A comparative study of the forms of slavery

Description

This thesis is composed of three parts all of which are to form the introduction to a general sociology of slavery. The first part is a theoretical introduction. In it first of all the meaning of the word 'Slave' is discussed, but the word is not defined as a scientific term. The changing and accumulating meanings are illustrated from 18th and 19thcentury dictionaries. Thus some insight is gained into our conditioning in using the word, and pseudo-scientific questions,arising out of this accumulation of meanings can be excluded from our inquiry. Placing slavery in a classification of the institutions of social inequality, we can define “servile institutions" as institutions 'sui generis', just as the three other main kinds: rank systems, class and caste structures. The relation between servility and the organisation of labour is outlined. This necessitates some general remarks on the meaning of ‘labour' as a sociological term which tend to be rather critical of attempts to describe labour in terms of motives. Two types of labour are thought to be particularly important in relation to servility: communal labour, that is the performing by many in unison of the same work, and menial labour, which, in the sense used here, causes a person to be exempt from the application of the sexual division of labour. The next section deals with relationships existing between individuals which involve a degree of servility, but do not express a desire to have this servility perpetuated, which thus does not form part of the basic structure. These institutions called here pre-servile which sometimes are confused with Slavery, develop in processes of social integration of detached persons (prisoners of war, offenders, orphans, bastards etc.)and are distinguished from pure slavery. The third part deals with a group of pre-servile institutions arising out of economic symbiosis of two societies of different 'densité morale'. In these institutions of extra-tribal patronage and servile symbiosis we find arrangements of social asymmetry and a tendency toward servile forms of labour which is rare in the former group of pre-servile institutions. Home attention is given to the relation between structural permanence of the institutions and the differentiation of labour forms. There exists a correlation of this kind, but no causal nexus. PART I. THE MEANING OF SLAVERY; THE TERMINOLOGY OF INEQUALITY; LABOUR AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE. Chapter I. (p. 1-8) The Origin of the word ‘Slave’ Chapter II. (p. 9-28) The Meaning given to Slave since the Middle Ages is illustrated by definitions from English, French and German Encyclopaedias from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Chapter Ill. (p.29-31) Slave in Sociological Contexts; a term of Interstructural reference, not to be defined. Chapter IV. (p.32-36) The Slavery-Serfdom Dichotomy and European conditioning. Chapter V. (p.37-41) Servile Institutions as a kind of social inequality. The phenomena of social inequality. Chapter VI. (p.42-57) Institutions of Inequality as kinds of status relationships: the four main types are rank, class, caste and servile institutions. Rank system as different from rank order (status distribution). Criticism of Landtman's use of the term Rank. Lowie on Rank, Caste and Class. The Definition of Class according to Weber. Class and social cohesion. Class and Caste: clashes between class and caste principles within one society. (Travancore and North America). Chapter VII. (p.58-73) Classes and Castes in non-class and non-caste societies; "Primitive proletariat" (MacLeod on North-West American Indians); difference between Parish and Pauper groups. Caste formation and discriminating segregation generally. ‘Race concepts and religious segregation; Jewish segregation. The merging of declassé groups submitted to common segregation; colour bar in Cardiff; coloured people in Mauritius. Chapter VIII. (p.74-82) Servile Institutions and their Classification. Criteria of range of inequality and institutionalization. Household and authority structures; dual status of slaves. Chapter IX. (p. 83-97) Definition of Labour. Bucher and the Functional School. Is a purely sociological definition of labour possible? The issue clouded by functionalism. Labour not definable by motives; division of labour different from organization of labour. Malinowski's and Firth's use of Bicher's approach. The Significance of the sexual division of labour, of communal end menial labour. Chapter X. (p.98-129) The Function of Servile Institutions in regard to primitive labour organization. Schurtz on Slave labour. Criticism of Firth's conception of drudgery. Technology, economic stages and Slave labour. Some criticism of Nieboer and of Hobhouse-Wheeler-Ginsberg. Discourse to Chapter X (p. 99-136) on: The Luxury Effect and the Effacing of the Enslaving Process. Chapter XI. (p. 137-140) Conclusions. Necessity to investigate Pre-Servile Institutions. Status relationships and jural relationships; Radcliffe-Brown on structure and jural relationship. Status mobility and the compatibility of jural relationships. PART II. THE APPORTIONMENT OF DETACHED PERSONS IN PRE-SERVILE RELATIONSHIPS AND INSTITUTIONS. Chapter XI. (p.141-156) The Kinless Person and the Orphan. Withdrawal of solidarity raises the question of new potestal regulations implying change of status; the situation brought about by rescuing another person (Kautilya Arthasastra). Relation between solidarity and authority structure. Orphans in Athenian law. Words for Orphan and Drudgery in Indo-European languages. Orphans among the Dehuelche, the Lepchas and the Tenetehare. Discourse to Chapter XII (p.157-180) on: Jural pluralism in regard to social structure and social actions transcending the autonomous jural spheres. Jural spheres according to Durkheim, Ehrlich and Weber. Weber's idea of the imposition of the jural idiom of Prominent Groups criticised. Jural spheres and degrees of conceptualisation. Chain actions and interdependent jural spheres. Expulsion of kinsmen; the Nordic concept of Frith. Expulsion among the early Hottentots. Chapter XIII (p.181-198). The Relation of the Uitoto Chief to Orphans and Captured Children. The Spencerian theory of the origin of slavery from cannibalism. The Upiaca captive children. The Position of the sacrificial victim among the Tupinamba: a pre-servile relationship. Chapter XIV (p.199-227). Can Slavery develop from the stetus of Captured Women? (Schurtz and Landtman). Alternative marriage types with and without status implications. Female prisoners of wer and their relation to the captor in unstratified societies. Conditions under which the following aspects of the captive woman can be separated: sexual, procreative and economic aspects. An interpretation of the Deuteronomic Law concerning concubinage with a captive woman. The institutions of the Safwa: the Varakuta lads and the Safwa Chief; the statement that Safwa have only women as slaves. Chapter XV. (p.228-250) The Boi system of the Lushai Kuki Chin. Continuous detachment of individuals from solidarity groups a feature of social growth. The process of reintegration and the function of the Chief. Boi relationships as transitory stage. Chapter XVI. (p.251-266) Chiefship or Kingship Segments as Assembly Points of Detached Persons: an alternative that depends on the social structure only; this exemplified by the institution of the Clan Exile among the Chagze. Integrity of kinship ties as major factor in the exile's status. Discourse to Chapter XVI (p.267-278) on: Asylum as one of the types and techniques of apportionment of detached persons. Chapter XVII. (p. 279-303) Conclusions. Enslavement and the Severing of Kinship Ties. The story of Joseph. Other relations between kinship and servile status. Nieboer on North American slavery. Pre-Servile relationships among various groups of the Mossi-Gourounsi of the French Sudan compared; Analysed as exauples of 'non-hereditary' slavery; Absence of heredity in slavery as a positive feature of structural relationships. 'Enslavement' of illegitimates by Mother's kin among North Californians explained as pre-servile relationship. Nieboer's distinction between intra- and extra-tribal origin of slavery; and similar discussions in Chinese literature. Discourse to Chapter XVII (p.304-326) on: The Aristotelian Theory of Slavery. Why Aristotle deals with household slavery only. Aristotle's distinctions between kinds of potestal arrangements. Kinds of potestal arrangements in Greco-Roman society generally. The status of the Vestal Virgin and the Roman soldier in the time of the Republic. Incompatibility of potestal arrangements as opposed to hierarchical structures. Later Roman hierarchy as different from Feudal and West African hierarchy. Aristotle's concept of the slave as 'A servant in the sphere of action.’ PART III. SERVILE SYMBIOSIS AND EXTRA-TRIBAL PATRONAGE. Chapter XVIII. (p.327-350) Economic Areas and Interrelations of Heterogenous Societies. The Efé Pygmies of the Ituri Forest and their symbiosis with the Lese; a patronage and Kare relationship. Social asymmetry.The Symbiosis of the Batwa pygmies and the Hutu; their relation to the Hemitic Sultans; hunting rights and joking relationships. Chapter XIX. (p.351-359) The Negritos of Northern Luzon and their Malay Neighbours. The trader as extratribal patron; diet, indebtedness and coercion. Criticism of Vanoverbergh's notion of exploitation. The exclusion of the weaker group from the market economy of the major society. Similar arrangements concerning the Semang of Malacca. Chapter XX. (p.360-364) Extra-tribal patronage exercised by the Ngwato Chiefs over the Sarwa bushmen. The dual position of the Sarwa as tributary group with internal social cohesion and as servants of the Chief forming part of Ngwato society. Chapter XXI. (p.365-370) Conclusions. Ngwato patronage compared to arrangements whereby the weaker group lives in caste-like segregation. Pre-servile relationships compared as to organization of labour, and as to social structure. Temporary and permanent pre-servile relationships. Relationship between structural permanence and differentiation of labour functions.