scholarly journals Lineal kinship organization in cross-specific perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1780) ◽  
pp. 20190005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Fortunato

I draw on insights from anthropology to outline a framework for the study of kinship systems that applies across animal species with biparental sexual reproduction. In particular, I define lineal kinship organization as a social system that emphasizes interactions among lineally related kin—that is, individuals related through females only, if the emphasis is towards matrilineal kin, and individuals related through males only, if the emphasis is towards patrilineal kin. In a given population, the emphasis may be expressed in one or more social domains, corresponding to pathways for the transmission of different resources across generations (e.g. the allocation of food, the transfer of access to the natal territory or household). A lineal bias in any domain can be viewed as a bias in investment towards a particular set of kin—specifically, towards the offspring of daughters if the bias is matrilineal, and towards the offspring of sons if the bias is patrilineal. Effectively, investment is restricted to the offspring of the females in the population in one case, and to the offspring of the males in the other. This is distinct from a bias in investment towards daughters and towards sons, respectively. Overall, I propose a shift in focus—from viewing matrilineal and patrilineal kinship as unitary phenomena, to consideration of the different aspects of the social system featuring a bias towards lineally related kin. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The evolution of female-biased kinship in humans and other mammals’.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Fortunato

I draw on insights from anthropology to outline a framework for the study of kinship systems that applies across animal species with biparental sexual reproduction. In particular, I define lineal kinship organization as a social system that emphasizes interactions among lineally related kin — that is, individuals related through females only, if the emphasis is towards matrilineal kin, and individuals related through males only, if the emphasis is towards patrilineal kin. In a given population, the emphasis may be expressed in one or more social domains, corresponding to pathways for the transmission of different resources across generations (e.g. the allocation of food, the transfer of access to the natal territory or household).A lineal bias in any domain can be viewed as a bias in investment towards a particular set of kin — specifically, towards the offspring of daughters if the bias is matrilineal, and towards the offspring of sons if the bias is patrilineal. Effectively, investment is restricted to the offspring of the females in the population in one case, and to the offspring of the males in the other. This is distinct from a bias in investment towards daughters and towards sons, respectively.Overall, I propose a shift in focus — from viewing matrilineal and patrilineal kinship as unitary phenomena, to consideration of the different aspects of the social system featuring a bias towards lineally related kin.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (30) ◽  
pp. 40-58
Author(s):  
Martin Milán Csirszki

In this paper Talcott Parsons’ systems theory is applied to the food system. After the introduction of the basic categories of the food system, the main elements of Parsons’ theory are drawn up. Then, the detailed analysis takes place on three abstraction levels: within the general paradigm of human condition, the action system and the social system. During the analysis, two conclusions are formulated: one of them is in connection with the correction of abstraction levels concerning the food system, the other one creates the classes of the food system that can be corresponded to the four Parsonsian functions. In the end of the study, a final conclusion is formulated.


2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1597) ◽  
pp. 1782-1784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd M. Freeberg ◽  
Terry J. Ord ◽  
Robin I. M. Dunbar

The complex social worlds of many animal species may be linked to complex communicative systems in those species. We now have evidence in diverse taxa and in different communicative modalities suggesting that complexity in social groups can drive complexity in signalling systems. The aim of this theme issue is to develop the theory behind this link between social complexity and communicative complexity, and to provide an overview of the lines of research testing this link.


Author(s):  
David Krackhardt

In 1973, Mark Granovetter proposed that weak ties are often more important than strong ties in understanding certain network-based phenomena. His argument rests on the assumption that strong ties tend to bond similar people to each other and these similar people tend to cluster together such that they are all mutually connected. The information obtained through such a network tie is more likely to be redundant, and the network is therefore not a channel for innovation. By contrast, a weak tie more often constitutes a “local bridge” to parts of the social system that are otherwise disconnected, and therefore a weak tie is likely to provide new information from disparate parts of the system. Thus, this theory argues, tie strength is curvilinear with a host of dependent variables: no tie (or an extremely weak tie) is of little consequence; a weak tie provides maximum impact, and a strong tie provides diminished impact. Subsequent research has generally supported Granovetter’s theory (Granovetter 1982), but two issues have been neglected in the research stream. First, there is considerable ambiguity as to what constitutes a strong tie and what constitutes a weak tie. Granovetter laid out four identifying properties of a strong tie: “The strength of a tie is a (probably linear) combination of the amount of time, the emotional intensity, the intimacy (mutual confiding), and the reciprocal services which characterize the tie” (1973:1361). This makes tie strength a linear function of four quasi-independent indicators. At what point is a tie to be considered weak? This is not simply a question for the methodologically curious. It is an important part of the theory itself, since the theory makes a curvilinear prediction. If we happen to be on the very left side of the continuum of tie strength, then increasing the strength of the tie (going from no tie to weak tie) will increase the relevant information access. On the other hand, at some point making the ties stronger will theoretically decrease their impact. How do we know where we are on this theoretical curve? Do all four indicators count equally toward tie strength? In practice, tie strength has been measured many different ways.


2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 594-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gorik Ooms

Natural selection generated a natural sense of justice. This natural sense of justice created a set of natural rights; rights humans accorded to each other in virtue of being members of the same tribe. Sharing the responsibility for natural rights between all members of the same tribe allowed humans to take advantage of all opportunities for cooperation. Human rights are the present day political emanation of natural rights. Theoretically, human rights are accorded by all humans to all humans in virtue of being humans; however, the idea that the corresponding responsibility is now shared among all humans is not broadly accepted. The natural sense of justice creates an ambiguity: on the one hand humans consider the nation they belong to as the social system that should guarantee their human rights (and likewise they do not consider themselves as having responsibility for the human rights of inhabitants of other nations); on the other hand, as cooperation between nations intensifies, expectations of global mutual responsibility increase as well.


2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 683-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vida Vukašinović ◽  
Jurij Šilc ◽  
Risth Škrekovski

Abstract An acquaintance network is a social structure made up of a set of actors and the ties between them. These ties change dynamically as a consequence of incessant interactions between the actors. In this paper we introduce a social network model called the Interaction-Based (IB) model that involves well-known sociological principles. The connections between the actors and the strength of the connections are influenced by the continuous positive and negative interactions between the actors and, vice versa, the future interactions are more likely to happen between the actors that are connected with stronger ties. The model is also inspired by the social behavior of animal species, particularly that of ants in their colony. A model evaluation showed that the IB model turned out to be sparse. The model has a small diameter and an average path length that grows in proportion to the logarithm of the number of vertices. The clustering coefficient is relatively high, and its value stabilizes in larger networks. The degree distributions are slightly right-skewed. In the mature phase of the IB model, i.e., when the number of edges does not change significantly, most of the network properties do not change significantly either. The IB model was found to be the best of all the compared models in simulating the e-mail URV (University Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona) network because the properties of the IB model more closely matched those of the e-mail URV network than the other models


Author(s):  
ماجدة حمود (Majidah Hamoud)

ملخص البحث:                                                         تعد دراسة صورة الآخر فرعا من فروع الأدب المقارن، وتهدف إلى فهم الذات والآخر الذي هو مختلف عن الأنا بالدين أو العرق أو...الخ. حين نتأمل مؤلفات الجاحظ نجدها منفتحة على الآخر، تقدم له صورة أقرب للموضوعية، وهذا نتيجة الثقافة الإسلامية التي انفتحت على الثقافات الأخرى، ورغم صراعه مع الشعوبية وجدناه يبتعد عن التعميم، وحين تحدث عن البخلاء الفرس، لم نجد صورتهم مشوّهة ومنفّرة، وقد بدا معجباً بحكمة الفرس وبلاغتهم، كما نجده متأثراً بموقف السلطة السياسية في محنة البرامكة.كذلك بدا منفتحاً على الآخر اليهودي والمسيحي، وإن كنا قد لحظنا بعض التأثر بالنسق الاجتماعي في تقديم الآخر الزنجي، لكننا وجدناه أول من أنصفهم في تراثنا، إذ ألف رسالة "فخر السودان على البيضان" فأتاح لهم فرصة التعبير عن ذواتهم؛ لهذا كله بدا لنا مثقفا إسلاميا فاعلا، رسّخ رؤية متوازنة للآخر، تقصي التعصب جانباً، وتؤسس لمجتمع تسوده قيم الإسلام السمحة؛ لهذا كان هذا الهدف ماثلا أمام ناظريه حين ألف كتبه. الكلمات المفتاحية: صورة الآخر –الأنا-مع الشعوبية-أهل الذمة-صورة الزنج. Abstract:The study of the representation of others is an area image of others is a branch of comparative literature, aiming to understand the self and others, which is different from the ego, religion or race, etc. When we read the books of Al-Jāhiẓ we will find them accepting ideas of others, and give them a closer picture to the objective, and this is as a result of Islamic Culture, which opens up to other cultures. Despite his struggle with populism we find him away from overgeneralization, and when he speaking about Scrooges Persians, we do not find their image distorted, offensive, and he seems to admire the wisdom Persians and their language, we find him influenced by the reaction of political power in the plight of Baraamikah. Also he was open to other Jewish and Christians, but we have observed that there is an effect by the social system in delivering the other Negro, also we found him the first scholar whom justice about them in Arab heritage, where he established “the pride of the Sudan at white men"., then he gave them the opportunity to express themselves. For all that he seemed to be an educated Muslim, having a balanced view of the other, fact-intolerance aside, and establish a society where the values of tolerance of Islam, for this was borne this goal in front of him when edited his books.Keywords: The Representation of Others- Ego- Populism- Dhimmis- Negro.  Abstrak:Perlambangan adalah salah satu cabang ilmu dalam sastera perbandingan yang bertujuan untuk memahami diri dan orang lain yang berbeza daripada ketaasuban agama, bangsa atau sebagainya. Jika kita meneliti karya-karya Al-Jahiz kita akan mendapati karyanya bersifat terbuka yang mana ia dapat memberi gambaran yang lebih dekat sesuai dengan matlamat yang ingin dicapai hasil daripada keterbukaan agama islam yang menerima perbezaan budaya-budaya lain. Walaupun Al-Jahiz menentang isu perkauman namun, kita mendapati bahawa beliau masih bersikap adil. Hal ini dapat dilihat apabila beliau menyebut tentang kebakhilan orang-orang Parsi, kita tidak menjumpai gambaran yang buruk atau sonsang tentang mereka, malah Al-Jahiz masih mengkagumi kebijaksanaan dan ketinggian bahasa orang-orang Parsi sepertimana beliau cukup terkesan dengan kuasa politik Parsi dalam menangani isu baramka. Di samping itu, karya Jahiz turut bersifat terbuka terhadap yahudi dan kristian, walaupun kita mendapati bahawa terdapat pengaruh sosial ketika menggambarkan tentang orang-orang Nigeria, akan tetapi beliau merupakan orang yang pertama yang mengangkat isu ini dengan menulis sepucuk surat tentang “Kebanggaan Orang Sudan Terhadap Kulit Putih”. Maka, jelaslah bahawa Al-Jahiz adalah seorang pemikir islam yang sebenar yang mempunyai pandangan sama rata terhadap orang lain, mengenepikan isu perkauman dan melahirkan sebuah masyarakat yang bersifat toleransi. Ia adalah merupakan matlamat utama Al-Jahiz dalam menulis buku ini.Kata kunci: Perlambangan – Keegoaan – Perkauman – Ahli Zimmi – Gambaran Nigeria.  


Author(s):  
Cristina Mariti

- In Western societies family and work, the two focal subsystems governing individual and social groups' daily life, are undergoing substantial and may be final adjustments. Family dimension is changing in its hierarchical structure, in kinship and ties, in emotional, reproductive and economic organisation and setting up new styles coexisting with traditional standard and gradually corroding its role and constitution. Work, on the other hand, is increasingly connoted by flexibility, mobility and precariousness and it appears as a strongly (may be irreversible) changing element of the social system; several are the social "aggregates" on which these adjustments are active: (self)confidence, planning skills, individual time allocation, emotional and familiar life organisation. The theory of social capital, considered as the knowledge in reciprocity held by an individual and used, together with intellectual and cultural heritage, in social mutual relations, is recently raising in social sciences. The purpose of the survey is to analyse the reciprocal interconnections and the refractive upshots of the process involving these three elements and the set up network.


Africa ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 252-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Middleton

Opening ParagraphIn this paper I consider some Lugbara notions about witches, ghosts, and other agents who bring sickness to human beings. I do not discuss the relationship of these notions, and the behaviour associated with them, to the social structure. The two aspects, ideological and structural, are intimately connected, but it is possible to discuss them separately: on the one hand, to present the ideology as a system consistent within itself and, on the other, to show the way in which it is part of the total social system. Here I attempt only the former.


Author(s):  
Mahlail Syakur

Islam as a part of the social system comes with a mission as rahmah lil-‘alamin to take part in nation-building. On the other sides Indonesia is a multicultural country where Islam is one of the subsystems. Therefore, Islam should be introduced as the potential for an inclusive, democratic and pluralist. Sunan Kudus spreads Islam by way of acculturation traditions and local culture because at that time the majority of the population is Hindu Holy.This research includes the study of literature (library research) using the method of documentation and descriptive. Descriptive method is used to describe all of the information about the fatwa Sunan Kudus and his background. The researcher also used a historical approach to photographing the events of the past time.There are two findings in this study, namely: (1) Prohibition of slaughtering cows that produce discourse that the Kudus people have high awareness for religious tolerance when Islam was come to Kudus, (2) Character education in banning slaughter cows produced a discourse that architecture of Mosque and Kudus Minaret and fatwa "Prohibition of slaughtering cows" contains the educational value of inter-religious tolerance.Methods and strategies of propaganda Sunan Kudus conceived a view to educating the Muslim community in order to have a noble character, are willing to respect and appreciate the confidence the Hindu community who believed that the cow is considered sacred animals. 


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