The Utility of the Equilibrium Model in the Study of Social Change*,¹

Abstract

There has been considerable criticism of clarify the situation we may be some steps nearer to an attempt a t bringing the results of studies of the structure of institutional systems together with those of the structure of fields of interaction between persons; this seems to me to be one crucial problem facing social anthropologists in the coming years.

Encounters at the interface: A perspective on social discontinuities in rural development

“…There is also no attention given to documenting the precise strategies adopted by village headmen for steering a middle course between these conflicting demands, nor any account of how colonial officers accommodated themselves to the situation. These shortcomings, of course, are consistent with Gluckman's commitment to an institutional and equilibrium model of social change (Gluckman, 1958(Gluckman, , 1968Long, 1968: 6-9).…”

Reading the Areopagus Speech in Acts 17 from the Perspective of Sacral Manumission of Slaves in Ancient Greece

“…To explain the paradox of being liberated as if (ὡο κὴ) absolutely free, but not in reality, Patterson (1982, 67) speaks of "rites of reversal". He concurs with the South-African born anthropologist Max Gluckman (1962;1970) who, in his fieldwork among Southern African indigenous tribes, learnt that enacting role reversal is culturally forbidden. He calls it "rituals of rebellion".…”

Inca Imperialism, Ritual Change, and Cosmological Continuity in the Cotahuasi Valley of Peru

“…Instead, structures of the long term are "from time to time brought into action, remodeled and transformed ready to be used and transformed again in future claims for legitimacy by either dominant or resistant groups" (Hodder 1991:89-91). Against the backdrop of practical consciousness, these structures are brought into particular forms, called institutions (following Gluckman 1968), that crystallize around distinct cultural settings. In this case, I defme institutions broadly as any organization or practice established and continued for public service, such as a political position, cult, or economic arrangement.…”