Page 197 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Social Stratification

Notes individuals in a society can communicate with one another. The practice of language is an exchange
of words between social subjects. The exchange of words is fundamental a social act. However,
there is a continuous exchange of material goods, words, symbols, stories and ideas at various
levels. The idea of reciprocity is expressed through the idea of exchange. The exchange is carried
out regularly by means of socially accepted ways and norms.
Levi-Strauss states that in the pre-capitalistic society, the kinship is the ordering principle of the
society. The kinship relationships are of a ling term nature and in some cases they are immutable.
Kinship ties are not only rooted in the biological fact, but provide a flexible language for expressing
a wider range of ties that can be genealogically represented. In the simple societies all members
are in kinship relation.
Levi-Strauss argues that just as there is an exchange of other objects, there is also an exchange of
women. This exchange is based on the fact that there cannot be mating within the same family.
Thus people cannot mate with their parents or sons or daughters or brothers or sisters. With the
result, they have to establish a relationship with people other than their own kith and kin. Thus
the incest taboo is related with the rule of exogamy— namely that people must marry outside the
family. The fundamental bonds of society are the bonds between men or groups of men by means
of exchange of women. It is men who exchange women and not vice-versa. The overall relationship
that is established is not between a man and a woman but between groups of men and a woman
who is not a partner but an object of exchange.
The establishment of these extra-familial ties produces social relations and makes possible for
people to extend the field of their activities and there by authority, beyond the limits of the family.
The gender differences are necessary for recognition of men and women who seek a partner of the
opposite sex in order to achieve wholeness of life. These differences are not necessarily related to
biological differences but to the social situation. Thus regardless of an individual’s natural
inclinations or rational choices the fact of his biology has to be developed in socially acceptable
ways. The network of the social relations is established through the exchange of women and with
the help of the sexual division of labour a reciprocal state of dependency is created among the
members of the society. Levi-Strauss’s ideas have been incorporated by various feminist writers
such as Simone de Beauvoir and Juliet Mitchell. Both of them have made a close connection
between Levi-Strauss’s theory and Freudian theory.
One of the important critiques of Levi-Strauss’s theory of the exchange of women is represented
by Gayle Rubin. In her article ‘The Traffic of Women : Notes on the Political Economy of Sex’. She
has discussed many problems regarding Levi-Strauss’s theory. Her main criticism is that the
construction of sexuality which is assumed by Levi-Strauss is really more complex and varied.
There are societies which have the institution of hetero-sexual marriage and yet they allow homo-
sexual relations. She points out that Levi-Strauss’s assumptions cannot be generalized.
Kate Young and Oliva Harris question the very comparison of the structure of the society with the
structure of the human mind and there by also the comparison of exchange of women with the
exchange of words. They argue that Levi-Strauss has implicitly assumed the Freudian theory and the
dominance of phallus. He has appealed to facts but does not supply the ground for the exchange of
women. They point out that the incest taboo emerged as the evolutionary step in civilization. Even
though it is universal, its particular form changes from society to society. In many precapitalist societies
there were positive rules regarding marriage and not just the negative rules in the form of incest
taboos.
For Kate Young and Oliva Harris, there are other demographic reasons for gaining an access to
women of the other groups. Marriage is a political and economic institution and not only an
institution for ensuring biological reproduction of the society. Woman has not only erotic value
but she has also an economic value as she has a crucial role in the production of wealth. They have
cited exactly the opposite principle of endogamy (opposite to exogamy) which requires that women

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