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Community Structure in West Bengal 1
Author(s) -
KLASS MORTON
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1972.74.3.02a00240
Subject(s) - ethnography , rubric , west bengal , sociology , limiting , unit (ring theory) , bengal , epistemology , social science , anthropology , geography , socioeconomics , psychology , philosophy , mathematics education , engineering , archaeology , mechanical engineering , pedagogy , bay
The intent of this paper is to determine the most meaningful and useful model of community for the purpose of anthropological research in India. Redfield's “little community” approach is assessed first, and it is argued that this is a limiting one for India, whatever its applicability elsewhere in the world. Arensberg's approach to community as a minimal unit of organization and transmission of culture is next considered. Utilizing this concept, a model of community is then constructed. It exhibits five structural elements, of which “village” is only one. Once the ethnographer is freed from the necessity of viewing the village alone as a “little community” he may find it more possible to study, with equal facility, all the rubrics and institutions of anthropological interest.