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Sex, Status, and Authority in Egalitarian Society
Author(s) -
Begler Elsie B.
Publication year - 1978
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.1978.80.3.02a00030
Subject(s) - foraging , politics , egalitarianism , sociology , sexual difference , sexual relationship , social psychology , gender studies , human sexuality , psychology , political science , biology , ecology , law , psychoanalysis
Disagreement exists concerning the nature of relations between the sexes in foraging societies. The crucial issue concerns the quality of interactions across rather than within sexual boundaries. Approaching the problem in terms of a political analysis allows cross‐cultural comparisons utilizing behavioral data. While all foraging societies are egalitarian within sexual boundaries, not all are egalitarian across sexual boundaries. The analytic usefulness of two subtypes of egalitarian society, the “pure‐egalitarian” and the “semi‐egalitarian,” is suggested . [sexual politics, egalitarian societies, status of women, hunters and gatherers]