ABSTRACT
The Beng recognize double descent, with both matriclans and patriclans. A society whose kinship patterns are traced on the basis of double descent contains both matrilineal and patrilineal groups at the same time. A feature common to many, though not all, groups with cognatic descent is that they have a built-in "patrilineal bias." The rights of the patrilineal descendants of the ancestor were regarded as superior to the rights of other cognatic descendants. The cognatic descent construct reflects the way that most Euro-Americans perceive their connections to their ancestors and descendants. Euro-American societies are bilateral, but there are also many other bilateral groups elsewhere in the world. A bilateral society is one that traces kin connections over the generations through both males and females, but without the formation of corporate descent groups. Although families aggregate in longhouses and cooperate with one another, there are no corporate descent groups among the Rungus.
