CHAPTER 8 STRUCTURES ANTH205 Chapter 8 Pg 94 104 Control Density Complexity Mobility The extent of control over the environment varies greatly and is reflected in the degree of control over the society itself The greater the degree of density the more often people will be organized into larger groups and the more frequently people will be dealing with people that they do not know well they may even be dealing with total strangers That control over nature and over society combined with increased density results in greater Complexity of most social institutions However this does not mean that all aspects of life will necessarily be more complex Mobility is the unpredictable factor Core Social Building Blocks Age and Sex are the most important they are however joined by organizing principles of Kinship and Location Differences by sex for example may be sharp or blurred Men and Women may work together or apart property may be held by or passed through men or women or both Structures And Institutions Societies are systems that Are composed of parts arranged in structured rather than random ways and different parts of the system provide useful functions for the system as a whole o This doesn t mean that society always works well it just means that it is better to start off asking how things do work rather than assuming that they don t work or that they are simply leftovers from days gone by The notion of structure in society is also sometimes discussed in terms of the word INSTITUTION This word has two general meanings o 1 A well established pattern of behavior or relationships Marriage is an institution means that Marriage is a wellestablished pattern of behavior o 2 Formal Institutions Like the church in which a marriage takes place Structure and Institutions provide a reliable framework within which people can live o SO IF YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT STRUCTURES OR INSTITUTIONS OF A SOCIETY YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT ALL OF THOSE THINGS THAT DO NOT HAVE TO BE DECIDED ANEW EACH DAY Some Key Distinctions One of the most common distinctions is that between status and role o Status refers to a persons position in the social structure o Role refers to the things they are expected to do o Status and Role are tied together If someone has a particular role such as a father mother son daughter etc they should act in ways appropriate to that role A related distinction is that between individuals and persons o An individual is a single human being o A person is that individual in relationship to others Another important distinction is between Social Relations and Societal Relations o Social Relations are about the specific personal relationships that people have o Societal Relations are about broader relationships in the society as a whole The point of distinction is that especially in complex large societies there are two stories o That of the individual people in their daily lives o That of society overall The final Distinction worth noting is between the Solidarity of Sameness and the Solidarity of Difference o One of the key questions for all human societies is what keeps people together o One option is that they are together because of their similarities they see each other as the same and thus belong together o The other option is that they are together because of their differences they see each other as complementary and thus belong together Dealing With Diversity Categories of Difference o Whether people are the same or different does not necessarily determine whether there will be a relationship whether weak or strong but it is crucial to determining the nature of that relationship o Categorizing people 1 must make sense if it doesn t make sense people will object to it and the system will lose its value 2 the system of categorizing people must be relatively easy to use If it is complex to apply then the effort needed may be too great This is one of the reasons why race gender and age are so often used in categorizing people The system has to be Practical certain people must act as others expect them too in order for society to be practical Sorting Diversity Maintaining Control Almost any system of categorization however has problems o Sometimes the problems have to do with whether the basic criteria do or do not make sense A frequent problem in categorizing people is that people are not always easily classifiable even in the simplest systems A system for sorting out human diversity thus often becomes a system of control o For Example if races or ethnic groups really are supposed to be different then it will be absolutely essential that they not intermarry Systems of categorizing people can be developed through many bases such as o Age o Class o Religion o Disability o Political Opinion o For Example these classifications are all extremely important in how people think act experience life and are evaluated by others 4 WAYS THAT CURRENTLY RECEIVE THE GREATEST ATTENTION IN CONTEMPORARY NORTH AMERICA o o o o 1 2 3 4 RACE ETHNICITY GENDER SEXUAL ORIENTATION RACE AND ETHNICITY Race purportedly refers to physical differences among people but its accuracy to any significant human physical variation has been strongly contested by anthropologists for over a century Even after the emancipation the racial distinctions remained The result was a system of social differentiation and control almost as rigid as slavery itself o While supporters of the system might argue that the races lived separate but equal lives the economic and political reality was of racial stratification which is a system in which diversity is not of groups side by side but of groups that are assigned to higher and lower strata in a social hierarchy Compared to RACE ETHNICITY seems a relatively benign way to categorize people o YET is usually invokes biology as well ETHNICITY is generally considered to be carried in the blood you are what your parents were o ETHNICITY however also acknowledges the experimental and cultural heritage of a people you are what you grew up to be o ETHNICITY as a system of categorizing people thus has its strength in being based in both biology and culture but not precisely limited to either o ETHNICITY also has clear markers that let you know how somebody fits into the system Despite its virtues ETHNICITY shares with race some fundamental problems o 1 ETHNICITY can also be turned to purposes of social exclusion and control ETHNICITY is in many ways a stronger statement than RACE To say that one is ETHNICALLY