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The social organization of the Northwest Amazon is different from most Amazon societies because of the existence of partilineal descent groups, which are named, exogamic, and ideally hierarchical. A complex social arrangement organizes these groups, in which the smallest unit is the sib, formed by the descendants of a unique ancestor and who consider themselves close kin.

Among the groups of the Eastern Tukano language family, the linguistic unit coincides with the agnatic kinship unit based on patrilineal descent, that also corresponds to the level of organization at which exogamy is most operational. For example, the Tuyuka linguistic group is formed by around fifteen sibs, among whom no marital exchanges occur. Thus, the Tuyuka establish their alliances with the Tukano, Bará and others.

In general, then, the exogamic descent group coincides with the linguistic group. The common notion of descent is revitalized in ritual proceedings. In indigenous terms, this unit is defined by a self-designation and a name by which they are recognized by others (Indians and Whites). The self-designation occurs in two spheres of social organization, the linguistic group (for example, Tukano, Desana, Kotiria, Tuyuka, and others) and the sib. The members of a sib ideally live together in the same local group. Still on the conceptual plane, each sib has a particular function, associated above all with ritual specializations. The anthropologist Christine Hugh-Jones, who studied among the Barasana, describes five ritual functions among the Barasana (chief, master of the cerimony, warrior, shaman and servant), related to the organization of labor, ritual performance and warfare. The localized sib has the maloca [longhouse] as its traditional dwelling place, which also bears important ritual and cosmological meanings.

In the case of the peoples of Arawak origin, such as the Baniwa, Kuripako, Werekena, Tariana and Baré, the correspondence between language, common descent and exogamy has not been observed by modern ethnography. The exogamic unit is the phratry: various sibs speaking the same language are grouped into phratries which, besides the rule of exogamy, maintain important alliances amongst themselves. In the case of the Tariana, who occupy the region of the middle Rio Uaupés (where the Eastern Tukano peoples predominate), one observes that they are integrated as one of the descent groups within the Uaupés social system. Although they have mostly adopted the Tukano language, they function as a linguistic group that exchanges women with their allies, especially the Tukano, Kotiria and Pira-tapuya. The Baré, for their part, inhabit the channel of the Rio Negro, in the vicinity of the city of São Gabriel da Cachoeira. The present-day social organization and forms of marriage among the Baré in Brazil have still not been described in the ethnological literature.

Among the Maku, the social organization of the linguistic groups can be characterized in terms of three levels: the domestic hearth groups, organized around a married couple; the local groups, clusters of domestic hearth groups, which have the eldest man of the groups as focal point; and the regional groups, organized territorially in relation to streams or small rivers. The regional groups are endogamous, with specific cultural traits and distinct dialects. Each linguistic group can include three or more regional groups.

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In this context of cultural diversity, there are many common characteristics among the ethnic groups, principally with regard to the myths, subsistence activities, traditional architecture and material culture. Such common features are more evident among the Tukano, Baniwa, Tariana and Baré, on the one hand, and the Maku, on the other. For that reason, the first are sometimes identified as the “river Indians". By contrast, the Indians of the Maku linguistic family, who are distinguished by a number of socio-cultural peculiarities, can be called the “forest Indians". Living far from the banks of the navigable rivers, the Maku maintain relations with the river Indians, but not in the same way that they maintain relations amongst themselves. The Maku, outstanding hunters, in general provide meat to the Indians of the river and also provide them services in exchange for other foods, such as manioc and fish.

From the point of view of the river Indians, the Maku occupy a position of inferiority and are considered incestuous, for they marry people of the same descent group and do not follow the same residence patterns. However, from the Maku point of view, they are not servants or slaves of the river Indians, and can at will abandon the services they provide for the river Indians and slip back into the forest, which is populated by spirits that are unknown and feared by the river Indians.

To know more about the relation between the Eastern Tukano groups and the Maku, see the section "Tukano and Maku, Maku and Tukano", in the entry Ethnic Groups of the Uaupés.