Patrilineal Clan

an exogamous group of blood relatives of patrilineal descent who are conscious of their common ties. This consciousness is reflected in the use of family names and the belief in the members’ descent from a common ancestor. The patrilineal clan is most characteristic of the patriarchal era—that is, the period of dissolution of primitive clan society—but it is fixed in its early forms among some of the more backward societies known to ethnology, including some of the Australian aborigines and American Indians. Late vestigial forms of the patrilineal clan system are sometimes long preserved in class societies; among some peoples, including some Bantu and Arabs, the patrilineal clan is becoming endogamous. [19–51—3]