Methodological problems with the concepts of corporation, corporate social grouping, and cognatic descent group

Abstract

The classic methodology for the analysis of corporations and corporate social groupings produces culturally contaminated data. An alternative methodology is described in which abstract analytical concepts are used to determine whether a social isolate has the capacity to enter into jural relations and where the exact social locus of ownership lies. This approach is tested against Gilbert's ethnography of the Peruvian cognatic descent isolate. It delineates more faithfully the indigenous distinctions and shows that the Peruvian descent isolate is not a corporate grouping in the realm of property relations. [corporations, corporate social groupings, property ownership, cognatic descent groupings, methodology, social organization]

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