Grouping by Gender, Age, Common Interest and Social Status Chapter 11 Grouping by Gender, Age, Common Interest and Social Status

What Will You Learn? Explain how social groups are formed based on age and gender, with anthropological examples of each Identify different types of common-interest groups, noting their function in expanding an individuals social network beyond relatives, friends, and neighbors Distinguish between egalitarian and stratified societies Compare open-class and closed-class societies Differences between class, caste, and race Recognize challenges and opportunities of social mobility in different types of societies

Grouping by Gender All societies will have certain tasks that pertain to the sexes as mentioned in previous chapters. However, how the sexes are viewed may vary depending on the tribe. For example, the Mundurucu Indians of Brazil stress separation between men and women. Each gender does not work together rather against each other. Men express fear and envy towards the women and women do not accept their submissive role. Women are autonomous in the economic realm.

Grouping by Age Similar to grouping by gender is grouping by age. An age grade is an organized category of people based on age; every individual passes through a series of such categories over his or her lifetime. An age set is a formally established group of people born during a certain time span who move through the series of age grade categories together.

Age Grouping in Eastern Africa The Tiriki of Kenya exemplify the idea of age grades and sets. They have seven named age sets that are open for membership but only once the first has been completed. Each age set embraces a 15-year span and so 15x7 sets equals 105 years of the males life. The Tiriki only have four age grades.

Tiriki’s Age Grades First: “Warrior” Second: “Elder warrior” Third: “Judicial Elders” Fourth: “Ritual Elders”

Grouping by Common Interest Common-interest associations result from an act of joining based on sharing particular activities, objectives, values, or beliefs. Result of social change and urbanization. Provide companionship and other functions such as learning a new language to safe working conditions. Not restricted to modern societies, also found in traditional societies. Membership may range from voluntary to legally compulsory.

Common-Interest Associations There is great variety of common-interest associations. street gangs, militia, sport clubs, churches, and political parties. Some associations aim to preserve traditional songs, history, language, moral beliefs, and other customs among members of various ethnic minorities.

Men’s and Women’s Associations In some societies women have not established formal common-interest associations to the extent that men have. Possible reasons are due to the patriarchal nature of most societies. However women play important roles in associations of their own as well in those in which men predominate. The expanding feminist movement has directly and indirectly inspired and promoted the formation of professional organizations for women.

Associations in the Digital Age In North America participation in common-interest groups has declined. People are less likely to socialize in a face to face manner as they might have in the past. Online associations have grown in popularity. U.S. children ages 8-18 spend more than 7 ½ hours a day using entertainment media.

Critical Thought Given the information on the previous slide, what impacts could our technological usage have on our society? Furthermore, have you witnessed any examples of the overuse of technology?

Grouping by Social Status in Stratified Societies Individuals within a society are grouped either equally or unequally. Stratified society- divided into categories of people who do not share equally in resources, influence, or prestige. Egalitarian society- societies in which everyone has about equal rank, access to, and power over basic resources. Less frequently found.

Social Stratification and Caste Social class- a category of individuals in a stratified society who enjoy equal or nearly equal prestige according to the system of evaluation. These may be based on some of all of the following: Gender Age Social class Caste

Caste Systems In societies which contain a caste system or a social class in which membership is determined by birth and fixed for life. Children automatically belong to their parents’ caste. They may have little to no opportunity to escape their parents caste system. They may however move through castes via reincarnation.

The Hindu Caste System Organized into four “grades of being.” While we do not have a caste system in our society we do have a stratified society. What would our system of classification look like?

Indicators of Social Status There are several ways that a social class can manifest. One way is through symbolic indicators- certain activities or professions are indicative of class. However, class rankings do not fully correlate with economic status or pay scales.

Social Mobility Most stratified societies offer at least some social mobility-an upward or downward change in one’s social class position. Open-class systems are those with the easiest mobility. Degree of mobility is related to education or type of family organization that prevails in a society. Closed-class systems such as castes generally offer little to no mobility. Where the extended family is the norm, mobility tends to be severely limited.