Hypodescent

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In societies that regard some races or ethnic groups of people as dominant or superior and others as subordinate or inferior, hypodescent refers to the automatic assignment of children of a mixed union to the subordinate group.^[1] The opposite practice is hyperdescent, in which children are assigned to the race that is considered dominant or superior.

Parallel practices include patrilineality, matrilineality, and cognatic descent, which assign race, ethnicity, or religion according to the father, mother, or some combination, without regard to the race of the other parent. These systems determine group membership based on the gender of the parent rather than the social dominance of the group, and thus can be hypodescent or hyperdescent depending on the genders of the parents and the views of the culture in which they live (i.e. patriarchal vs matriarchal societies).

Attempts to limit (or eliminate) mixed-race populations by legal means are defined in anti-miscegenation laws, such as passed by various states in the United States.