Gossip and Scandal. Max Gluckman

Papers in Honor of Melville J. Herskovits: Gossip and Scandal Author(s): Max Gluckman Source: Current Anthropology, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Jun., 1963), pp. 307-316 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2739613 . Accessed: 28/07/2011 12:56 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpress. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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Papersin Honor of MelvilleJ.Herskovits

Gossipand Scandal byMax qluckman IT HAS TAKEN the development of anthropological individual... the same rightto indulgein slander, interest in the growthand break-upof smallgroups gossip,outbursts of conceit,jealously,etc.,thathe has to putgossipand scandalintotheirproperperspective, to giveventto themorerespectable emotions." Radin's as amongthe most importantsocietaland cultural theorywas thusmuchlessacutethanhisobservations we are called upon to analyse.Perceptive of gossip.He may have confusedthemaintenance phenomena of anthropologists dealt withthesephenomenafromthe a surfaceof goodrelationsbetweenleaderswithactual early days of field observation.Paul Radin, in his good relations, buthe clearlydetectedhow theycom(1927:177-8),described peted throughgossip,withoutbeing able to weave Primitive Man as a Philosopher thisinto a theory.This is partlyunderstandable theway in which in and termsof the backgroundof analyticalideas at the primitive peopleareindeedamongthemostpersistent forthesamehonours, Contestants pos- timehe wrote,thougha yearearlier,Malinowskihad ofgossips. inveterate nar- presentedhis theoryof mythas a social charterfor of thesacredritesof thetribe,theauthorized sessors all leaveyou in littledoubtas to the existingsocial arrangements ratorsof legends, on the basis of a man's oftheircolleagues. "Ignoramus,"boaststhathe had theprivilegeto tella certainmyth andproficiency character bandied (Mythin Primitive "liar"areliberally "braggart," andnotinfrequently Psychology, 1926). about. In his study of a Trinidad Village (1947:185), "some observers that therefore Radin commented have drawn the conclusionthat not love, kindness, Herskovitsprobedmuchmoredeeplyinto gossipas He discusses howprosecutions and forbearance, but envy,slanderand hate are the a culturalphenomenon. and jailing of a sect called the Shouters "give riseto He of a primitive dominantatmosphere community." becausethe "unkind gossip about the eventsthat led to the suppressed arguedthat thiswas incorrect, talesthatare toldand retoldwitha mixture bandiedabout meetings, and slanderousremarksso frequently of relish and sympathy." He proceedsto show how the do not engenderfeudsand thatoften principals concernedare on verygood terms."Radin dismissed popular attitudesand pointsof view influencethis or evensupplants was to be explained gossip,so that"fantasysupplements the idea thatthiscontradiction in fact order to weave more a new motifinto closely on he fell back but or by "suppression sublimation"; a meagrepsychological thesis,thattribalsocietyhas a the old patternof grievanceagainstdiscrimination." gossipblamedthelocal minister for theoryof freedomof expressionwhichgives"every Thus oft-repeated a firstseriesof arrestsof Shouters, forit was alleged thathe was piqued becausethe Shoutershad drawn MAX GLUCKMAN is Professor of Social Anthropologyat the away his own congregation. Prominent laymenof a Victoria Universityof Manchester,England. Born in 1911, he recognizedchurchwere accusedin gossipof leading was educated in Johannesburgand as a Rhodes Scholar at the police to a Shouters'meeting.Herskovitsrelates Oxford (D.Phil., 1936). He carried out lengthyfield research among the Zulu and the Barotse and shortersurveysin other this gossip to allegationsby those of lower socioRhodesian tribes. He was Director of the Rhodes-Livingstone economicpositionthat the discrimination of larger Institute'of Social Studies in British Central Africa (1939and wealthier denominations had achievedthepassing 1947), beforebecominga UniversityLecturerat Oxford (1947of theordinanceforbidding theShoutersin order"to 9), whence he established the Department of Social Anthropology and Sociology at Manchester.He has been editor of the suppressa dangerousrivalin thequestforsouls." Rhodes-LivingstoneInstitutepublications. In anotherstudyHerskovitsconnectsgossipwith Gluckman's main publications are on politics and law, inthe maintenance of morals.In his Life in a Haitian cluding a series of books and essays on the Barotse and a Valley (1937:74f) he analyses songs sung at the number of essays on the Zulu, as well as collaborativework on the Rhodesian Tonga and Lamba. Also, he has published combites: working-bees-the general theoretical work, including Custom and Conflict in Atthecombite a mannotonlylearnsall thegossipofthe Africa and Rule, Law and Ritual in Tribal Society (in press), with contributionsto Essays on the Ritual of Social Relations day,butenjoyslearning andsinging thesongswhichcausand Closed Systemsand Open Minds: The Limits of Naivete comment ontheshortcomings tically ofneighbours, orevalin Social Anthropology(in press), both of which last he edited. uatethehospitality of thosewhohavecalledcombites, or A collection of his essays has just been published under the detailscandal,phrasedwithsufficient directness to allow title Order and Rebellion in Tribal Africa. thereference of thesongto remain butwarily, so as ctear, Max Gluckman's paper is the third in a series, edited by notto givetheindividual grounds fordirect recrimination. Francis L. K. Hsu and Alan P. Merriam specially prepared to As we shallsee,all thelessonsof successful scandalhonorMelville J. Herskovits.The entireseries,when completed, will constitutea new type of Festschrift(CA 4:92). are compressed in Herskovits'fewwords. mongering

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He goes on to explainhow thismakesthe leaderof against the canons of the Church. Yet it is possible to it,"The show that among relatively small groups, gossip, in thesongsfeared,foras one Haitianexpressed simidor[leader] is a journalist,and everysimidoris all its very many varieties,is a culturallydetermined heretheanalysison process, which has its own customaryrules, trespass a Judas!"Herskovits-anticipating whichI shallmainlydepend-givesexamplesof these beyond which is heavily sanctioned. I propose to songsto showhow theyfindfavour"amonga people illustratethe social affiliationsof this process and to to whosenaturallove of gossipis added a patterned suggestthat gossip,and even scandal, have important of individualshort- positive virtues. Clearly they maintain the unity, relishforobliquepublicstatement He thencitessongswhichscorninhospitality morals and values of social groups.Beyond this,they comings." a love affairbetweentwo firstcousins, enable these groups to control the competingcliques and meanness, quarrelwherea suspicionof magic and aspiringindividualsof which all groupsare comand an impending practicesentered,and finallya song which was a posed. And finally,they make possible the selection challengein whichthe singerboastedof his equality of leaders withoutembarrassment. The one theme of my argumentwas clearly exwithanother. of pressedin JaneAusten'snovel,Emma, that penetrating of gossipwiththe maintenance The connection the unityof groupsand theirmoralitywas takena analysis of the small village of Highbury in Surrey. by JamesWestin hisstudyof Plainsville, You may rememberthe passage when the elite of the stepfurther U.S.A., (1945:99-107, 162), a Middle West town; village were to gather for Christmasdinner at Mr. and thisis the firstbeginningof an analysiswhich Weston's house. Among themwas Mr. JohnKnightly, the pervasiverole of gossip in com- who had left Highbury to practise law in London. demonstrates munitylife.' West describesvividlythe"loafingand As he was driven throughthe snow to Mr. Weston's, gossip"groupsof Plainsville,and createsthe sugges- he grumbledto his companions: tive title"gossipcells."Thereare groupsof old men A man musthave a verygood opinionof himselfwhen and old women,and men can only enterthe store he asks people to leave theirown fireside,and encounter wherethe old womensit by indulgingin a joking- sucha day as this,forthe sake of comingto see him.He markedby sexual innuendo.He also mustthinkhimselfa mostagreeablefellow; I could not relationship, women do sucha thing.It is thegreatestabsurdity-actually snowdescribes cliques,oneof youngmarried younger Thefollyofpeople'snotstaying at home and oneof four"fast"youngmarriedcouples.He says ingat thismoment! thatin the groupsof old people thereis exchanging whentheycan! If we wereobligedto go out on suchan and garblingof all news, thoughthe old men are eveningas this,by any call of dutyor business,what a we shoulddeemit;-and herewe are, probably kindlierthantheyoungwomenthink.He states,too, hardship ratherthinnerclothingthan usual, settingforward thatthesegroupsare on thewholeagainstprogressive with withoutexcuse,in defianceof the voice of voluntarily, Finallyhe (p. 162) writesthat developments. naturewhichtellsman,in everything givento his view or with his feelings,to stay at homehimself,and keep all under theair. . . as a vitalconcern topermeate seems religion setup. shelterthathe can;-here are we settingforwardto spend whichthechurches onmoralconduct thenegotiations five dull hoursin anotherman's house,with nothingto morals of through control mainly operates The religious and laugh say or to hearthatwas not said and heardyesterday, suspect, gossipandthefearofgossip.Peoplereport, and walkand may not be said and heard again tomorrow.Going in of others, thepeccadilloes at,andcondemn to avoid beingcaughtin any trifling dismalweather,to returnprobablyin worse;fourhorses behavecarefully and fourservantstakenout fornothingbut to conveyfive of theirown.... missteps idle shivering creatures intocolderroomsand worsecom-

withthebook pany thantheymighthave had at home. Takingthesepassagesin conjunction as a whole,onebeginsto geta feelingof a community Five idle creatureswere being taken that night to itsvalues and maintains whichis partlyheldtogether their time in idle gossip with other idle creabothwithincliquesand spend and scandalizing by gossiping tures.That day theyhad chattedthe same idle gossip. in general.We mustgiveWestfullcreditforhisgreat And on the followingday, they would engage in the but perhapsbecausehe was same idle achievement; pioneering gossip. Now, obviously, the kind of a pioneerhe was notable to graspthefullimportance societydescribedby Miss Austen-theincountry upper of his own discoveries.He did not bringout that circles of early nineteenthcentury England-gossip life, in community not have isolated roles does gossip was not though the creatureswere. In fact the but is part of theveryblood and tissueof thatlife. more idleidle, the creatures,the less idle was the gossip. this BeforeI examinea studywhichdemonstrated Their These were people living on land, rents and giltfully,I glancein generaltermsat ourproblems. shares,markingthemselvesoff fromothersby is indicatedby the factthateverysingle edged importance about one another. And talking about one day,and fora largepartof each day,mostof us are anotherwas what helped maintaintalking them as a groupengagedin gossiping.I imaginethat if we were to an elite-in the wider society in which they lived. gossiping Mr. keepa recordofhowwe useourwaking-time, had left this to John Knightly society practice would comeonly after"work"-for someof us-in law in London; hence he was intolerantof its gossip. aboutgossip thescore.Nevertheless, popularcomments intelligent,and very high-principled brother, chanceand haphazard His more tendto treatit as something and oftenas something to be disapprovedof. It is joined in the gossip with interest,for he was still 1 J draw attentionto Simmel's brief referenceto "gossip" as importantin the nuances of human interaction,but he is led off from analysis by emphasisingthe betrayalof secrets,even though this is most importantin communitygossip (The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 1950, p. 334).

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fully absorbed in the social life of the village. But the right to gossip idly was severely restrictedeven the circle; withinfrom that Mrs. the Rector's bride Bristol,sowas pert andElton, impertinent when she joined in that gossip too freely and tooout quickly. The novelist Frank Swinnerton pointed that CURRENT

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Gluckman: GOSSIP AND SCANDAL Jane Austen uses gossip as a means of interrelating her charactersin a commonsocial intercourseso skillfully, that Mr. Perry, the apothecary, never once position. Gossip here is a two-edged weapon; for it appears in person during the course of the book, yet also means that you have no ancestorsin the group in the gossip of otherswe see him as an individual, to be attacked through-in short that you have no influencingtheirdealings with one another(1939:16). ancestors. And each time that someone in your Gossip of this kind is one of the chief weapons presencerefersto a scandal about another'sancestor, which those who considerthemselveshigherin status or even his own ancestor,he is gentlyrubbingin the use to put those whom they consider lower in their fact that you have no ancestors and do not belong proper place. Huntin', fishin' and shootin',in them- properlyto the group, and are a parvenu. The third type of exclusive group is that which selves, as expensive recreationalactivities,may have been-and may be-among thechiefsymbolsby which has exclusivenessthrustupon it-either by being in a certain sets in England mark themselvesoff from minority,by isolation of locality,or by other distinothers.But with the activitiesgoes a large measureof guishing criterionwhich the memberscannot overgossip which makes huntin', fishin', and shootin' a come. I shall illustrate the function of gossip and constantand endurin'bond between those who prac- scandal in this type of group in detail, since here (as tice them-against thosewho do not. The Sphere,the far as I know) theseimportantphenomenawere most Tattler, and othermagazines bear witness.The gossip fully subjected to an illuminating anthropological which accompaniesthese activitiesis interwovenwith investigation.This was in Elizabeth Colson's studyof a separate technicalJanguage.I remembertaking up the Makah Indians (1953). I have selected her study the sportsof ridingand sailing,and having to struggle for its detailed presentationof my centraltheme,and to acquire these new technical languages which help of some of the complicatingpeculiaritiesthat enter make one a member of the fellowship. But when into the gossip of each type of group, because she it came to riding, I was never able to acquire the made manifestto me that gossip and scandal have gossip among thosewho rode-even in thesmall circles theirvirtues. of Johannesburg-and I always feltlost in the group. The Makah Indians were a small group of Red I was glad when the time came for me to slink away Indians residentin the Puget Sound area at the tip with my horse to carry out my field research in of Cape Flattery,opposite Vancouver Island. It was Zululand, until there again I found myselfexcluded estimated that -in 1780 they numbered some 2,000 from groups because I did not know enough gossip. people. A centurylater,smallpoxand othervicissitudes Gradually I learnt the gossip; but I never acquired had reduced them in number to under 700 and in enough certaintyin knowing when and, more im- 1942, when Dr. Colson studied them,therewere 400portantly,when not to use it, ever to become a mem- odd on the tribal roll. The Makah belonged to the ber of Zulu society. NorthwestCoast group of American Indians, famous The more exclusive the group, the greaterwill be in anthropologicalliteraturefor theirperformanceof the amount of gossip in it. There are three formsof the potlatch. A potlatch was a ceremonial feast to social group which testthis hypothesis.The one is the which one group or individual invited social rivals in professional group, like lawyers or anthropologists, order to demonstratefamily prerogatives.The host whose gossipis built into technicaldiscussionso tightly aggressivelyasserted his and his family's ownership that the outsidercannot always detect the slightper- of particular propertyin resources,titles, songs and sonal knockdown which is concealed in a technical ceremonial privileges while feasting and making recital,or the technicalsneerwhich is contained in a presentsto the visitors.The visitorsthen had to give personal gibe. This is, therefore,the most irritating a returnfeast on a biggerscale or lose face. kind of group to crash into, because one has no clue Beforethe Makah came under Americanprotection no apparatus for taking sound- and care by treatythey lived in five villages, divided to the undercurrents, ings. And this is why old practitionersof a subject into longhouses in which dwelt extended families. can so easily put a comparative newcomer into his The people were divided into chiefs,commoners,and place, can make him feel a neophyte.They have only slaves. to hint in a technicalargumentat some personal fact The AmericanIndian Servicesetout a centuryago to about the person who advanced the theorydiscussed, turntheMakah 'intoAmericancitizens-agriculturalists to make the eager young studentfeel how callow he in an environment suitableonly forfishing,huntingand is. Again, the more highly organized the profession, collecting;Sunday School addicts, aware of the value the more effectiveis the role of gossip here. of moneyand averse to destroyingtheirown property, I have glanced already at the second type of highly living in houses by small families,wearing clothes, exclusive group-that feels it has high social status eating off tables and the like. Childrenwere taken by from which it wishes to exclude parvenus. But compulsionfromtheirparents and sent to boardingwe mnustnotice that these groups tend to become school to cut themoff fromtheirparentsand Indian hereditary; and once they are, it means that each tradition. All things Indian were prohibitedby the group comprisesnot only the presentmembersof the local agent of the Indian Service. This process of group,but also the past dead members.And here lies indoctrinationwas kept up until 1932, when the great scope for gossip as a social weapon. To be able policy of the Indian Service changed,and it began to to gossip properly,a memberhas to know not only encourage the development of Red Indian cultural about the present membership,but also about their individualitywithinthe generalAmericanpattern. forbears.For memberscan hit at one anotherthrough Colson tried, in her study, to assess how far this their ancestors, and if you cannot use this attack processof Americanizationhad succeeded. She found because you are ignorant,then you are in a weak that the Makah in practice had made a satisfactory Vol. 4 * No. 3 * June 1963

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adjustmentto the modernAmericanworld. From the beginning,they had paid their way economically, unlike the Plains Indians, who had been put on Governmentrations after the destructionof the buffalo. The Makah were protected in a part of their ancient territoryby their treaty with the United States Government;and from their Reservation they had been able to earn a living firstat sealing, and then at fishingfor halibut, and also by working for the lumber company exploiting the forests on the Reservation. By thistimethe tribehad ceased to be pure-blooded. Not only were theremany half-breedsin it, but many membersof the tribe had considerablymore white blood than Indian blood. Most of the younger and middle-agedpeople spoke Englishand few had a good knowledge of Makah. The overt practice of Makah customand ceremonialhad died out. More than this, most Makah were subjectto the intensivepropaganda of what are technically called, "mass media communication," i.e. cinemas, radio, newspapers, magazines. They were also in intensivecontactwith Americans. Some of theseAmericanslived in the Neah Bay settlementinto which all Makah had moved. Many Makah cQntinuously,if periodically, moved out of the Reservationand scatteredin the cities and farmlands of the West Coast wheretheyearned theirliving in the same ways as any other Americansof parallel skill. In 1942, Neah Bay was filled by additional Whites,come to the wartimenaval base and associated constructionalactivities. Again, the Makah were on good terms with many of these Whites. Indeed, in many cases Dr. Colson found it impossibleto detect whethera man was Makah or White by his surface relations with others. Many Makah were Christians and associated with Whites in worship. Colson saw that the Makah were able to adapt themselvesto the new conditions and that this was possible because theywere able to earn a good living fromthe sea and fromwork on theirReservation as well as outside it. Yet they still cling togetheras a group, partly because they have economic interests in being Indians. As wards of the United States Government,they cannot be taxed by State or local authorities,either directlyor throughpurchase sales tax, petrol tax, etc. They are not tax, entertainment subject,while on the Reservation,to certainprocesses of law, such as garnisheeorders on their wages or attachmentof goods acquired by hire purchase and taken on the Reservation. They are entitled to free dental and medical treatment,and their children to free lunches at school as Whites are not. There are many advantages in being an Indian and also in being a Makah. This entitles a man to free rightsin the Makah Reservation and ultimatelyto a share in the proceeds when the Reservationor parts of it are sold as provided in the Treaty. Therefore the Makah collectively and theoretically strive to keep their numberslow in total, in order that shares shall be greater, though in practice individuals will try to insurethat the descendantsof theirown relativesare on the tribal roll, whatever their parentage, while they try to keep the descendantsof othersoff. a beautifullypresentedargument I have su~mmarized and analysis to give a backgroundto Colson's perception of the virtuesof gossip and scandal among the 310

Makah. Here we have a verysmall group (400 people) set against the mightymass of the American population. They are hostile in many ways to the Whites with whom they associate. They feel that the Whites have robbed themof a cultureand a way of life that was theirs,that the Whites have despoiled them and their Indian brothersof land, and so forth. One would expect that they would array themselvesin unity in order to maintain their independence and their identityas Makah. Far from it. They are torn by internal dissension and strugglesfor status and they constantlyuse the tongueof scandal to keep one anotherin proper place. Colson, knowing that the Makah had previously been divided into chiefs, commoners, and slaves, sought to establishthe nature of this rankingin the past. She found great certaintyabout the rules as some expressedby various people. But, unfortunately, rules contradictedothers,and the application of each was always uncertain. Someone would tell her that chieftainshipwas determinedabsolutelyby birth,both on father's and mother's sides; and add, of course, that he was thusdescended.Others would corroborate these rules, but would point out that the first informantwas descendedfroma Nootka slave woman, and thereforewas low class. Then otherswould say that birth was of some account, but it was more importantthat a man, to be high-class,should achieve somethinghimself,by being a doctor or whale-hunter, or the like, and of coursehis fatherwas a greatwhalehunteror doctor or the like. Yet others would then run down thesepretensions.Again, under the potlatch system,a man had had to give feasts to show his greatness;so today a man ought to be generousif he is to be esteemed. But now that anyone can earn money,if a man gives feastshis rivals can say that he is a nouveau riche tryingto cover his low-class and that the real high-classpeople do not need to do this since their status is well known. Others will then accuse themof meanness,inappropriateto high-class, until they become prodigal, when they are nouveau riche. Finally, you can always down another by allegingthat his familyis addicted to sorcery(poisoning). And to use sorcery means that one is of low class-for the man or woman who is secure in social positiondoes not need to use sorceryto securehis ends. Everyone is likely to accuse othersof being sorcerers and to be accused in turn. Thus Colson says (pp. 204-5) that hardly had she been in the village a week, when she heard that there was a class system 'We Indiansare justlike ... and it was highlyimportant. Whites.We classup. Therearehigh-class peopleand middleclass people and thenreal low-classpeople. Most people herecomefromthelowerclassthoughtheydon'tlikeit to be said. You can tell thedifference thoughwhenyou meet people. Only the high-class people know how to act. The othersnaturallydon't know anythingabout how things shouldbe done.Theyhad no old peopleto teachthem.Just certainfamiliesknow.' Each personsayingthisthensaid, statusand had of course,thathisfamilywas of upper-class been so fromas far back as Makah traditionwent,and proceededto warnme againstfamilieswhichhe calledlow class. These in turn warned her against the others. Dr. Colson sumsit up: CURRENT

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So it went frompersonto personuntil I foundthat everyonein the village accusedothersof beinglow-class and notentitledto speakfortheMakahor to holdup their headsin frontof thereallygood people. theoThe resultis thatin Neah Bay todaya classsystem to place fortheobserver reticallyexists,but it is impossible any singlepersonin his properclass becausethereare no a valid generallyacceptedstandardsas to whatconstitutes claim to class status.Nor is thereany generallyaccepted placingof individualsin variousclassesrecognizedby all Makah themselves. Yet, theyare consciousof class and it to otherMakah withreferences entersinto theirthinking to a newcomer. Each to an extentthatis incomprehensible individualclaims high-classstatus for himselfand his immediateancestors;each usually deridesthe claims of otherMakah unlesstheyhappento be closerelatives-and even a close relativeis not safe sincehis claimsto status can always be deridedon the groundthat throughsome linenotsharedwithyouhe descendsfromlow-classpeople, or it may be claimedthathe has not achievedenoughto justifyhis equal positionwithyourown. Makah also attach great value to the theory that kinsmenshould help one another,and for pride's sake to maintaintheirsocial standing;they go out of their way to assistdistantkin. So that the poor Makah who runs a store or restaurantis compelled to give credit to his kin, and they do not feel it necessaryto pay their debts. He cannot, on the other hand, make a living out of people who are not related to him; for unrelated people will not buy from him because if he becomes rich he will rise in status.They preferto buy from Whites and make Whites rich. Similarly, when the Makah try to run any political activity, those who take the lead are sniped at by vicious, scandal, to underminetheir rise in status,until they abandon the activity.This has happened to the Presidentand otherofficersof the Makah Tribal Council institutedby the United States Government.Scandal also attacked and drove frompublic life a numberof Makah who tried to run an Annual Makah Day, duringwhich so-called traditionalMakah dances and ceremonieswere staged.2 Historically, it is easy to see how this situation arose. In the old days the chiefs'statuswas validated by their control over economic resources and over theirsubordinates.This statuswas periodicallydemonstrated throughceremonialprerogativesexhibited in potlatch feasts. Today anyone can pay his way by earningmoney and can give feasts.Lines of ancestry are blurredby intermarriageand connectionsoutside of marriagewith Whites and other Indians and ultimately, all Makah are probably interconnectedby blood with each other. At the moment, there are certain groupingsof closely related kindred but new marriagesand new birthsmay change the alignment. Hence it is impossibleto demonstratestatusby reference to the past. That the Makah should still put so much energyinto this factiousstrugglefor class status may largelybe a relicof theformerrankedpotlatching competition.It may also be the intrusionamong them of American class-ideas. But I ventureto go beyond Colson's analysis and suggestsomethingmore. Colson concludes her discussion(p. 228): 2 Colson contraststhe situationof the Makah with the situation describedby V. Barnouw in "Acculturationand Personalityamong the Wisconsin Chippewa," Memoirs American Anthropological Association,No. 72 (1950).

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The whole pictureof rivalryforpositiongivesthe imthattheclassconceptsof theMakahare completely pression and workonlyto disruptthesmoothfuncunconstructive tioningof the group.That is not entirelytrue.The desire something forprestigeand for social positioncontributes to triballife.Indeed,the incessantgossipand back-biting holding feature whichgoeson canbe viewedas an important whichis distinctive Makah in a set of social relationship withinwiderAmericansociety. and thebickering It wouldbe too simpleto characterize [as Barnouwdoesamongthe aggression' snipingas 'in-group Chippewa]and let it go at that.The Makah criticizeothers ofa setofvalueswhichoperatewithinthegroupto in terms of thegroup.The constant governthebehaviourofmembers of these gossipand backbitingis a reassertion criticism, values,whichtodaycan be expressedin no otherway. If thevaluesthemthegossipand back-biting, theyrepressed selveswould disappear,and withthemmuchof thefeeling people. thattheMakahare a distinct itselfhas becomean end To someextenttheback-biting of behaviourintowhichtheMakah have in itself,a system which witha zest and a determination, thrownthemselves to a highpeak. have broughttheart of verbaldenigration of theirfellowsgiverise Certainlythemaliciousstatements and to a retreatfrompublic to hatredand to unhappiness view, but fromthe zest with which they recounttheir in thefieldof slander,it is apparentthatthey experiences have developedthistypeof behaviourintoa gamewithits "Makahwereexperts [Shefootnotes: ownrulesand interest. beforethisart obtainedgeneralrecogniin 'Lifemanship'3 theMakah delightin tion."]Like all artists,or sportsmen) playingwiththeirtechnicalskill.And onlyothersof their have the technicalknowledgeto compete own community in thegame,or to appreciatetheskillwithwhicha pointis scored. In this analysis Colson clearly establishesthe importantpoint that specificand restrictedgossipwithin a group marks it off from other groups, both like and unlike. The gossip and scandal which are so bitingin Makah life unite them into a group outside of general American society.And, as she points out, since this gossip and scandal involve the criticismand assessmentof people against the traditionalvalues of Makah society, they maintain the tribe as Indians against Whites, and as Makah against other Indians. These Makah values and traditionslargely persistin the gossip and in no otherway. To be a Makah, you must be able to join in the gossip, and to be fully a Makah you mustbe able to scandalize skillfully.This entails that you know the individual familyhistories of your fellows; for the knowledgeablecan hit at you throughyour ancestry,and you mustbe able to retort in kind. You have also have got to have some knowledge of the old ways of the Makah tribe. In the specificsituationof the Makah, it seemsalso that theirbitingscandal is used to maintain the principle of equalitybetweenall members.What thegroup seems to be unable to do is to admit that one person is superiorin any respect.The Makah foughta Washington State law to protect the breedingof fish, by claiming the rightto fish out of season in a certain river on the groundsthat they fishedtherewhen the Treaty of the Reservation was signed. To win their case, theyhad to admit thatone familyhad hereditary 3 Stephen Potter, Lifemanship (1950) (1952).

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rightsin the river.They preferred to lose theircase. communalactivitieswhichsymbolizedthis desireto that be a community: It appearsto be in thenatureof theirsituation, dramatic village choir,brass-band, they refuseto admit to Americansany inequality society,footballclub,carnival.These activitieswere amongthemselves-nor dare theyclaimit publiclyas run in succession,not at the same time. For it seems individuals.They are a smallgroup,whosemembers that each activity in time became so bedevilled by move withequal freedomin the largeAmericanso- the internal group and personal feuds in the village ciety.The groupis too smallto sustainany division that it could no longerbe pursuedsuccessfullywithout

of status within itself, and none of them in their dealings with other Americans would admit that a fellow is his superior. What they are clinging to is the status of Indians, as wards of the United States Governmentwith the privilegesof wardship,and the status of Makah, with its rightsin the Reservation. To maintain this status, they have all to be equal, lest anyone who acquires superioritygets more than his share of privilege.Old traditionsand presentambitionsdrive individualsto assertthemselvesand their status; Makahship, through the weapon of scandal, keeps themin practice equal. The desire to remain Makah, with its attendant advantages, explains why people do not try to break away fromthe group. Otherwise,it seemsthat at least the lighter-colouredMakah could disappear into the American population: probably many have in fact done so. But this desire is felt by the individuals and extended families which make up the Makah tribe. And the interestsin the Reservation are competitive between them,because if it is sold it will bring in a limited amount of money. Hence, I suggest,Makah gossip does not show merelythat general interestin the doings,and the virtuesand vices, of others,which characterizesany group.The gossippasses beyond this stage and becomes vicious scandal, aimed at demonstratingthat the other parties are not worthy to be Makah. The differentgroups and individuals in the tribe fight an unceasing battle to demonstratetheir own true Makahship, as against the failuresof others to attain Makahship. But this involves them in a continual process of remaining Makah, which (as Colson says) gives highimportanceto the scandalizing itself,as a mechanismfor maintainingthe Makah as a group encystedin the Americannation,whose other membersare excluded fromthis war of scandal. And the practiceof this scandal is developed to a high art, culturallydefined.Scandalizing is one of the principal means by which the group's separatenessis expressed, even thoughit is also the principal mannerin which internal strugglesare fought. This combination of functionsof scandal makes the hostilityitselfa mode throughwhich the triberemainsunited. This analysis of gossip passing into scandal brings out some of the general characteristicsof gossip, as a culturally controlled game with important social functions.It also shows that in differentkinds of groups the role and functionof gossip will vary with theirspecifichistoriesand theirsituationsin the larger society. Colson's penetrating study has lessons for us all as observersof life around us. We learn from it that gossip is not idle: it has social functionsand it has rules which are rigidly controlled. Ronald Frankenberghas applied Colson's analysis to a Welsh village (1957) which was strugglingto remaina community,thoughmost of its men now go to work in a town some miles away.4 The villagers ran a seriesof 4 "Gossip" is mentionedin studies such as those of Williams The Sociology of an English Village: Gosforth(1956), and Stacey,

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leading to irremediablebreachof relationshipsbetween villagers.Thereforeas the brass-bandfailed, the choir was started; as the choir failed, a football club was founded; when that failed, an annual carnival was instituted.And as each failed, the villagers felt they could make a freshstart,with old animositiespurged with the failingactivity.But the animositiescontinued into the new activity. This is a fascinatingstory in itself. But what I want to emphasize here is that the strugglesbetween villagers are not foughtopenly in committeemeetinguntil crisesare reached. Instead, differencesof opinion are foughtout in behind-theback tattle,gossip,and scandal, so thatmanyvillagers, who are actually at loggerheads,can outwardlymaintain the show of harmonyand friendship(cf. Radin above). They remaina community,despite the verbal cut-and-thrust in the dark, where theytryto advance theirseparatecauses againsttheirostensiblefriendswho are theirenemies.Some accommodationis thusreached. In thisgossip theyevaluate people as leaders,as good villagers, and the like, so that gossip also serves to bring,conformitywith village values and objectives. Eventually, when a crisis is reached, a stranger5to the village is thrustinto the position of appearing to take the decision which forcesone party out of the currentactivity; and gossip can blame this stranger for destroyingvillage unity: "We would be happy if foreignersdid not make trouble!" After one such crisis,when a strangerhad proposed the critical,and Ccobjectively"sensible, motion in open committee,a woman said: ccAllstrangersshould be shot!" Here, too, the outsider cannot join in gossip. The poor anthropologist,before he understood this, got into trouble. His landlady and some friends,after a whist drive were criticisingthe play of a certain woman. The anthropologistaftera while joined in with an example.His landlady turnedon himand reminded him that he was referringto her prospectiveson-inlaw's grandmother.He was oftenrebukedfor criticising distant cousins. Thus, though the villagers were kind and friendly,he was reminded often that he was a foreigner.He sumsup by sayingthat ccvillagers did not hesitate to make accusations against and ridiculetheirfriendsand relatives,but outsiderswere not allowed this privilege." Frankenbergfound, as Colson had among the Makah, that the constant crit-cism-of those who tried to run village affairs punished anyone who appeared to get too much prestigeas a leader. The membersof the village were equal against the overwhelming onslaught of the modern industrial world. The brass-band could not

Tradition and Change: A Study of Banbury (1960), with some attentionto the restrictedcirculationof gossip, but without full analysis. 5 The definition of "stranger," and the differencebetween "strangers"and "outsiders," is a very complex problem,discussed at lengthby Frankenberg.The criticalproposal may be put forward by a "stranger"to the set of social relationshipsinvolved.I have to simplifyin order to compress. CURRENT

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Gluckman: GOSSIP AND SCANDAL because neither run, though-they had the instruments, his fellows of the conductorsin the village dared tell how to play. A local lad could not captain the village an opponentbehindhis back,if yourallegationsare football team as he did not dare give orders to his at all open, to his face, you mustbe delicateand mates: they had to import a West Indian from a nevergivehimgroundto statethatyou have insulted nearby town to be captain. Again the anthropologist him.For insultsof thiskind,if open,makeimpossible has been able to show that dispitethesedisputes,quar- the pretenceof group amity. Similarly,misplaced gossipmay forcethegroupeitherto rels, gossip and scandal, and the restrictingof the behind-the-back privilege to talk thus,have the effectof maintaining expelthepersonslanderedor to turnon thegossiper. the village as a village and of preventingit from Morethanthis,theprocessof scandalenablesa group, becominga collectionof houses,like a housingestate. to evaluatepeople for theirwork,theirqualitiesof Town planners are very anxious to turn housing leadership,and theirmoral character,withoutever themto theirfaceswithfailuresin any estatesinto communities:they should develop scandal confronting in them.Perhaps it is theirduty to providecause forit. sphere.Thus animositiesbetweenindividualsand Gossip and even scandal unite a group within a cliquesare builtinto the largersocial orderthrough of gossipand scandal. larger society, or against another group, in several theculturaltechniques I beg of you, therefore, if you are convincedby ways. Firstly,all groups try to thrusttheirroots into the past; scandal by creating a past historyfor the thisanalysis,not to feel thatit is easy to fulfilthe obligationthat lies on you to scandalize membersin relation to one another,into which new- important comers have to be inducted if they are to be full about yourfellows.As Colson says,it is an art and members,achieves this; Secondly,no groups are com- a skill and a technique.We do need cca schoolfor All of them consist in the scandal"-as Her Majesty'sInspectorsof Education pletely undifferentiated. firstplace, of individuals,and, secondly,most consist have seen.I foundin the LondonTimes of October of smaller groupings of individuals, cliques. These 13th,1954,thefollowing: individuals and cliques may be competitivelyaligned in WestRidingschools A recommendation thatchildren against each other. They struggle for status and shouldbe encouraged to gather in smallgroups forcgossip' prestige. These struggles have to be kept within sessions, is madebytheEduas an aid to learning English, bounds, while the general values of the group are cationCommittee an inInspectors, whohaveconcluded asserted, if the group is to survive. The values of spection schools thecounofmodern secondary throughout on in a memorandum the group are clearly assertedin gossip and scandal, try.Theymaketherecommendation in secondary ofEnglish schools.' since a man or woman is always run down for ctheteaching on oral expression The inspectors claimthatemphasis failing to live up to these values. But the struggles totalknaturally about children byallowing to fulfil those values by individuals and cliques are canbeachieved them.... things which interest also restrainedbecause the methodsof achievingthem are defined by gossip and scandal: and the3e themof oursin ourfellows, Thusearlybeginsthisinterest selves punish any excess. For they controldisputation and a markof thatinterest to talk is our willingness by allowing each individual or clique to fightfellow- about them.To Gamesmanship we and Lifemanship members of the larger group with an acceptabile,. must add Gossipship.The rules of Gossipshipare socially institutedcustomary weapon, which blows somewhatas follows: back on excessivelyexplosive users. For the battle of The important thingsaboutgossipand scandalare scandal has its own rules,and woe to him who breaks thatgenerally theseare enjoyedby peopleaboutothers theserules.By the act of carryinghis scandalizingtoo with whom theyare in a close social relationship. far, he himselfoverstepsthe values of the group and Hence when we try to understandwhy it is that his scandal will turn against him, will prove that he people in all places and at all timeshave been so or his small clique is unworthyof the larger group. interested in gossipand scandalabouteach other,we And the scandal will in fact redound to the creditof have also to look at thosewhomtheyexcludefrom the person attacked, since he will have been unfairly joiningin the gossipingor scandalizing.That is, the assailed. Colson tells (233-34) the storyof two Makah rightto gossipaboutcertain which peopleis a privilege women who were on bad terms.On one occasion one is onlyextended to a personwhenhe or sheis accepted woman in the streetshurled stringsof insults at the as a memberof a groupor set. It is a hallmarkof other, who kept walking along, singing,ccThe bear membership. Hence rightsto gossipserveto markoff went over. the mountain." ccBothwomen knew that a particulargroup fromothergroups.There is no one was behaving like a clow-class'person,the other easierway of puttinga stranger in his place thanby like a "high-class'person,and the advantage lay with beginning to gossip:thisshowshimconclusively that the one who ignored the insults." Thus the gross he doesnotbelong.On theotherhand,if a mandoes scandalmongeroverreacheshimselfand is hoist with not join in the gossipand scandal,he showsthathe his own slander. (Similarly,gamesmanshipis the art doesnot acceptthathe is a partyto therelationship; of winninggames withoutactually cheating.)6In this hencewe see thatgossiping is a dutyof membership way, the internalstruggleswithinthe group are fought of thegroup.That is whyit is goodmanners to gossip with concealed malice, by subtle innuendo, and by and scandalizeaboutyourdearestfriendswiththose pointed ambiguities.Yet all of these have their own who belong,eventhoughit be theirdearestfriendsmoral norms, which must not be overstepped. The butit is bad manners-which is a moraljudgment and main moral norm is that you must scandalize about hencea sanction-totellunpleasant storiesaboutyour See StephenPotter,The Theoryand Practiceof Gamesmanship, or The Art of Winning Games withoutActually Cheating (1947). 6

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friendsto strangers. For whenyou gossipaboutyour to othermutualfriends friends you are demonstrating

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be interested in one another'svicesas well as virtues. very exclusive. I grew up among them, and woven Whenyou gossipaboutyourfriendsto strangers you into their legal shop is a considerable amount of are eithershowingthe strangersthat they do not scandal about other lawyers. Colleges at Oxford and belong,or you are admitting themto a privilegeand Cambridge are similar.In some Oxford colleges there to membership of a group withoutconsultingthe is a taboo on talkingat dinnerabout work or women otherpeople involved.So that if you want to run -the sanction at Exeter College is that the offender downa friendto a stranger you shouldfirstask that must try to drink 5 pints of beer at one draught. If friend's permission. You do notneedhispermission to he fails, he pays for that beer and for a refillof the runhimdownto mutualfriends-provided thatthey large sconce which is passed around the table. Talk of are in the same set of relationships withyourself.I women introducesan element into College life that thinkit would be bad mannersto run two people is hostile to its united monasticism,expressedin the down to one another,eventhoughtheyare mutually ritual of commensalism;talk of work dividesmembers acquainted,if you are notassociatedwiththemin the of the College according to their academic interests, sameway.So it wouldbe bad manners to gossipabout and the College as an associationis hostileto organizayourUniversity fellowto a memberof anotherUni- tion in termsof common scholarship. I am, of course,aware that gossip and scandal will versity,even if the two of themlived in the same village.For scandalis only virtuousif its aim be to not contributeto the cohesion of a groupingof perdemonstrate somekindof social unity.Scandalwhen sons, unless these persons are united by a sense of directedby members of a groupagainstanothergroup communitywhich is based on the fairly successful is unifying in another, and an obvious,way-it asserts pursuit of common objectives. In his study of a housing estate in Coventry (Living in Towns, 1953), thesuperiority of thescandalizinggroup. Leo Kuper and his colleagues noted that the new I am surethatif-youreflect on yourown experience you will realisehow sound Colson's analysisis. Its settlersin the estate were afraid of, and resented, significance emergesmostclearlyif we considerthe the gossip of their neighbours.This can be related in way whicha new memberof a groupis inducted largely to bad design of the houses: the two masterinto the group.He may learnthe rulesof technique bedrooms in the semi-detachedslay back to back, whichkeep the groupin being,and he may be on without a soundproof wall between, so that each excellenttermswiththeothermembers of thegroup, couple was bound to overhear practically everything but he does not belongto the groupuntilit is im- done by theirneighbours,a sourceof great embarrasspossiblefor him to be rude to one of its members ment. Moreover, each house looked into the other's That is,he mustknowso muchabout livingroom.There was constanttrespasson the essenunintentionally. eachof themembers' and likingsand dislikes, tial intimacies of family life. No group life could histories thathe will neversay something whichis hurtfulto emergehere. I was told by the wife of a University anyoneunlesshe wantsto hurthim(or her).Corres- lecturerthat in a betterdesigned estate in Newcastle thebadge of membership pondingly, is thata person neighboursformedthemselvesinto gossip cells which can quite allusively,and apparentlynaively,cut an- got along very happily-except for her. Foolishly she othermemberto the quick by a seemingly innocent thoughtthat there were more importanttopics than statement. And of course,it is importantthat the personal gossip; and she was sent to Coventry-metapersonoffendedknowsthatthe allusionis intended phorically,I mean. In a housingestatein Essex where but not be able to pin it down,and thatthe injurer I lived, gossip cells were again determinedby the shouldknow thatthe offendedknows,and thatthe sociometricrules of neighbourliness-plus a complioffended shouldknowthattheinjurerknowsthatthe cated evaluation of social status-and togetherwe formeda happy and united scandalizing community, offendedknows-and so on ad infinitum. Thereforea mostimportant part of gainingmem- with constantfightsgoing on betweenour secondary bershipof anygroupis to learnitsscandals:whatyou modern schools to emphasize our overall unity. Here can say withapparentinnocenceand whatyou may I observedgossip and scandal biuldingup community say by indirectrudeallusion.Anthropology is a very life. knitprofession: tightly it is one of thefewprofessions When a group, even one with a united history, whichstillhas an initiation ceremony. You musthave begins to fail in its objective, gossip and scandal studiedsome exotic community. We maintainour accelerate the process of disintegration.Anthropoltightbondsof friendship by a vast storeof scandal ogists have analysed how if joint families and suband gossipas well as by legends.A mostimportant sistencevillages increasetheirnumberstheyare bound part of my dutyin trainingresearchworkersis to to disintegrateor hive off segments.This process is teach themthe scandals.I believe I am not alone often accompanied by chargesof sorceryand witchamongsenioranthropologists in findingit morein- craft.African customaryjudgmentsassertthat as this to teachstudents teresting aboutanthropologists than occurs scandal and back-biting increase. Hence as about anthropology. It is worthnotingherethatthe Junod reportedmany years ago for the Tsonga, the Greek Lexicon defines"an anthropologist" not as barrierof magic to keep out the witch is breachedby "anthroposplus logos,"a "studentof man,"butonly internal gossiping and grumbling.7These processes as "a scandalmonger;" and in theNicomacheanEthics, within the group make possible the entryof an outAristotle-whoanticipatedus all-says of the great- side witch, though in Tsonga society witches do not souledman:"He is no scandalmonger (anthropologos): directlykill theirown kin. In Central Africa,witches

he will not talk either about himself or another do kill theirown kin and here gossip and back-biting are additionallydangerous.In his analysisof Th;e Yao person." What applies to anthropologists, applies to all pro- Village (1956:1328) Mitchell writes that: fessions.Lawyers are supposed to talk shop and to be 7 The Life of a South African Tribe (1927; reprinted1962). 314

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Gluckman: GOSSIP AND SCANDAL variationof the dangerof sorceryis the An interesting taketheopportunity beliefthatsorcerers ofsquabbleswithin to kill one of its members.The rationale packet of tobacco may take me twentyminutes.But a matrilineage are unableto this field of gossip and scandal still awaits study of behindthisis thatthe diviner'sinstruments cause. detecttheoriginof thesorcery beyondtheimmediate A divinerwill indicatethatthe cause of deathof, say, a the kind deployed by Colson upon the Makah. Meanchildis sorcery, but thatthewitchis obscuredbehindthe while, for small groups alone, my conclusion is that quarrellingwordsof some relative.Consequently, danger we mightformulatea law to say, the more exclusive to a matrilineage ensueswhenoneof itsmembers goesto an a social group is, the more will its membersindulge outsider[note: to an outsider-bad mannersindeed]and in gossip and scandal about one another. And the grumbles to himabout the familysquabblesand quarrels. more persistentlywill they repeat the same gossip of usingthissquab- again and again and again withoutgettingbored."We The outsiderthentakestheopportunity ble to introducehis sorceryinto the lineage.The Yao are back in the carriages driving throughHighbury theYao word, to Mr. Weston's house. greatlyfearbackbiting [as Mitchelltranslates miseci]becauseof theirdreadof sorceryand nonedreadsit morethana villageheadman,a wardenof a sorority-group, Outsiders frequentlycomplain that anthropologists or a personin thepositionof havingto keepa matrilineage are able to find that anything social has a useful Thesepeopleare constantly or sectiontogether. adjuringthe functionand theymay thereforeconclude that anthrowomenunderthem-forit is thewomenwho are believed pologists approve of everything.Thus it has been to be themainculprits-notto fightamongthemselves; and argued that the criminal classes are as importantas to an outsiderbut the police for the maintenanceof law in a society; if theydo, not to take theircomplaints to theseniormemberof thematrilineage. The Significance theyprovide people who commitcrimesbut who can of thisin relationto lineageunityis plain enough. easily be caught by the police and publicly tried. Later (p. 170) Mitchell recountsduringthe history Their trials demonstrateto the society at large, and of a long dispute within a lineage, how a woman's particularlyto its growingyoungsters,not o-nlythat friendshipwith another woman was frownedon be- crimeis wrong-which is true,but also thatcrimedoes cause friendshipleads to gossip and this mightopen not pay-which is not true. Amateur criminals,less the way to sorceryby the memberof the opposing easily caught,are not so useful.But thisdoes not mean group.8 we approve of crime. We argue only that the comI note finallythat I have discussedgossiponly with- mission of a crime, provided that the criminal is in small groups. Gossip about royalty,by the lower caught, tried, and punished, serves useful ends in classes about the upper, and the upper by the lower, maintainingthe law, and thereforesociety.My arguhas to be related to other areas of social relations. ment about gossip and scandal is similar: if I suggest I thinkwe can say that men and women do wish to that gossip and scandal are socially virtuous and talk about personal matters,for reasons on which I valuable, this does not mean that I always approve am not clear, and in the great conurbationsthe dis- of them. Indeed, in practice I find that when I am cussion of, for example, stars of film and sport, gossipingabout my friendsas well as my enemies I produces a basis on which people transitorilyasso- am deeply consciousof performinga social duty; but ciated can find somethingpersonal to talk about. that when I hear they gossip viciously about me, I Frankenbergreportsthat when he was studyingthe am rightfullyfilled with righteousindignation. Welsh village, the firsttime he went to buy a loaf of bread he was back in five minutes. His land9 Richard P. Werbner has supplied me with the following lady said scornfully:"Back already? It takes me an hour to buy a loaf of bread." When Frankenberghad beautifullyillustrativepassage from Carl Carmer, Stars Fell on been in the village for some time,as soon as he went Alabama (1940, p. 12): "Aside from these the main diversions of the Alabamians are into a shop, the tea-kettlewas put on the fire: after love-making and gossip. The constant social chatter dealing in all, as anthropologos,he was the scandalmongerpar personalitiesat firstannoysand bores the stranger.Gradually,howexcellence.And I myselfhave found throughmy in- ever,as he picks up the threadsof the relationshipsthroughwhich terestin soccer and cricket,that I have steadily ex- it sometimesseems that the entiresLateis bound into one family, he becomes not only tolerantbut an eager participant.The proporpanded my commercialtransactionswith shopkeepers tion of malice in this talk is not greaterthan in othercommunities. into warm friendships,even into a kind of blood There are the usual Mrs. Grundysand meddlesomescandalmongers. brotherhood,in which our ritualalliance movesjerkily But the majorityof Alabamian gentlefolktake a strong interest from elation to despair with the fate of our city's in people thatis not unlike thatof a novelist.They are entertained teams, and our county eleven at cricket. To buy a and instructedby the antics of their fellow-beings-theylike to speculate on 8 Contrastthis sophisticatedapproach with Kluckhohn's simple treatmentof the relationbetweengossip and witchcraftin Navaho Witchcraft(1944).

ReferencesCited 1950. 'Acculturation and Personalityamong the Wisconsin Chippewa,' Memoirs of the AmericanAnthropological Association,No. 72.

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motivations.And talk about an individual takes on added zest when (as frequentlyhappens) he is a cousin in whom flows the blood of a commonancestor. As for love-making,it is the accepted basis of all social activity. Even verylittle boys are trainedto be gallant and the ambitionof every daughter'smotheris that her girl shall be a belle."

CARMER, C. 1940. Stars Fell on Alabama,

London: Lovat Dickson and Thompson. COLSON, E. 1953. The Makah Indians, Manchester:ManchesterUniversityPress; Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

1957. Village on the Border, London: Cohen and West. HERSKOVITS, M. 1937. Life in a Haitian Valley, New York: Knopf. --. 1947. Trinidad Village, New York: Knopf. FRANKENBERG, R.

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JUNOD, H. A. 1927. The Life of a South

African Tribe, London: MacMillan. Reprinted, 1962. New York: University Books. KLUCKHOHN, C. 1944. Navaho Witchcraft, Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, xxii, No. 2. KUPER, L. et. al. 1953. Living in Towns, London: CressetPress. MITCHELL, J. C. 1956. The Yao Village, Manchester:ManchesterUniversity Press for the Rhodes-LivingstoneInstitute; New York: Humanities Press.

POTTER, S. 1947. Gamesmanship,or the

Art of Winning Games withoutActually Cheating, London: Hart-Davies. --. 1950. Lifemanship,London: HartDavies. 1952. One-Upmanship, London: --. Hart-Davies. (The firsttwo, withSupermanship,republishedby Penguin Books of Harmondsworth,1962). RADIN, P. 1927. PrimitiveMan as a Philosopher,New York: Appleton. Reprinted 1957. New York: Dover.

STACEY, M. 1960. Tradition and Change:

A Study of Banbury, London: Oxford UniversityPress. SIMMEL, G. 1950. The Sociologyof Georg Simmel, translated,edited and with an Introductionby K. H. Wolff, Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press. WEST, J. 1945. Plainsville,U.S.A., New York: Columbia UniversityPress. WILLIAMS, W. M. 1956. The Sociology of an EnglishVillage: Gosforth,London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Erratum: Vol. 3, No. 5, Dec. 1962, top of p. 479. The last sentencebeginning in column 2 and ending in column 3 should read, "I sometimes get the feelingthesedays thatwe have entereda stage of evolutionwhich can be identifiedmoreor less directlywith a revivalist cult whose practitioners claim to be able to transforma theist into a materialistby the very rapid turningof thepages of AncientSociety to the accompanimentof suitable incantations."

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