Gens (anthropology)

Gens was used by Lewis H. Morgan (in Ancient Society) and Friedrich Engels (in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State), among others, to refer to a group of people who were related through their female ancestor, in a gens organized according to mother-right, or through their male ancestor, in a gens organized according to father-right. It is also used by other anthropology writers to refer exclusively to groups of people who are related through their male ancestor.