Suchergebnisse

El enfoque de redes representa una vía metodológica para comprender y explicar las estructuras sociales de las comunidades urbanas. Esta teoría se apoya en la interdependencia entre las actividades humanas y los vínculos sociales que se establecen sobre la base de las relaciones matrimoniales y de parentesco. La ciudad constituye un escenario en el cual se generan corrientes de actividad humana y los individuos se desempeñan en múltiples actividades, pero este desempeño depende en gran medida de las relaciones familiares y de parentesco. Se distinguen éstas de las interacciones de otro tipo que son efímeras o no exigen los compromisos que dictan las reglas formales de convivencia cívica y del mercado. Se parte del estudio clásico de Yankee City y a través del método de random walks, que ha permitido rastrear líneas genealógicas y de ascendencia en diferentes tipos de ocupación laboral, se analizan algunas comunidades en ciudades pequeñas y de tamaño intermedio, lo que permite identificar posiciones de ciertos grupos que han influido en la vida social, económica y política de esas localidades.

Longitudinal network analysis is coupled in this study to a systematic analysis of the results of long-term ethnography of a nomadic group. Data collection using genealogical, interview and observational methods is complemented by analytic methods using graph theoretic concepts and dynamical as well as structural methods to assess various cross-cutting and hierarchical levels of social cohesion (nuclear and extended families, lineages, clans, tribal groups, and village or nationality affiliations as found within the nomad group) to formulate and test hypotheses about social mobility and political leadership. Predictive hypotheses about the inverse relation between out-mobility and social cohesion versus the direct relation between cultural transmission and marital relinking as a form of cohesion are thought to validate the basic approach. The model of distributed cohesion developed from these data provides a new understanding of processes supporting the emergence of leaders in egalitarian nomadic groups.

We discuss and test competing explanations for polygyny based on household economics, malecentered kin groups, warfare, and environmental characteristics. Data consist of codes for 142 societies from the Standard Cross‐Cultural Sample, including new codes for polygyny and environmental characteristics. An explanatory model is tested for the worldwide sample using regression analysis, and then replicated with regional samples. We obtain convergent results with two different measures of polygyny, cultural rules for men's marriages and the percentage of women married polygynously. We conclude that the best predictors of polygyny are fraternal interest groups, warfare for capture of women, absence of constraints on expansion into new lands, and environmental quality and homogeneity.