Anthropology

            Societies can be organized through many different ways and of these ways a few are found to be common among many cultures. Gender, descent and social class system all are of the more universal ways in which societies are arranged. .
             Descent can often play a large roll on the social texture of a society. Descent, which is the tracing of kinship back to previous generations, can according to a society take different forms. One form of descent is that of unilineal which is divided up into two subsets consisting of patrilineal and matrilineal. Patrilineal descent is one in which the line of descent is traced through the male kin while matrilineal is through the female line. The Masai culture is a good example of a unilineal descent system with a patrilineal grouping. In general a patrilineal descent system places more importance on males and their place in the society while a matrilineal shifts the focus of the society to the females. Another subset of unilineal descent is clans. Clans are unilineal descent groups who are descended from either a common male line or a common female line. A good example of a patriclan or clan with male focus is the ancient Chinese samurais. Two other forms of descent are Cognatic where there is no formal association between male or female and Bilateral where descent is traced equally through male and female lines. The Hawaiians are a good example of Cognatic while the United States is a good example of bilateral. .
             Another way in which people are organized in a culture is through gender. In some societies especially "pre-industrial" ones it dictates power as well as jobs and ability to gain wealth. The film Bandit Queen is a good illustration of how gender can dictate place in society. In the movie, the Bandit Queen is given away to a older man at a young age and is continually treated as a lower class person throughout the movie because of her gender and the social views of gender in the society that is depicted in the film.