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Social Structure, the Family, Gender, and Age

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Social Structure, the Family, Gender, and Age Chapter 10 Social Structure, the Family, Gender, and Age Chapter Outline Social Structure 189 Social Structure in Hunter-Gatherer Societies 192 Social Structure in Tribes 197 Social Structure in Chiefdoms 206 Social Structure in Agricultural States 209 Social Stratification in Agricultural States 214 Social Structure in Industrial and Postindustrial States 215 Social Stratification in Industrial and Postindustrial Societies 222 Learning Objectives After reading this chapter you should be able to: 10.1 Discuss the general components of social 10.3 Describe the social structure, family, structure, including status, the family, marriage, descent groups, gender, and age marriage, gender, and age. for tribal societies. 10.2 Describe the social structure, family, 10.4 Discuss how status differences, the family, marriage, gender, and age in foraging gender, and age are related in chiefdom societies. societies. 188 Social Structure, the Family, Gender, and Age 189 10.5 Discuss the family, kinship, marriage, 10.7 Discuss the social structure, family, gender, and age patterns in agricultural marriage, gender, and age patterns in states. industrial and postindustrial societies. 10.6 Discuss the type of stratification 10.8 Compare the class structures of Britain, the characteristic of agricultural United States, Japan, and the former Soviet states. Union. achieved statuses in the United States are one’s profession Social Structure and level of education. Of course, one’s family and kin- 10.1 Discuss the general components of social ship connections may influence one’s profession and level structure, including status, the family, marriage, of education. George W. Bush’s and John Kerry’s educa- gender, and age. tional level and status are interrelated to their families of birth. However, these individuals had to act voluntarily to All inorganic and organic things, from planets to living achieve their status. cells, have a structure—they consist of interrelated parts Closely related to status is the concept of social roles. in a particular arrangement. Anthropologists use the A role is a set of expected behavior patterns, obligations, idea of structure when they analyze different societies. and norms attached to a particular status. The distinction Societies are not just random, chaotic collections of peo- between status and role is a simple one: You “occupy” a cer- ple who interact with one another. Rather, social interac- tain status, but you “play” a role (Linton 1936). For exam- tion in any society takes place in regular patterns. As we ple, as a student, you occupy a certain status that differs discussed in Chapter 4, people learn the norms, values, from those of your professors, administrators, and other and behavioral patterns of their societies through encul- staff. As you occupy that status, you perform by attending turation. In the absence of social patterns, people would lectures, taking notes, participating in class, and studying find social life confusing. Anthropologists refer to this for examinations. This concept of role is derived from the pattern of relationships in society as the social structure. theater and refers to the parts played by actors on the stage. Social structure provides the framework for all human Whether you are a husband, mother, son, daughter, teacher, societies, but it does not determine decision making of lawyer, judge, male, or female, you are expected to behave individuals. in certain ways because of the norms associated with that particular status. Components of Social Structure As mentioned, a society’s social statuses usually cor- One of the most important components of social structure respond to wealth, power, and prestige. Anthropologists is status. Status is a recognized position that a person occu- find that all societies have inequality in statuses, which pies in society. A person’s status determines where he or are arranged in a hierarchy. This inequality of statuses is she fits in society in relationship to everyone else. Status known as social stratification. The degree of social strati- may be based on or accompanied by wealth, power, pres- fication varies from one society to another, depending on tige, or a combination of all of these. Many anthropologists technological, economic, and political variables. Small- use the term socioeconomic status (SES) to refer to how scale societies tend to be less stratified than large-scale a specific position is related to the division of labor, the societies; that is, they have fewer categories of status and political system, and other cultural variables. fewer degrees of difference regarding wealth, power, and All societies recognize both ascribed and achieved sta- prestige. tuses. An ascribed status is one that is attached to a person In some societies, wealth, power, and prestige are from birth or that a person assumes involuntarily later in linked with ownership of land or the number of animals life. The most prevalent ascribed statuses are based upon acquired. In U.S. society, high status is strongly correlated family and kinship relations (for example, daughter or with income and property. Exploring the causes of differ- son), sex (male or female), and age. In addition, in some ing patterns of social stratification and how stratification societies, ascribed statuses are based on one’s race or eth- relates to other facets of society is an important objective in nicity. For example, as we shall see in a later chapter, skin ethnographic research. color was used to designate ascribed status differences in The social structure of any society has several major South Africa under the system of apartheid. components that anthropologists study when analyzing a In contrast, an achieved status is one based at least society. These components are discussed in the following in part on a person’s voluntary actions. Examples of sections on the family, marriage, gender, and age. 190 Chapter 10 The Family However, as we shall see later, the nuclear family is not the principal kinship unit in all societies. In many societies, the In a comprehensive cross-cultural study, George Murdock predominant form is the extended family, which is com- (1945) found that all societies recognize the family. Thus, posed of parents, children, and other kin relations bound the family is a universal feature of humans and may together as a social unit. have its roots in our primate heritage (Chapais 2008). Anthropologists define the family as a social group of two or more people related by blood, marriage, or adop- Marriage tion who live or reside together for an extended period, In most societies, the family is a product of marriage, a sharing economic resources and caring for their young. social bond sanctioned by society between two or more Anthropologists differentiate between the family of orienta- people that involves economic cooperation, social obliga- tion, the family into which people are born, and the family tions, rights, duties, and sometimes culturally approved of procreation, the family within which people reproduce or sexual activity. Two general patterns of marriage exist: adopt children of their own (Murdock 1949). The family endogamy, which is marriage between people of the is a social unit within a much wider group of relatives, or same social group or category, and endogamy, marriage kin. Kinship relationships beyond the immediate nuclear between people of different social groups or categories. family play a significant role in most societies throughout A marriage may include two or more partners. the world. Anthropologists study kinship relationships Monogamy generally involves two individuals in the mar- along with the family to fully comprehend how individual riage. Though this is the most familiar form of marriage thought and behavior is influenced by these interacting in Western industrial societies, it is not the only type of aspects of human communities. marriage practiced in the world. Many societies practice Although variations exist in types and forms, as men- some form of polygamy, or plural marriage, which involves tioned before, George Murdock found that the family is a a spouse of one sex and two or more spouses of the oppo- universal aspect of social organization. The reason for the site sex. There are two forms of polygamy: polygyny, mar- universality of the family appears to be that it performs riage between one husband and two or more wives, and certain basic functions that serve human needs. The pri- polyandry, marriage between one wife and two or more mary function of the family is the nurturing and encultura- husbands. Although the majority of the world’s popula- tion of children. The basic norms, values, knowledge, and tion currently practices monogamy, polygyny is a common beliefs of the culture are transmitted to children through form of marriage and is permitted in 80 percent of human the family. societies, many of which have relatively small populations Another function of the family is the regulation of (Murdock 1981a, 1981b). Although polyandry is the rarest sexual activity. Every culture places some restrictions on form of marriage, a new survey of polyandry indicates that sexual behavior. Sexual intercourse is the basis of human it occurs in 81 different societies (Starkweather and Hames reproduction and inheritance; it is also a matter of consid- 2012). Although marriages typically involve the uniting of erable social importance. Regulating sexual behavior is, males and females, a number of societies have homosexual therefore, essential to the proper functioning of a society. marriages that are recognized socially and legally (L. Stone The family prohibits sexual relations within the immedi- 2010). As we shall see, anthropologists have developed ate family through the incest avoidance behaviors, as dis- hypotheses regarding why certain forms of marriage cussed in Chapter 4. develop within particular sociocultural systems. Families also serve to protect and support their mem- bers physically, emotionally, and often economically from birth to death. In all societies, people need warmth, food, Gender shelter, and care.
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