The American Indians North of Mexico (Softcover)by W H Miner. 1917. 169p The social organization of North American Indians was based on clans and gentes, kinship groups that determined social status and relationships within tribes. Clans and gentes were organized based on lineage, with descent traced through either the male or female line. Exogamy, the prohibition of marriage within the same group, was a central rule within these kinship units. Clans and gentes were further organized into phratries