Ko e lau pe (it's just talk): Ambiguity and informal social control in a Tongan village (humor, gossip, women) [microform]
- Bib ID:
- 3287512
- Format:
- Book and Microform
- Author:
- Bernstein, Louise Myra
- Description:
- 224 p.
- Summary:
-
This study examines the role of ambiguity and the use of informal social controls in competition for reputation in Ata, a Tongan village. Ambiguities existing both in Tongan social structure and in the informal social controls themselves allows for an informal status system based on reputation. To rise in status, Atans try to enhance their own reputation and damage a rival's by manipulating public opinion through informal controls such as humor and gossip. The ambiguity intrinsic in informal controls makes them ideally suited for sub rosa warfare: humor insulates the joker from responsibility, and gossip obscures the perpetrator of an attack. To understand the dynamics of the struggle over reputation, the study analyzes events surrounding the marriages of three men in one extended family.
It considers factors affecting villagers' use of informal social controls and shows how, by these means, villagers not only increase or reduce their future options for action but change their own and others' status as well. Specific topics discussed include the options open to the actors, their goals, the actions taken and their effects, how consensus forms and is manipulated, and how ambiguities in the Tongan value system allow actors to choose a context that will cast their behavior in a favorable light. Since Atan women are prime movers in the informal status system, concerning themselves with relationships and reputations more actively than men do, particular attention is given to the role played by women in status rivalry. The study also shows how informal controls serve as useful channels for aggression in a multiplex society, since their ambiguity makes them less dangerous to relationships than clear confrontation.
- Notes:
-
- (UnM)AAI8413312
- Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-03, Section: A, page: 0877.
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 1983.
- Reproduction:
- Microfiche. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International.
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Cultural
- Other authors/contributors:
- University of California, Berkeley
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 1983
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