EXCHANGE IN LEVI-STRAUSS'S THEORY OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

This paper explicates the role of exchange in Levi-Strauss's theory of social organization, and integrates it into his general problematic. It focuses primarily on the original works of Claude Levi-Strauss, but also incorporates and critically reviews certain aspects of Ekeh (1974)and Turner (1974). Although Levi-Strauss is an anthropologist, his theoretical insights can be especially useful to the sociologist interested in macrosociology. To properly understand Levi-Strauss's notion of social organization and the role exchange plays in his theory, Levi Strauss should be set in the proper intellectual tradition. There are "two distinct traditions of social exchange theory, the 'col lectivistic' [theories of] Levi-Strauss . . . and the 'individual istic' [perspective of] Homans" (Ekeh, 1974:5). Homans's theory developed from the British utilitarian tradition and focuses on interaction between individuals. Levi-Strauss, on the other hand, emerges from the French-Durkheimian tradition, which em phasizes society as a collectivity. Like Durkheim, Levi-Strauss is concerned with the integration and organization of society. In Levi-Strauss's work, exchange plays a similar role in the theory of social organization as the division of labor does in Durkheim's theory. Although Ekeh correctly observes the existence of two major theoretical traditions in exchange theory and accurately describes most aspects of Levi-Strauss's theory, he and Turner