The Evolution of Culture by White Leslie A

Author:White, Leslie A.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-315-41855-1
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

Special Structures

By special structure we mean a structure within a sociocultural system having a specialized function. The sum of the classes, or segments, of a society is exactly equal to the whole; society as a whole is subdivided into a number of classes or segments leaving no remainder. But a special structure is merely a differentiated part of the social whole, differentiated structurally and functionally; the sum of special structures is not equal to society as a whole. In biological systems a heart or stomach is a special structure. In sociocultural systems shamans, chiefs, kings, parliaments, police are special structures. In societies based upon ties of kinship the number of such structures is few and their development relatively weak. It is only on the higher levels of cultural development, especially in the cultures produced by the agricultural revolution and in the more recent systems of the fuel era, that specialized mechanisms of social integration and control become numerous or play a prominent role in the conduct of social life. Since the significance of special structures lies in their co-ordinative, integrative, directive, and regulative functions, we shall discuss them under the heading of social control and integration, rather than here under social structure, or anatomy.

In this chapter we have considered the aspects of primitive sociocultural systems that Herbert Spencer liked to call “morphology and physiology,” i.e., the structure and functioning of human social systems. We have viewed these aspects in evolutionary perspective as well as in a nontemporal context.

We have examined the various kinds of social segments found in stages of cultural development—families, lineages, clans, and moieties, as well as the so-called Australian marriage classes, or sections—and have endeavored to show how they have come into being and how they function in the system as a whole. We have discovered in the process of segmentation an important principle: segments are means of achieving larger organizations, on the one hand, and of intensifying internal cohesion, or social solidarity, on the other.

We have noted the various kinds of classes extant in primitive society. We have discovered the bases upon which they rest and terms in which they are distinguished and defined. The ways in which classes are related to one another were considered also.

The concept of special structure was introduced. But since such structures have functions of integration, regulation, and control almost exclusively, we reserved discussion of them for the following chapter.

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