be basically the same as the system presented for the Khalkas ... Younger siblings addressed their elder siblings with abgailana terms. Where there were several elder siblings of same sex, qualifying terms of all sorts were added to distinguish them. Elder siblings addressed younger siblings by their personal names, or, in an affectionate or joking way, as düügei. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
A younger sibling never addressed an elder sibling by name. ... A group of relatives, all of whom shared independently and in common a single unit of family property, was known as örehe. The senior male, who had authority over this group, managed the family property and made any necessary division of property. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Family property was normally transferred to sons by a combination of both division and inheritance. When there was only one son, there was usually no division, the son remaining with his parents and inheriting the estate from them when they came enfeebled or died. Where there were several sons, the father usually divided the property during his own lifetime, giving a separate share to each son except to the son who was chosen to inherit his parents' residual share. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Traditionally, this was the youngest son; in practice, it was usually the son who had take care of his parents in their old age. ... Sons to whom property was divided did not necessarily get equal shares and the father retained for himself and his heir a share larger than any of those given to other sons. Marriage appears to have been a factor determining when sons received their shares, but the data here are not clear. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
... If the property was not divided among two or more sons before the father's death, the eldest son became trustee, or the mother became trustee until the eldest son reached maturity. When younger brothers reached the point where they were entitled to separate shares, the elder brother made the division". Among the Dagor Mongols, however, things were somewhat different: "As suggested by the sleeping and eating arrangements, the senior man and woman in the house were accorded special privileges. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
These included sleeping and eating in the position of honor, being served first, receiving the choice tidbits, the right to be greeted first by persons entering the room, and other courtesies of respect and deference. Seniority depended entirely on relative age and generation. While the father and the mother were alive, they were the senior couple. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Where several married brothers continued to live together after the parents' death, the eldest brother and his wife moved automatically to the position of seniority". However, "Seniority status in the family affected only the allocation of respect and certain privileges in intra-familial courtesies and behavior, and was not directly related to the allocation of authority. The authority structure of the extended family was based partly on considerations of relative age and generation, but the senior man and woman of the house were not automatically the most authoritative people in the family, since considerations of a more practical nature entered in. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
... Younger siblings addressed their elder siblings as akaa and ekee, and were in turn addressed by their personal names, or as dew. Younger siblings never addressed elder siblings by their personal names. Brothers were rarely on terms of easy friendship with each other; they were reserved and did not joke. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
An elder brother could punish a younger brother physically. Although brothers might loan each other their clothes, they did not undress in each other's presence. Brothers were, on the other hand, considerably less reserved with their sisters, and could joke with them. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
This relationship continued throughout life. After marriage a woman felt closer to her brothers than to her sisters, because her brothers remained together in the old family home, and represented her family and ultimate authority. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
... A married son or brother was always entitled to a share of the property if he desired to set up house for himself. If two or more sons left they were given equal shares". A strict fraternal hierarchy prevailed among Mongols, and slave (bogol) is equated with the category of a younger brother in The Secret History. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
In another passage Ogodei, though being the Great Khan, still asks for the permission of his elder brother Chagatai to invade Cathay, and Tolui sacrifices himself for his elder brother Ogodei. In the Yuan shi it is told that Nayan, weeping and beating his head to the floor, refused to accept a princely title because he had an elder brother, Qurumchi, whom he thought ought to inherit it in spite of his lower ability; in the end Qurumchi inherited the title, but he consulted with Nayan in all affairs. Mongol literature is full of events of this kind. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Models of opposition between the egalitarianism of Arab societies and the hierarchical tribalism of Turco-Mongol peoples have been developed by many anthropologists, such as Cuisenier, Beck, Barfield, and Lindholm. The conical clan of Inner Asian peoples is explained in detail by Lawrence Krader in his monumental work, "Social Organization of the Mongol-Turkic Pastoral Nomads." He wrote there: "Nevertheless, this uniform kinship structure was divided into unequal estates, the nobility and the commoners. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Both were estates related by descent from the clan founder; but in practice they were divided by differences in birth, wealth, accident migrations, wars. Descent lines were not equal; the line of the firstborn was more highly placed than any other, having the right of seniority... Leadership was a status that was not assigned by rote-it had to be achieved, and achievement was based on social recognition of leadership qualities." Sevʹi͡an Izrailevich Vaĭnshteĭn also remarks the existence of a strong fraternal hierarchy among Inner Asian (Siberian and central Asian) peoples.Among Mongols, the marking of livestock reflected this system of social stratification. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
E. Landais wrote in "The marking of livestock in traditional pastoral societies": "The system is based on a series of related marks that are derived from a primary mark designating the clan, which is then combined with other marks some of which are called complementary marks. These cannot be used as primary marks. The complementary marks have both syntactical and semantic properties. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
For instance, the 'throne' mark indicates that the owner descends from the eldest branch of his lineage, since this line, in the primogeniture system, is the one that inherits the images of the spirits of the ancestors that sit on the throne. Some of these marks, such as the 'thumb' and 'tail', the 'horn' and 'foot', the 'sun' and 'moon', are associated by pairs, or in any case suggest the existence of another mark of greater or lesser value, as applicable. An additional mark located on the right of the main mark denotes primogeniture as opposed to a left-hand position. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
An inverted mark along the horizontal or sagittal plane of symmetry indicates a socially inferior rank to that indicated by the primary mark. The princes (who descend from Genghis Khan through the paternal line) mark their horses on the right-hand-side, whereas common people mark them on the left. Brothers by the same father differentiate their marks by adding a sign (rather than subtracting one which might bring bad luck to the herd) and alter them as little as possible (they might simply move them to a different position)".Douglas R. White and Ulla C. Johansen, in a study about Turkish nomads, denied the idea that the conical clan was the type of social organization prevalent in this group, but nevertheless found evidence that earlier-born sons (first sons when there were only two sons, and first and second sons when there were more than two) took on more leadership positions and had significantly more wives and children than their younger brothers. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Bates also tries to qualify the characterization of the social organization of the steppe pastoral nomads as a "conical clan", saying, just like Johansen about Turkish nomads, that among the Yörük nomads he studied social practices gave an advantage to elder brothers over younger ones, but this didn't mean that ranking was automatic, fixed; it was rather achieved: "is not merely a linguistic phenomenon; it has considerable importance in interpersonal relations among siblings. What is relevant here with respect to segmentation is that the eldest of the brothers is held to be senior to all younger, irrespective of wealth, in situations of formal etiquette; he serves as spokesman when brothers act in concert. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
After the father's death he is obliged, more than the father in his lifetime, to provide for his single brothers, and to assist them in time of trouble . . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
. marriage takes place in order of birth, which again sets the order of household fissioning to form new ones as younger sons marry and bring their brides into the tent. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
This, of course, gives older brothers in any generation an earlier start in the production of progeny to further their name. . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
However, just as the point of segmentation does not depend entirely on genealogical depth, neither does the relative seniority of brothers escape the impact of political and residential fact in determining which of several will provide the name under which the group passes. "Other anthropologists such as Khazanov, Lindner, Fletcher and Sneath have also rejected the theory that the conical clan was the social structure typical of the Asian steppe, arguing, contrarily to other authors, that strict succession rules based on primogeniture didn't exist in these societies. Osman Aziz Basan, in his analysis of Oguz society, found this social structure to be the dominant one, but nuanced by the importance of other factors such as "merit", as in the case of Turkish and Yorük nomads. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Bacon wrote: "seniority both of generation and of line were factors in selecting a chiefly successor, but ability was also of importance" (1958:58). Some studies have found that Arab practices of endogamous marriage also benefitted elder sons and their lines of descent over younger sons and their lines of descent, thus contradicting the idea that in Arab societies, unlike in those of Inner Asia, fraternal birth order played no role at all in family relationships. It was customary in the Ottoman Empire to let the sons of a king fight amongst themselves for the kingdom. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
It was almost always the eldest son, however, who succeeded in gaining the throne for himself, such as in the cases of Bayezid II, Mehmet III or Murad III. Halil Inalcik is of the opinion that among Inner Asian peoples there was no rule of succession, but notes that the first Ottoman sultans were all eldest sons and finds parallels between this tendency to make the eldest son the next king and the steppe customs of making the eldest son of the eldest line sovereign, giving the eldest son the largest share of the inheritance and the most important part of the realm, and ranking the tents in order of importance from the father's to the eldest son's and then to the eldest brother's sons; according to him, these customs were particularly common among the Kazakhs. Other scholars have also considered Kazakh society an especially good example of the Inner Asian conical clan, although others consider Mongol society the paradigm of this type of society in the Asian steppe. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Buryats, for example, validated land ownership at clan gatherings where "each component segment of the group was spatially arranged from right to left in order of genealogical seniority" (Humphrey 1979:250). Uzbek traditional society has been analyzed under the same light. The development of conical clan structures has been linked to an increase in warfare and military expansionism in Central Asia.In Iran, male primogeniture was the rule within the Qashqai confederacy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Within this confederacy there were three levels of leadership, and both Khan and headmen appropriated taxes and labor from members of their groups, though only the lineages of the Khans and Ilkhanis (paramount chieftains) constituted an aristocracy (Beck 1986: 193–195, 233). Thus the Qashqa'i confederacy can be considered to have been a true chiefdom confederacy. It is the contention of Lois Beck that this confederacy was a product of the interaction of nomads with the economy and institutions of the Persian state over the last 300 years (Ibid.) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
As can be seen from the former examples, societies based on lineage hierarchy are particularly common in central, east and southeast Asia. Lineage hierarchy was present even in the stem-family systems of Korea, Vietnam and Japan. In Korea, the main house, that of the eldest son, was called the "big house" or superordinate descent group (taejong), while the houses of younger sons were called "small houses" or subordinate descent groups (sojong). It was through the stem family of the eldest son that the main line of descent was traced from generation to generation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Patrilineal primogeniture became prevalent during the time of the Choson dynasty. Even modern businesses are passed down according to male primogeniture in most cases. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Discussing patterns of adoption in Korean families, Roger L. and Dawnhee Yim Janelli write in "Ancestor Worship and Korean Society": "When adoption involves the transfer of a son between households headed by brothers, the relative seniority of the brothers usually determines whether an eldest or junior son is selected as the adoptee. younger brothers give their eldest sons to eldest brothers, but eldest brothers give one of their younger sons to younger brothers. This rule, which is common throughout Korea, was violated only twice. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
In both cases, eldest brothers were given to younger sons. The nonreciprocal transfer of eldest sons to eldest brothers reflects the special status accorded to a primogeniture descendant (chongso: eldest son, eldest son's eldest son, etc.) by those who belong to junior descent lines. Just as an elder brother has a higher status than his younger siblings, so his own eldest son retains some of that status over the younger brothers's sons. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Giving eldest sons to senior descent lines, therefore, preserves the relative statuses of siblings based on birthright. One who had enjoyed superior status as an eldest brother before adoption enjoys it as a primogeniture descendant after adoption. Occasional violations of this adoption rule wreak havoc on the relative seniority of descent lines. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Violations occur because Korean adoption practices also attempt to preserve the respective property rights of descendants. Since an eldest brother inherits more property, he is usually wealthier than his younger siblings. If he dies without descendants, his younger brother would inherit his larger share of property from their parents and in turn pass it on to his own eldest son. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
That eldest son, by becoming the adoptive heir of the elder brother, therefore inherits essentially the same property he would have without the adoption". In Korea, chiefdom confederacies where male primogeniture was the rule were a fact of early Korean history since the first millennium BC. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
The first may have been Old Joseon (also Kochosŏn, Gojoseon), said to be a confederacy of three tribes (Lee et al. 2005: 53).3 'The Hwanug tribe formed an aggregation with adjacent tribes or villages and then subjugated other aggregations...' (ibid. : 54). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
'Old Joseon was basically a confederation and could not be easily ruled from the center' (ibid. : 64). Old Joseon's counterpart in South Korea was Jin (also Chin), also described as a loose confederacy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
These confederacies ultimately broke apart into their constituent units (geosuguk), which then reformed into new confederacies: Puyŏ (also Buyeo), Koguryŏ (also Goguryeo), Ye, the Three Han (Samhan), and Gaya. These chiefdom confederacies were eclipsed by the consolidation of three of these polities into the states of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla in the first century CE. However even these polities did not really develop centralized systems of territorial administration until the fourth century AD (Lee et al. 2005: 179). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
In Japan, too, the main house, that of the eldest son, was called "honke", while the houses of younger sons were called "bunke". Younger houses were theoretically subordinate to the eldest house. There was a peculiar family type, the dozoku, which consistently reproduced this hierarchical arrangement. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Edward Norbeck found survivals of this family type even as late as during the 1950s in Tohoku, in northeastern Japan. According to the author, "The branch household stood in a social position much inferior to its founding household, and was expected to give aid to the founding household whenever it was needed. Many customs gave expression to the hierarchical relationship of the two households. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Main households had obligations to their branches of providing economic support, but the greater obligation was undoubtedly upward, from bunke to honke. One of the standardized conventions of social interaction between the two was a formal exchange of greetings, congratulations, and small gifts at New Year's, the Buddhist Bon festival of midsummer, and at other ceremonial occasions. These exchanges were always initiated by the junior households, whose heads came at these occasions to call at the homes of the seniors." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
However, as the author also explains, not even in this region had the dozoku ever been popular, since establishing a branch family was generally difficult. Most "branch" families that had been established during the years immediately prior to his study had been established without the aid of the main house and functioned more or less independently from the latter. Lineage hierarchy was also present in the Vietnamese family. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Mark W. McLeod and Thi Dieu Nguyen write in "Culture and Customs of Vietnam": "In pre-colonial times, the Viet were defined first and foremost by their families, which were fundamentally patrilineal and patriarchal in character. The "clan" (toc), which included a number of families related to each other through a common male ancestor (thuy to), formed the basis of society. Each clan was identified by a specific lineage name (ho) or surname, of which there are approximately 300, the most common being "Nguyen", followed by "Tran", "Pham", and "Le." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
To the clan leader (truong toc) -the eldest male in the oldest branch directly descended from the founding ancestor- fell a number of duties: for instance, keeping and preserving the genealogical register (gia pha), which records the names, births, and deaths of members. Well kept registers would list the land or other properties used for the maintenance of the ancestral cult. The truong toc, who resided in the ancestral home and presided over the family council, was the one to whom related families or members within each familial unit would turn to resolve disputes; he made decisions related to lineage matters; and he served as the protector of widows and minors as well as the moral anchor for all within the clan. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Within this larger body of the toc, there was the family (gia dinh): traditionally multigenerational (grandparents, parents, and children, uncles and aunts, and sometimes great-grandparents); it revolved around its central figure, the family head (gia truong) who could be the grandfather or the father (bo or thay). All owed obedience to him. The family head ruled over all family members in all matters, including property rights, education, marriage and profession, and he spoke on their behalf in dealings with the outside world. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
He had the power to reward or to chastise; to him were incumbent the duties of protection, of feeding, and of education, both morally and academically, vis-a-vis everyone in the family". Theresa Phuong-Thao Pham writes in "Family, Change and Mobility in a North Vietnamese Family": "The powerful lineage is known as the 'senior families' (ho dan anh) and the less powerful families are considered the 'junior families' (ho dan em). The patrilineage organization plays a role in the establishment of the villages and the development of the cultivated areas of North Vietnam (Nguyen 1993). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
The first group of people who left their native villages to establish new villages on new land acquisition was often composed of members of the same patrilineages. In a highly stratified society, the small families in the same patrilineage had different socio-economic positions, which can translate intocomplications for the kinship system. Traditional family record (gia pha) consists of the head of the lineage (toc truong), the heads of the branches (chi truong), a system of rituals composed of ancestor worship and the family temple, and economic means such as the family paddy fields (ruong ho) to support this worship. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
The family temple resembles clan system, in which members all the strands or chi of the family would pay homage on the death anniversaries of the toc truong (the head of the lineage). The redistribution of land by the Communist party since 1954 has greatly altered the family system of worship. The family temple no longer exists, but the celebration of the death anniversaries of ancestors still continues on a much smaller scale consisting of family members up to three generations. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
The celebration usually takes place at the eldest son's house with all immediate family members present on the death anniversary of the elder family member. The family members, usually the women, would place the food on the altar and offer the food to the deceased person before serving the food to the family members present at the meal. Family members often wear colorful headbands following the death of a family elder for up to three years". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
Therefore, the conical clan of the Asian steppe, Austronesian societies and southern Bantu societies was based on a rule of primogeniture. E.R. Leach observes that a different system prevailed among the Kachin. The Kachin gave most of the land to the youngest son (patrilineal ultimogeniture) and most of the moveable property to the eldest son (patrilineal primogeniture). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
According to Leach, "the kachin gumsa situation is that both the eldest and the youngest son are privileged in relation to their other brothers. The eldest brother is ideally a warrior who goes out with a group of followers drawn from his father's relatives and supporters and carves for himself a new domain; the youngest brother stays at home and inherits the ritual function of guardian of the shrine and, in the case of a chief, of the madai nat." Lineage rank was also determined by patrilineal ultimogeniture: "The ritual status of the youngest son chief and his descendants is deemed to be higher than that of the eldest son chief and his descendants", while middle sons and their descendants are ranked even below eldest sons and their descendants. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_of_social_stratification |
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