ANT207H1 Study Guide - Final Guide: Social Anthropology, Abscissa And Ordinate, Hermeneutics
Individual and Society: Quotes and references
Here is a quote from E.E. Evans-Pritchard about society and social structure, taken from (Evans-Pritchard
1962:19-20)
It is evident that there must be uniformities and
regularities in social life, that a society must have some
sort of order, or its members could not live together. It is
only because people know the kind of behaviour expected
of them, and what kind of behaviour to expect from
others, in the various situations of social fife, and co-
ordinate their activities in submission to rules and under
the guidance of values that each and all are able to go
about their aflfairs. They can make predictions, antici-
pate events, and lead their lives in harmony with their
fellows because every society has a form or pattern which
allows us to speak of it as a system, or structure, within
which, and in accordance with which, its members live
their lives. The use of the word structure in this sense
implies that there is some kind of consistency between its
parts, at any rate up to the point of open contradiction
and conflict being avoided, and that it has greater
durability than most of the fleeting things of human life.
The people who live in any society may be unaware,
or only dimly aware, that it has a structure. It is the task
of the social anthropologist to reveal it.
A total social structure, that is to say the entire
structure of a given society, is composed of a number of
subsidiary structures or systems, and we may speak of its
kinship system, its economic system, its religious system
and its political system.
The social activities within these systems or structures
are organized round institutions such as marriage, the
family, markets, chieftainship, and so forth; and when
we speak of the functions of these institutions we mean
the part they play in the maintenance of the structure.
I think that all social anthropologists would accept,
more or less, these definitions. It is when we begin to ask
what kind of abstraction a social structure is and what
precisely is meant by the functioning of an institution
that we meet with difficulties and divergence of opinion.
The issues will, I think, be better understood after I have
given some account of the theoretical development of
social anthropology.
My quote on how power works was from John Allen.
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Document Summary
Evans-pritchard about society and social structure, taken from (evans-pritchard. It is evident that there must be uniformities and regularities in social life, that a society must have some sort of order, or its members could not live together. The people who live in any society may be unaware, or only dimly aware, that it has a structure. It is the task of the social anthropologist to reveal it. I think that all social anthropologists would accept, more or less, these definitions. It is when we begin to ask what kind of abstraction a social structure is and what precisely is meant by the functioning of an institution that we meet with difficulties and divergence of opinion. The issues will, i think, be better understood after i have given some account of the theoretical development of social anthropology. My quote on how power works was from john allen.
