Lineage militarization forced weaker groups to adopt unified descent structures

Evidence

The militarization of powerful lineages reinforced folk models of kinship solidarity, forcing in turn more loosely organized associations to form a unified descent group under the leadership of the gentry. At court level too, ideologies of descent became increasingly important, in particular with the erosion of a sense of cultural identity among Manchu aristocrats. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3312