patrilineari

Patrilinearity, or the patrilineal system, is a kinship and descent pattern in which a person's social identity, inheritance, and clan membership are traced through the male line—typically from father to son. In patrilineal societies, children belong to their father's lineage, and status, property, and rights may be transmitted through male heirs. In many cases the name of the lineage or clan also passes through the male line.

Patrilinearity is distinct from, but may coincide with, other social arrangements such as patrilocal residence (where a married couple lives with the husband's family) or patrilineal inheritance. It is one of several kinship patterns widely discussed in anthropology, alongside matrilinearity, bilateral or cognatic systems, and ambilineal descent.

Historically, patrilineal descent has been common in many agrarian and pastoralist societies around the world, and has influenced legal systems and inheritance practices, including primogeniture in some European contexts and paternal inheritance in parts of Asia and Africa. However, patrilineality can coexist with varying levels of female rights and agency, and can be reformulated in modern law and changing social norms.

Origin of the term derives from Latin pater (father) and linea (line). In some languages, the concept is expressed with terms akin to “patrilinearity” or “patrilineari.”

See also: matrilinearity, bilateral kinship, lineage, clan, inheritance, patrilocality.