Crime and Custom in Savage SocietyBronislaw Malinowski achieved international recognition as the founder of "functionalism" in social anthropology, based on his studies of Melanesian society on the Trobriand Islands off New Guinea. His Crime and Custom in Savage Society is now one of the classic works of modern anthropology. In his book, Malinowski describes and analyzes the ways in which Trobriand Islanders structure and maintain the social and economic order of their tribe. This is essential reading for anyone interested in anthropology. |
Contents
THE AUTOMATIC SUBMISSION TO CUSTOM AND THE REAL PROBLEM | 9 |
MELANESIAN ECONOMICS AND THE THEORY OF PRIMITIVE COMMUNISM | 17 |
THE BINDING FORCE OF ECONOMIC OBLIGATIONS | 21 |
RECIPROCITY AND DUAL ORGANIZATION | 24 |
LAW SELFINTEREST AND SOCIAL AMBITION | 28 |
THE RULES OF LAW IN RELIGIOUS ACTS | 33 |
THE LAW OF MARRIAGE | 35 |
THE PRINCIPLE OF GIVE AND TAKE PERVADING TRIBAL LIFE | 39 |
AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL DEFINITION OF LAW | 55 |
SPECIFIC LEGAL ARRANGEMENTS | 60 |
CONCLUSION AND FORECAST | 63 |
PRIMITIVE CRIME AND ITS PUNISHMENT | 69 |
THE LAW IN BREACH AND THE RESTORATION OF ORDER | 71 |
SORCERY AND SUICIDE AS LEGAL INFLUENCES | 85 |
SYSTEMS OF LAW IN CONFLICT | 100 |
THE FACTORS OF SOCIAL COHESION IN A PRIMITIVE TRIBE | 112 |
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Common terms and phrases
adultery ambition anthropology Argonauts arrangements aspect automatic behaviour binding force body breach brother canoe carried ceremonial chain of reciprocal chief civil law coco-nut concrete conflict crime criminal culture definite described duties economic elastic enforced evasion exist exogamy fact father field-work fish fulfilment group-sentiment husband important incest institutions insult jurisprudence kinship kinsmen Kiriwina Kula L'Année Sociologique Laura Spelman Rockefeller law and order magic manner marriage maternal uncle matrilineal means Melanesian Mitakata moral Mother-right mourning Namwana Guya'u nature nephew obeyed obligations Omarakana palm patrilocal phratries primitive communism primitive law principle privileges psychology punishment rank regarded relations religious RICHARD GREGORY ritual rules of custom rules of law Savage Society self-interest sentiment side Sidney Hartland sister social organization sociological solidarity sorcery spontaneous strict sub-clan suicide taboo theory tion tradition transactions tribal law tribe Trobriand Islands tuva unity usage village wailed whole wife
Popular passages
Page 2 - NTHROPOLOGY is still to most laymen and to many specialists mainly an object of antiquarian interest. Savagery is still synonymous with absurd, cruel, and eccentric customs, with quaint superstitions and revolting practices. Sexual licence, infanticide, head-hunting, couvade, cannibalism and what not, have made anthropology attractive reading to many, a subject of curiosity rather than of serious scholarship to others. There are, however, certain aspects of anthropology which are of a genuine scientific...
Page 3 - Underlying all these ideas was the assumption that in primitive societies the individual is completely dominated by the group — the horde, the clan, or the tribe — that he obeys the commands of his community, its traditions, its public opinion, its decrees, with a slavish, fascinated, passive obedience.