140 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 188 



Table 25. — Adjusted frequency distribution of income in Shonto households^ 



I To allow for household interdependence within residence groups, total residence group Income is divided 

 by number of member households, such that aU households within any group are figured to have the same 

 "adjusted" income. See "Summary and Interpretation of Income Figures." 



total income. The community's mean household income should prob- 

 ably be figured at somewhere between $2,000 and $2,500 for comparison 

 with non-Indian communities. 



In most respects it is impossible to compare Shonto's standard of 

 living with that of Wliites. Items such as basic utilities which most 

 "Anglos" take for granted are not available to Shonto at any price. 

 In consequence, the labor involved in hauling water and cutting and 

 hauling wood throughout the year probably adds up to far more, in 

 equivalent terms, than the utility bills run up by most ^Vliite people. 



While many services are provided to the community free of charge, 

 the cost of others is disproportionately high. Prices at the Trading 

 Post are consistently 10 to 15 percent higher than those in off-reserva- 

 tion towns (see "Markup," p. 182). Most of all the cost of all 

 transportation, if available at all, is excessively high. Lack of trans- 

 portation resources more than any other factor holds down the com- 

 munity's material standard of living. Trips outside the community, 

 to buy goods at lower prices or to take advantage of services pro- 

 vided without charge, are likely in three cases out of four to cost more 

 than they are worth both in time and in cash. Shonto pays a high 

 price for isolation in this regard. 



Navaho and Anglo-American ideal standards of living are not the 

 same in any case. The categories of necessity and luxury vary enor- 

 mously as between the two groups. Shonto's material standard of liv- 

 ing is geared to a subsistence economy (see "The Economic Cycle," 

 p. 141), and even if the ideal is low by White standards, the com- 

 munity's nonmaterial standard of living, especially in terms of time 

 and money spent in ritual activity (cf . Kluckhohn and Leighton, 1946, 

 pp. 159-162) , imdoubtedly remains high. Beyond the subsistence level 

 the community's income goes immediately into what White people 

 would term luxuries, both material and nonmaterial: luxury dress, 

 luxury ornamentation, luxury foods, and ritual activity. 



In the material sphere Shonto's ideal standard of living is derived 

 from and adapted to the community's old base of subsistence activities 

 (see chart C, p. 148) . Above all, nothing will ever replace the plenti- 

 ful mutton which was taken away by stock reduction. At the same 



