Zitate GSIA 2

“I conceive of social anthropology as the theoretical natural science of human society, that is, the investigation of social phenomena by methods essentially similar to those used in the physical and biological sciences. ... there are some ethnologists or anthropologists who hold that it is not possible, or at least not profitable, to apply to social phenomena the theoretical methods of natural science. For these persons social anthropology, as I have defined it, is something that does not and never will exist. For them, of course, my remarks will have no meaning, or at least not the meaning I
intend.”

The view advanced in this Introduction is that to understand any kinship system it is necessary to carry out an analysis in terms of social structure and social function. The components of social structures are human beings, and a structure is an arrangement of persons in relationships institutionally defined and regulated. The social function of any feature of a system is its relation to the structure and its continuance and stability, not its relation to the biological needs of individuals. The analysis of any particular system cannot be effectively carried out except in the light of the knowledge that we obtain by the
systematic comparison of diverse systems.

All the kinship systems of the world are the product of social evolution. An essential feature of evolution is diversification by divergent development, and therefore there is great diversity in the forms of kinship systems. (...) For a kinship system to exist, or to continue in existence, it must ‘work’ with at least some measure of effectiveness. It must provide an integration of persons in a set of relationships within which they can interact and co-operate without too many serious conflicts. Tensions and possibilities of conflict exist in all systems. Professor Fortes and Dr. Richards have pointed out the tensions that exist in societies that approximate to mother-right. In systems approximating to father-right the tensions are different but exist none the less, as may be seen in the account of the Swazi. For a system to work efficiently it must provide methods of limiting, controlling, or resolving such conflicts or tensions. (...)

Whether a kinship system functions well or not so well as a mode of social integration depends on the way it is constructed. Just as an architect in designing a building has to make a choice of structural principles which he will use, so, though in less deliberate fashion, in the construction of a kinship system there are a certain limited number of structural principles which can be used and combined in various ways. It is on the selection, method of use, and combination of these principles that the character of the structure depends. A structural analysis of a kinship system must therefore be in terms of structural
principles and their application.

“The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences.”

«With the exception of the few cases to be discussed in the next chapter, adolescence represented no period of crisis or stress, but was instead an orderly developing of a set of slowly maturing interests and activities. The girls’ minds were perplexed be no conflicts, troubled by no philosophical queries, beset by no remote ambitions. To live as a girl with many lovers as long as possible an then to marry in one’s own village, near one’s own relatives, and to have many children, these were uniform and satisfying ambitions.”

„Wenn der Inhalt des Mythos ganz zufällig ist, wie lässt sich dann verstehen, dass die Mythen von einem Ende der Welt zum andern sich so sehr ähneln?“

„Wir behaupten nunmehr, dass die wirklichen konstitutiven Einheiten des Mythos keine isolierten Beziehungen sind, sondern Beziehungsbündel, und dass jene nur in Form von Kombinationen solcher Bündel eine Bedeutungsfunktion erlangen.“