How does bilateral descent recognize relatives on both sides of a family?

In anthropology, bilateral descent (also known as cognatic descent) is a system in which an individual reckons kinship ties through both the mother’s and the father’s lines more or less equally.12

Unlike unilineal systems, which emphasize relationships through only one parent—either patrilineal (father's side) or matrilineal (mother's side)—bilateral systems do not limit the recognition of ancestry to a single line. Consequently, an individual in a bilateral system is considered allied to the relatives of both parents, such as the children of both parents' siblings.1

While unilineal systems often create clearly demarcated, nested social units, bilateral systems are statistically common but typically do not provide the same type of rigid, bounded groupings. In practice, this means that an individual's network of kin is defined by tracing connections through both maternal and paternal ancestors, allowing for a broader, more inclusive recognition of relatives across both sides of the family.213