There has been much discussion in recent years about the construction of theoretical models useful in the explanation of particular areas of social organization. This volume charts that discussion and its results and covers a wide ethnographic range from the Pacific Island of Truk through African pastoral societies, south-east Asia and Hong Kong, back to Polynesia.First published in 1965.

There has been much discussion in recent years about the construction of theoretical models useful in the explanation of particular areas of social organization. This volume charts that discussion and its results and covers a wide ethnographic range from the Pacific Island of Truk through African pastoral societies, south-east Asia and Hong Kong, back to Polynesia.First published in 1965.