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  • Structure and Function in Primitive Society Radcliffe-Brown

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    Structure and Function in Primitive Society Radcliffe-Brown functionalism anthropology notions of structure and function

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    Structure and Function in Primitive Society Radcliffe-Brown functionalism anthropology notions of structure and function

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    35 vistas9 páginas

    Structure and Function in Primitive Society Radcliffe-Brown

    Cargado por

    Piero DiGiminiani
    Structure and Function in Primitive Society Radcliffe-Brown functionalism anthropology notions of structure and function

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Descargue como PDF o lea en línea desde Scribd
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    "STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN PRIMITIVE SOCIETY TAR Raddlffe-Brown 1 Foteword’by Evans Prithord and Fred Eggen the papers deal with three main topes primitive inhi, religion, ‘nd law, Jn the couse ofthe dscusion of thee topics and in two, gore [05 several vers on function and soil structure, Radelife Brown, also 1 ates is theoretical postion. He has, of course, been the chit theoretical “eoence)jn social anthropology frat least a quater of a century. Since i (Mb apne pt setter ang fom se opal os Hf re ae able io follow the development of his thought. Tn veloping a full eheory of soll strctre, we ned to ook at the relatos of institutions to one another, the contribution they make fof the maihtenance ofa solely, and the degree to which they meet the PIntevety of adiyiduals-sll three, Whenever be dels with thea grob si, Rude Blown admirable; he pont fo the existence of fo stand i kes he it steps toward coping with ity nd onthe Ue, the very i i Jihty of his arguoent enable us to see where the gaps in oer anthtopelogst has done sc much Surely thi i the Bot npiantontibution to anthropology i bur ime..." 5, ~George Caspr Homans, Américon Anihopolfiie if THE FREE PRESS | 868 Third Avena, New York 10022 tr cture and Function m Primitive Society 1 m W I vir var IK XI xi CONTENTS Irnosvoriow 1 ‘Tue Mori's Broruen 1m Sovrn Araca 15 Paveuinaat axp Marniintat, Succession 3 ‘Tue Stor or Kn Srerams ” Ow Jonnie Retarionsutes ~ ‘A Fortin Nore ox Joxine Retariowsutrs 105, ‘Tax Soctowooica. Tasony oF Torment ny Tax00 133 Raxicion ax Sociery 133 (ON tue Conorer oF Function mx Soctat Soren. 178 Ow Soci SrmucruRe 188 Sota Saverio 205 Prucrive Law au INTRODUCTION ye papers reprinted here are occasional papers inthe fullest sense ofthe term each of them was written fora partculr occasion, ‘They do, however, have some measure of unity a8 being written from a particular theoretisl point of view. ‘What is meant by a theory ie a scheme of interpretation which is applied, or is thought to be applicable, to the under- Handing of phenomena of # certain ela A theory conte of a wet of atalytical concepts, which should be clearly defined in their reference to concrete realty, and which should be logically connected. I propose, therefore, by ony of introduction to thee miscellaneous papers, to ive debitions of certain concept of| ‘which I make bee for purposes of analyis of vocal phenomena, {Ie musthe remembered tht there is very litle agreement amongst snthropoloyats in the concepts and tema they we, s0 that this Tntroducton snd the papers that follow are to be taken 26 an exposition of one particular theory, not ofa commonly accepted theory. Hidtery and Theory ‘The diferencebetween te historical study of sca institutions and the theoretical study can be eal seen by comparing economic History and theoretical economies, or by compating the history of law with theoretiea jurisprudence. In anthropology, however, there hasbeen and sila gret deal of confusion which is maine tained by discussions in which terms auch as history and elence™ or ‘theory’ are used by dispotants in very diferent meanings. “These confusions could be to considerable extent avoided by using the recognised terms of logic and methodology and dls tinguithing between idiggraphic and nomethetic enquires Tin an idiographic enquiry the purpose is to establish at scceptabe certain particular of factual propositions or statements, ‘A nomothetic enquiry, on the contary, as for it purpose to arrive at acceptable general propositions. We define the nature ‘of an enquiry by the kind of conclusions that ave aimed at. History, st unully understood, ie the study of records and ‘monuments forthe purpose of providing knowledge about con- dltons and events ofthe past, including thore investigation that fare concerned withthe quite recent past, T is clar that history consists primarily of idiographic enquiries. In the last century there was 2 dispue, the famous Methodencrit, as to whether istvians should admit theoretical considerations in their work ‘or dealin generalisations. A grest many historians have taken the view that nemothetic enquires should not be included in historical studies, which should be confined to telling us what happened and how it happened, ‘Theoretical or nomothetic enguiries should be let to sociology. But there are seme writers ‘who think tata historian may, or even should, include theoretical, interpretations in his account of the past. Controverry on thie subject, and on the relation between history and sociology, stil continues after sity years, Certainly there are writings by terians which ate to be valued not solely a idiographic accounts of the facts of the past but ae containing theoretial (nomothetie) interpretations of those fats. The tradition in French bistrial studies of Fustel de Coulanges and his followers, such as Guatave lot, illustrates this kind af combination, Some modern weitere refer to it as sociological history or historical sociology. In anthropology, meaning by that the study of what are called the primitive oe backward peoples, the term ethnography applies to what is specifically a mode of idiographic enquiry, the aim of which isto give acceptable accounts of auch pexples and their socal fife. Ethnography difers from history in that the ethnographer derives his knowledge, or some major part of it from direct observation of or contact with the people about whom he writes, and not, like the historia, from writen records, Prehistoric archaeology, hich ie nother branch of anthropology, i clearly an idogeaphie study, aimed at giving us faewal know: ledge about the prehistoric past. "The theoretical study of social institutions in general is cuvally referred to as eacology, but a8 this name can be loosely used for many different kind of writings about society we ean speak more specifically of theoretical or compatgtive sociology. ‘When Frazer gave his Inaugural Lecture as the Set Profestor of Social Anthropelogy in 1908 he defined soci anthropology 18 that branch of sociology that deals with primitive societies. vrnoDUcrION 3 Certain confusions amongst anthropologists result from the faire to distinguish between hitorical explanation of institutions and theoretical wedertanding. If we a hy itis that cert insitation existe in a particular society the appropriate answer ‘historical statement a8 to its origin. ‘To explain why the United States has political constitution with » President, rwo Houses of Congress, & Cabinet, « Supreme Court, we refer tothe history of North Atnrie. This is historical explanation in the proper fense ofthe term The existence of sn institution is explained by reference to 4 complex sequence of events forming 2 eau of which it fea eau, "The acceptability ofa historical explanation depends on the and relabilty of the historical record. Inthe primitive that are studied by eocal anthropology there are. no historical records, We have no knowledge of the development of social institutions among the Avetralian aborigines for example “Anthropologist, thinking of their study as kind of histor study, fall back on conjecture and imagination, and invent ‘paaudo-hstorial’ of ‘pseudo-causal” explanations. We have had, for example, innumerable and sometimes conflicting. pseudo- Historie accounts ofthe origin and development of the temic inatitutions of the Australian sborigines. In the paper of this volume mention is made of certain paeudo-historial speculations, "The view taken here is that such speculations are not merely useless but are worse than usles. This doesnot in any way imply the rejection of historical explanation but quite the contrary. Comparstive sociology, af which social anthropology is a ‘branch, is here conceived as 2 theoretical or nomothetic study ‘of which the tim ie to provide acceptable generalisations. The ‘theoretical understanding of a particular institution is ite inter- pretation in the light of auch generalisations Social Procest ‘A frat question that must be asked if we are to formulate 4 systematic theory of comparative sociology is: What is the concrete, cbservable, phenomenal reality with which the theory js to be concerned?’ Some anthropologists would say that the realty consists of “societies conceived as being in some sense or other discrete real entities. Others, however, describe the realty that hat to be studied as consisting of ‘ultues, each of 4 STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN PRIMITIVE SoctETY gain conceived ss some Kind of ditrate entity, Stil to think of the subjee st concerned with both kinds of. societies’ and ‘cultures’, so that the relation of these then presets a problem. ‘My oven view i that the concrete realty with which the socal anthropologist is concerned in observation, description, com parton and clasfeation, is not any sort of entity bit process, the process of social life. The unit of investigation is the social life of some particular region ofthe earth during a certain period of time. The process itself consies of an immense sauttade of actions and inteaetions of human beings, ating as individuals or in combinations or groupe, Amidst the diversity of the particular events there are discoverable regularities, 20 that it i possible to give statements or descriptions of certain general features of the socal life ofa selected reion. A statement of auch significant ‘general features of the proces of social ife constitutes a descrip tion of what may be elled a form of social life, My conception ‘of tocil anthropology ia as the comparutive theoretical staly of ores of social life amongst primitive peoples, ‘A form of socal life amongst 2 cevain collection of human beings may remain approximately the same over a certain peti, But over a suficient length of time the form of social life itself Undergoes change or medication. Therefore, while we can regard the events of social life as constituting a proces, there is over and above this the process of change inthe form of soca life. In ‘gnclroni description we give an account ofa form of social life as it exists ata certain time, abstracting es fargo posible from ‘changes that may be taking place init features, A diachronic account, on the ether hal, i an account of such changes over a period. Tn comparative sociology we have to deal theoretically With the continuity of, nd with changes i, forms of socal lie Cuitre Anthropologists use the word ‘culture’ in a nunber of Aiferent sens. Tt seems to me that some of them se Te 38 equivalent to what I calla fron of social life Yn ts opdiary use in English eulture’ which is mach the same idea wm cultvton, fetes to process and we can define ta the prostas by which &\perton acquire, frm contact with aher persona or fm sich things ae ooka oe works of art, knowlege, skill ean, belles snraopuction s tastes, sentiments, In a particular society we can discover certain proceises of eltural tradition, using the word tradition i Fiteral meaning of handing on or handing down, The under- standing and ute of language is pased on by a proces of cultural tradition in this sense, An Englishman learns by such a process tounderstind and use the English language, but in some sections of the society he may alo learn Latin, or Greek, or French, of ‘Welsh. In complex modern eocietis there are great number af separate cultural traditions, By one a person may learn to be 2 doctor of surgeon, by another he may lean to be an engineee for anatchitect, Inthe simplest form of social ie the number of feparate cultural traditions may be reduced to two, one for men and the ether for women If we teat the social reality that we are investigating as being not an entity but a process, then culture and cultural tation tte names for cetsin recognitabe aspects of that proces, but rot, of course, the whole process. The terms are convenient ways of refersing to certain aspects of human social life. Tis by reason of the existence of culture and cultural traditions that Ihumen social life ies very markedly from the social lie of other animal species, The tranamision of learnt ways of thinking, feeling and acting constitutes the cultural process, which is a specfe feature of human socal Iie. Ti, of course, part of that process of interaction amonget persons which is here defined 8 the socal procera thought of asthe social reality. Continuity tnd change in the forme of social life being the subjects of in- ‘vestigttion of comparative sociology, the continuity of culture traditions and changes in thos trations are armongst the things that have tobe taken into acount Social System It was Montesquien who, in the midile of the eighteenth century, nid the foundations of comparative sociology, and in doing so formulated and used a conception that has been and fan be refereed toby the use ofthe term soil sytem. His theory, ‘which constituted what Comte late called ‘the ist law of soci state’ ae that ina partculae form of social life there are relations| of interconnection and interdependence, or what Comte called relations of solidarity, amongst the various fetures. The idea fof a natural or phenomenal system is that of a set of relations 6 srnuctune aND ruNcTion iN FantITIVE socierY amongst event, just asa lpia ste, such at the geometry OF Buel, ia st of reltion songs propoeins rtm eal ‘ystem a et of reltions amongst etheal judgments, When one speaks ofthe "banking sytem” of Great Bra this flere to the fic that chere n'a considerible nunber of ection interaction sou transactions, such for example ae payments by ments of 2 Signed cheque dawn on a bank, which are so coonested thst they eonstut in thir toa a proce of which me can mate an analytical deciption which wil show how they are inter connected and thus forma sytem. Weare desing, of tone, with pfeeSrpe ut fth otlecdpreceno c ie Jn those eaaye T have referred to ‘kinship system. The idea is that in a ven society we can ialate concep, if notin rely, erin ae of actions ad interactions smotgat persons which are detersned by the relationships by kinship or feeags and ht parts tae einer insuch a way that we can give 4 gneal amyl dseiption of them ay constituting aay." theoreti sgafeance of this iden af ystemain that on fst stop in an atempt to une stand regular festure of form of socal if, sich se the uve af cheque, or the custom by which # man fas to oid socal contact vith his wife's mathe, isto dicover is place in the ‘patem of which il par. "The theory of Motesquiey, however, i what we may call « theory ofa ttl socal system, according to which the fstres of soc fear united nto coherent wile. As «student of jursprodece Montsquien wen pray concerned with lev, tnd he sought to show tht the we of & oity are cones ‘with the politcal consttution, the economie Hf, the religion, the climate, the size ofthe population, te manners and cust, and what he eled the genera spit (pet nda) what inter ‘rites have cilled the 'ethow of the society. A theoreti law, such a this “undamentl law of sci tte’ in not the same ‘hing aan empiri la, But is» guide to investigation Te fives u revs to think that we ean advance our underanding OF human ocieih if'we inertia seemataly the ites ‘connections amonget ferns of sok ie snernopucrion 7 State and Dynaiet Comte pointed out that in sociology, a5 in other Kinds of science, there are two sets of problems, which he called problems of statics and. problems of dynamice. In station we attempt t0 discover and define conditions of existence of of co-existence; in dynamics we ty to discover conditions of change. The con- ditions of existence of molecules or of organisms are matters of statics, and similarly the conditions of existence of societies, focal aystems, of forms of socal life are matters for socal states. Wheress the problems of social dyoamice deal with the conditions of change of forms of social life. ‘The basis of acience is systematic classification, Tt is the fiat task of tocial statis to) make some attempt to compare forme of socal life in order to arrive at classifications. But forms cof soil life cannot be catied into species and genera i the way ‘we classify forms of organic life; the classification has to be not specific but typological, and this is a more complicated kind of inveatigation. Tr can only be reached by means ofthe establishing of typologies fr features of social ife or the complexes of features ‘that are given in partial social systems. Not only is the task complex but it has been neglected in view ofthe idea that the method of anthropology should be a historical method. ‘But though the typological stadies aro one important part of coca static, there nother tak, that of formulating general- inations about the conditions of existence of social systems, oF of forms of soil life. The so-called fit la of socal statics isa {generalisation affirming that for any form of socal ifeto persist or Continue the various features must exhibit some kind and measure fof coherence or consistence, but this oaly defines the problem of ‘socal statie, which i o investigate the nature ofthis coherence. "The study of eoial dynamics in concerned with establishing generalisations sbout how social systems change. It isa corllary ‘ofthe hypothesis ofthe eytematic connection of features of social life that changes in some features ar likely to produce changes in other features, Social Feoluton "The theory of social evolution was formulated by Herbert Spencer o part of his formulation of the general theory of evolution. According to that theory the development of life on the eah costae a single proces to which Spencer applied the tem ‘erat. The theory of enue ant copocare (cia) exltion can be redacet to two esntal propatons: (G} That oth in he development of fons of orpnt Me andi the development of forms of humin soc life thee hs been proces of dverotn by whith many fret foes of ane Hie or of soci lite have heen developed ut of tery ‘much seller number of orginal form (2) That there has beck 2 gener rend of development by wlth more complex ferme of fsructore and exgniton (organic or soil) have aren fom Single forms. The acceptance of the ibeory of evolution erly Feqbires the sceptne of thee proponent giving ust scheme of interpretation to apply tothe sy of organic ad Soci He Dot it must be remembered tit some anthropologists fect he hypothesis of evolution. We can give proviral scepiance to Spence’ fandument theory, wile rejcting the varies posal, sora speculations which he aed toi and tht acceptance aves us cea concept which maybe uso aa tod Aicpeation "hi na hy cont ofthe thay of vin yo can bes aplied bath tothe study of the forme af enn ie tnd tte forma of wi ie amongst human beings’ ing crpoisn exist and conics in exience only itis bok interaly “and. externally adopted, ‘The inerta. adaption deyends on the adjustment of the. various gana sad thee deve, so thatthe varios phyla proce cont # continuing funetning pte by whch thee a the organs is anne, The external adspaton is ta of the npn tthe tvument within wih es. Th, dntan ‘xcernal and ternal spat i ees way of iting to aspects of the adapatinl yen which she me fo ngiitnof singe opeces When we com tothe sci fe of animale another feature of adaptation aes ite sppentance, ‘The enstenee os any of bees depends ona combination ofthe actin of the Sivital worker bees fn the alton of honey aed ples the Imanufctare of wan, the building of the alte tendo a eg nd larvae andthe Teting of he later he protection of he Sire honey fom robbers the venon ofthe hive by fanaing snemnapuerion 9 vith their wings, the maintenance of tempersture in the winter by clustering together. Spencer uses the tem “co-operation” to refer to this feature of social ie. Soil life and social adaptation. therefore involve the adjustment of the behaviour of individual organisms to the requirements of the process by which the facial fe continues. ‘When we examine a form of scial life smongst human beings as an adaptational system itis useful to distinguish theee aspects of the total system, There in the way in which the aodial life i tdjusted to the physical environment, and we can, if we with, speak of this 20 the ecological adaptation, Secondly, there are the institutional avangements by which an orderly socal life is maintained, so that what Spencer clls co-operation is provided for and confit is restained of regulated. ‘This we might call, if we wished, the institutional aspect of social adaptation. ‘Thiel, there is the social process by which an individual acquire habits and mental characteristics that fit him for a place in the social Tite and enable him to participate in it activities. This, if we wish, could be called cultural alapation, in accordance with the tarlier definition of cultural tradition at proces. What must be emphasised i that these modes of adaptation are only different Aspects from ythich the total adapational eystem can be looked at for convenience of analysis and comparison. "The theory of socal eveution therefore makes ita part of our scheme of interpretation of seal systems to examine any given sytem os an adaptstional system, The stability of the sytem, tnd therefore its continuance over a certain perio, depends on. the eectveness of the adeptation, Social Suture ‘The theory of evolution is one of a trend of development by which more complex types of structure come into existence by derivation from less complex one, An adress on Social Strture is incuded in thie volume, but it was delivered in war time and, was printed in abbreviated form, so that itis not as clea a8 it might be. When we ure the term structure we are referring to some sort of ordered arrangement of pars or component A musical Composition has a steuctue, and 30 does a sentence. A building has a structure, so does a molecule or an animal. The components (or unite of soil structure are ferzns, and a pereon is human being conned not sence but a osopying posien ‘One of the fundamental theoretical problems of sociology is that of the nature of social continuity. Continuity in forme of socal life depends on structural continuity, that is, some fort of contiuity in the arrangements of persons in relation to one another. At the present day there isn arrangement af persons into nations, and the fact that for seventy years T have Delonged to the English nation, although [ have lived much of ny life in other countries, is a fact of social structure. A nation, a tribe, clan, body such s the French Academy, or such asthe Roman Church, can continue in existence a8 an anrangement of persons though the personnel, the unite of which each ts com- posed, changes from time to time. ‘There is continuity of the Sruetire just a6 2 human bedy, of which the components are molecules, preserves a continuity of structure though the actual ‘molecules, of which the body consists, are contincally changing In the politcal structure ofthe United States there must always bbea President; at onetime itis Herbert Hoover, at another time Fran Roosevelt, but the structure as an arrangement remains ‘The social relationships, of which the continwing network constitute coal structure, are aot haphazard conjunctions of individuals, but are determined by the socal process, and any relationship is one in which the conduct of persons in ther inter 3 with each other is controlled by norms, rules o patterns So that in any relationship within a social structure & person knows that hei expected to behave according to these norms and is justified in expecting that other persons should do the same, ‘The established norms of conduct ofa particular form of social lite ie is usual to refer to as institutions. An institution isan es- tablished normof conduct recognised ae such bya distinguishable social group or class of which therefore it an institution, ‘The institutions refer to a distinguishable type or class of vocal relationships and interactions. Thus in given locally defined society we find that there are accepted rules fr the way a man i expected to behave towards his wife and children, The eelation of institutions to social structure is therefore twofold, On the one side there isthe social structure, auch athe family in this instance, forthe constituent relationships of which te institutions provide the norms onthe othr there i the grup, the Zc scity in thi instance, which the norm is estab bythe generat fecopnitonof ity defining proper behaviour. Tito, {tates eused tei tothe ontering by sok of he inter Iloas ef persone in ocelrlstionbipn, have this double Sennecton with suctare, with group of css of which cn beri wb a insistin and with thot reltonahie within the ftrctra apt to wich the norma app. tna socal system thre aye tse che wp nr of Bevin Hap for fg the uments of thee of, for pein, fr father offi, and 0 0, and lo norm of Behavior ling to persons who come i casa contac within the scl life inf mension may be made ofthe term organization. The cooet iscleary lol eld to the concep of oil stot, but ivisdesiele otf trent he to ter s8 synonymous. A onveniat vse which doesnot depart fom common see in Eglo celine sv svctore a anaeangrent of persons in inition cotolled or defined eatonship, sack the teainship of ng and outer hat stand and wil and to oe orgniotion av tefering to am rangement of acti. ‘The ovputin of factory the arrangement ofthe various tele of memgen fremen, workmen win he ttl ati of the factory. The strctre of family htachld of patents, Shildren and trvant i insttatonaly contol. The sets of the various mbes of the perma of the household wl probably be subject to nome regular arrangement, andthe = fuieaton fhe le ofthe houseldn shin aene ay De erent Tn cierent amis in the mre sci The tract of modern fn comity inthe fit lace ofa aangement to groups regents dnion, army corp, ec, andthe second place an rangement flo Tenkr~gereals, Clencl, efor, corporal, {re "Theonannton of the ary const of te arrangement of the actives of personnel wheter in time of pace on tme afar, Within an rgantion exch person may be sl to ave rats Those may ey tht when we re dsing witha struct Systm we are contrncd with sem of snl potion, wile ‘an oraninton we del with ate of lr Social Fonction ‘The term function has 2 very great aumber of diferent reanings in diferent contexts. In mathematics the word, 28 introduced by Euler in the eighteenth century, refers to’ an cexpresion or symbol which can be written on paper, such #8 ‘Tog. 2, and has no elation whatever tothe same word 38 used in tuch a science 28 physiology. Tn physology the concept of funeton eof fundamental importance at enabling vs to deal with the continuing relation of structure and proces in organic life. A-complex organism, uch as a human body, hie a structure fs an arrangement of organs and tiswes and figs, Even an ‘organism that consists of single cell hie a structure aban arrange- sment of molecules. An organism sleo has a life, and by this we refer to a process. The concept of organic function is one that is ted to refer othe connection betwen the structute of an organ jam and the life proces of that organism, The processes that go fon within a human body while i is living sre dependent on the organic structure, It is the funetion of the heart to pump blood through the body. The organic structure asa living structure, depends forts continued existence on the process thit ake up the total life process, If the heart cates to perform is function the life process comes to an end and the structure #8 « Hving structure aso comes to an end. Thus process is dependent on structure and continuity of structure ia dependent on proces In reference to social systems and their theoretical under- standing one way of using the concept of Function isthe same as its scientific use in physiology. Tecan be used to refer to the {nteconnestion between the social stricture and the process of ‘cal Tif Tt this use ofthe word function chat sems to me to ‘make ita seful term in comparative sociology. The three concepts ‘of proces, structure and fonction are thus components ofa single theory as a echeme of interpretation of human a ‘The three concepts are logieally interconnected, ed torefer tothe relations of procens and structure, The theory is one that we can apply to the etudy both of continuity in forme of soil life end also to processes of change in thote forms. TE we consider sucha feature of soci life a the punishment of crime, or in other words the application, by some organised procedure, of penal sanctions for certain kinds of belavious, and smernopverion Py sae what is its social function, we have a furdamental problem ‘of comparative sociology towards which a frst contribution wat ‘made by Duskheim in his Division du Travail Soil. A very wide ‘general problem is posed when we ask what is the social funetion Of religion. As it has been pointed out in one of the papers in th volume, the stdy ofthis problem requires the consideration of @ Targe nuraber af more limited problems, suchas that ofthe socal function of ancestor worship in those societies in which itis found. But in these more limited investigations, if the theory here outlined is accepted, the procedure hat to be the examination Of the connection between the structural fxturee of the eos life and the coresponding social process as both involved in a continuing system. "The frst paper in this clletion may serve to illustrate these ‘theoretical ideas. Tt dela with an ination by which a sisters ton is allowed privileged faitirty in his conduct towards his ‘mother’s brothe. The custom is known i tribes of North America such the Winnebago and others, in peoples of Oceanis auch ‘the inhabitente of Fi and Tongs, and in some tribes of Africa [My own observations on this institution were made in Tonga end Fj, but as the paper was addressed o a South Aftican audience it seemed preferable to refer to a single South Aftian example, 1a wider comparative diseussion would have called fora tnuch longer eeay. "The wal way of dealing with thi inatitation, both in Oceania and in Afvce, as to offer a pacudo-historieal ex planation tothe effect that it wana survival ina patilneal society from a former condition of mother-ight, “The alternative method of dealing with the institutions to look fora theoretical understanding ofits a part ofa kinship system of 1 certain type, within which it har a diacoverable function, We do not yet havea systematic general typology of kinship eytems, for the construction of auch ie « laborious undertaking. T have indiated some paral and provisional reals of such an attempt to determine types in a recent publication in the’ form of an Introduction to. book on Affican Systems of Kinship and Marriage: Amonget the grest diversity of Kinship eyetems we cay T think engine x type of what we ay all thersigh, and nother of mather-right, In both these types the kinship structure {based on lineages with maximum emphasis on lineage relation- ships, In mother-right the lineage ig matrilineal a child belonging 14 STRUCTURE AND FONCTION IN pRIOETIVE soctETY ta the lineage of the mother. Practically all che joral relations of mun are those with his matelneal Hneage and its members, tru therefore hes Inrgely dependent on his mother's rothete, who tsereise authority and contol over him and to whom he locke for protection and for inheritance of propery. na apatem of father right, on the other hand, a than is largely dependent on his patrilineal lineage and therefare on hie father and father’ brothers, Who exercise authority and contol over him, while i isto them that he hast lok for protection and for inheritance, Father-right is represented by the sysyem of patria potetas of ancient Rome, and there ae esters that approximate more oles losely tothe ‘ype tobe found in Aficn and elsewhere, We may regard the BaThonga at 80 approximating. Motherright is represented by the systems of the Nayar of Malabar and the Menangluba ‘Malays, and apsin there are systems elsewhere that approximate to the type ‘The point ofthe paper on the mother's brother may be sid to be to contrast with the explanation by pecudo-history the interpretation of the institution to which it refere as having a fanction ina kinship system with a certain type of structure. It I were to rewrite the paper after thirty yeate T should eetainly ‘modity and expand it. But it hae been suggested to me that the paper may have a certain minor historical interest in relation to the development of thought in anthropology and itis therefore reprinted almost ast was written with only minor alterations. ‘Any interest thio volume may have will probably be a8 an ‘exposition ofa theory, in the sense in which the word theory here ured asa scheme of interpreation thought tobe appictble to the understanding of a class of phenomena, ‘The theory can be stated hy means of the theee fundamental and connected ‘concepts of ‘process’, ‘sructure” and ‘function’, It is derived from such earlier writers 2¢ Montesquieu, Comte, Spencer, Durkheim and thus belongs toa cultural tradition. of two hhundred yeart. “This introduction contsine reforevlation ‘which certain terms are used differently from the way they were ‘used in the easly papers here reprinted, For example, in the

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