Adams] SHONTOI ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 105 



ject to the superordinate authority of a headman (cf. Thompson, 

 1950, p. 44). Organization of productive activity goes far beyond 

 the communal operation of native subsistence resources. Many mod- 

 em Shonto residence groups show a consistent division of labor among 

 member households. The group is almost certain to be dominated 

 by an older but still physically vigorous man, whose household is 

 in effect the central household of the group. This household will 

 function to manage and regulate the affairs of the entire group, 

 and will have special responsibility for the pursuance of native sub- 

 sistence activities. 



There is seldom more than one such household in a residence group. 

 All other households in the group are likely to be either a genera- 

 tion older, hence beyond the status of active productivity and au- 

 thority (cf. Leighton and Kluckhohn, 1948, pp. 89-91), or else one 

 or two generations younger. All such households function 

 essentially as subsidiary households to the central one. Among 

 the younger households, it is the principal economic function of the 

 men to work for wages, and thus augment the group's subsistence 

 resources with cash income from both wages and unemployment com- 

 pensation. Participation in wage work at any given time is likely 

 to be decided by the residence group headman to a greater extent 

 than by the individual actually involved — at any rate he usually 

 has the final say in the matter. 



Older or handicapped households are nowadays expected to play 

 their part in the group economy by getting on relief and thus provid- 

 ing a limited but absolutely dependable year-round income. The 

 advent of Navaho eligibility for welfare assistance has, probably for 

 the first time, enabled every household in the community to occupy 

 some productive role, regardless of resources. Thus, no household 

 today is necessarily entirely dependent upon any other. 



All income except from joint subsistence activities is first and fore- 

 most the property of the household in which it was earned. Unlike 

 households, the residence group cannot exert an a priori claim upon 

 income. In time of need, however, any household can claim assistance 

 from any other. The function of the residence group as a unit of con- 

 sumption is therefore a secondary one, always potential but not auto- 

 matically operative (see table 15) . 



In practice, specialization of productive activity commonly results 

 in considerable disparities in income among member households at 

 different times of the year (see "The Economic Cycle," p. 141), and a 

 regular pattern of interdependence is likely to develop. During the 

 winter and spring an entire residence group may be forced to subsist 

 largely on unemployment compensation drawn in one or two house- 

 holds. "Indebtedness" which thus accrues is compensated for at the 

 time of wool sales, when the creditor household may be given quantities 



