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Social Organization & Stratification
March 11th 2008
Social Organization
Kinship, Descent, Age, Gender, Associations, and Stratification

Descent Systems
Patrilineal
Matrilineal
Ambilineal
Common Correlations:
Clan: the exact relationship is unknown but the siblings believe that they share a paternal ancestor sometime in the distant past
Totemism: is tracing liniage back to animal or some other object.
also see Bilateral Kinship (as used in the USA) in the text.
Sacdliwusk : KSU Wildcats and our mascot willie is an example how totemism remains in our culture this is an association.
Moving on to associations as a part of social organization ... showed a clip from "Mean Girls" showing the cliques in a high school lunch room to illustrate social organization by association.
Stratified Society: people are divided into social tiers (classes or castes) and do not share equally in wealth, influence, and prestige. Even in the basic needs for survival are not shared equally.
Egalitarian Society: everyone has about equal access to wealth, influence, and prestige. Often mechanisms to equalize wealth.
Caste in India
Caste: a closed social class determined by birth and fixed for life 2,000 castes in 4 Varnas
Brahmans: Priests and Lawgivers
Kshatriyas: Fighers and Rulers
Vaisyas: Merchants and Traders
Shudras: Artisans and Laborers
Dalits (Harijan): Cheap Labor, Unclean work (e.g. Leather)
Video Clip from CNN showing a caste-related killing Caste among Sikhs.
Sikhs of the Punjab region of India tried to eliminate the caste system. They established their religion 500 years ago.
Their beliefs are nicely stated in this quote from one of their sacred texts:
"Let no man be proud because of his caste/race (Jaat).
For the man who has God in his heart, he alone is the true Brahmin.
O stupid fool, be not proud of your caste/race (Jaat), by this pride many sins arise.
Everyone says there are four castes/races (Jaat), but they are all created from the Lords seed (essence).
All men are moulded from the same clay, but the potter has fashioned it into vessels of numerous forms.
By joining the five elements, the form of the body is made, no one can say that the element is less in one and more in another"
video made by 2 school boys from England who are Sikhs, showing that Sikhs still wrestle with the caste system and that it still exists despite their efforts to eliminate it.
Social Organization
Kinship, Descent, Age, Gender, Associations, and Stratification
Descent Systems
Patrilineal
Matrilineal
Ambilineal
Common Correlations:
| Subsistence | Characteristics | Family | Residence | Kinship | Descent |
| Indus./Foraging | Mobility | Nuclear | Neolocal | Eskimo | Bilateral |
| Agriculture | Men Work | Extended | Patrilocal | Iroquois | Patrilineal |
| Horticulture | Women Work | Extended | Matrilocal | Crow | Matrilineal |
| Internal War | Extended | Patrilocal | Iroquois | Patrilineal | |
| Scarcity | Nuc/Ext | Ambilocal | Hawaiian | Ambilineal | |
| Pastoral | Men Work | Extended | Patrilocal | Iroquois | Patrilineal |
Clan: the exact relationship is unknown but the siblings believe that they share a paternal ancestor sometime in the distant past
Totemism: is tracing liniage back to animal or some other object.
also see Bilateral Kinship (as used in the USA) in the text.
Sacdliwusk : KSU Wildcats and our mascot willie is an example how totemism remains in our culture this is an association.
Moving on to associations as a part of social organization ... showed a clip from "Mean Girls" showing the cliques in a high school lunch room to illustrate social organization by association.
Stratified Society: people are divided into social tiers (classes or castes) and do not share equally in wealth, influence, and prestige. Even in the basic needs for survival are not shared equally.
Egalitarian Society: everyone has about equal access to wealth, influence, and prestige. Often mechanisms to equalize wealth.
Caste in India
Caste: a closed social class determined by birth and fixed for life 2,000 castes in 4 Varnas
Brahmans: Priests and Lawgivers
Kshatriyas: Fighers and Rulers
Vaisyas: Merchants and Traders
Shudras: Artisans and Laborers
Dalits (Harijan): Cheap Labor, Unclean work (e.g. Leather)
Video Clip from CNN showing a caste-related killing Caste among Sikhs.
Sikhs of the Punjab region of India tried to eliminate the caste system. They established their religion 500 years ago.
Their beliefs are nicely stated in this quote from one of their sacred texts:
"Let no man be proud because of his caste/race (Jaat).
For the man who has God in his heart, he alone is the true Brahmin.
O stupid fool, be not proud of your caste/race (Jaat), by this pride many sins arise.
Everyone says there are four castes/races (Jaat), but they are all created from the Lords seed (essence).
All men are moulded from the same clay, but the potter has fashioned it into vessels of numerous forms.
By joining the five elements, the form of the body is made, no one can say that the element is less in one and more in another"
video made by 2 school boys from England who are Sikhs, showing that Sikhs still wrestle with the caste system and that it still exists despite their efforts to eliminate it.
Latest page update: made by amagoo
, Mar 12 2008, 9:44 PM EDT
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