200 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 12 



anyone in the community, she was modest and 

 unassuming. Some time later, she married a local 

 young man. At present, she is not only considered 

 by villagers to be one of themselves but is also a 

 village leader. (See Leadership, p. 207.) She 

 has been completely assimilated. Her attitudes, 

 sentiments, and beliefs are closely identified with 

 those of the community. 



The Japanese storekeeper, with his wife, moved 

 to the village 13 years ago. Their five children 

 have since been born there. Both he and his wife 

 have always been considered by local inhabitants 

 to be modest, unassuming, and friendly persons. 

 They were soon made to feel so welcome that when 

 a few years later, other families of Japanese who 

 had migrated to the community moved away, they 

 remained in the village. They now speak the 

 calpira dialect, although, with the exception of 

 the children, it is with a Japanese accent. They 

 attend Mass in the village church, join in the 

 processions, and otherwise take part in all religious 

 activities. The children of school age attend the 

 village school. The husband and father partici- 

 pates in local politics, supporting the majority 

 group actively and effectively. He recently 

 contributed part of the money to open the bus 

 line referred to elsewhere. (See Transportation, 

 p. 95, and Isolation and Contact, p. 104.) And, 

 jDcrhaps most significantly of all, he is now a 

 compadre to 34 persons in the community. 



STATUS AND PRESTIGE 



Age is a definite determinant of status. Older 

 persons tend to have more prestige than younger. 

 Parents tend to have greater prestige than chil- 

 dren, even if the latter are grown. On those farms 

 where three generations are living together, the 

 grandfather occupies a superior position as head 

 of the family, with more prestige than any other 

 member. The status of the grandmother is also 

 superior to that of any other woman. Older 

 persons are often heard giving advice, in tones of 

 positive conviction, addressing every younger 

 person present, even adults, as if they were 

 children. Invariably they are listened to with 

 attention and respect. To interrupt them would 

 be considered extreinely "poor form." Wlien 

 addressing an elderly person, one ordinarily pref- 

 aces the name with the term Nho or Nhd, a cus- 



tom which probably is a heritage of the slave 

 epoch when the master was known as SinhS (fron 

 Senhor, viaster) and the mistress as Sinhd (fronr 

 Senhora, ?)iistress) . 



The significant role of age in determining status 

 is probably due to the fact that in a communitj 

 which long was nonliterate, and still is to s 

 considerable extent, the personal knowledge anc 

 skills accumulated through years of experience art 

 of vital importance in everyday living. 



It is doubtful if the terms "class" and "caste" art 

 useful in analyzing the local society. Differences 

 in prestige exist within the community, but thej 

 are defined in each case by age, sex, or individual 

 variations. They are to be found within families 

 Moreover, the persons who possess most prestige 

 in the community do not think of themselves as 

 belonging to a group apart from other persons 



The son is not compelled to follow the same 

 employment as his father. In other words, there 

 is no inheritance of occupational function and nc 

 fixed form of occupational status into which the 

 individual is born and out of which he cannot pass 

 during his lifetime. The order is a mobile order 

 in which the individual is free to move from one 

 occupational role and position to another. 



At the same time, actual mobility with reference 

 to occupational roles is minimal. As has been 

 indicated, occupational variations in the commu- 

 nity are extremely limited. Almost all the inhabit- 

 ants work the land. There are few sons who do 

 not follow the same employment as their fathers. 

 To do otherwise almost always requires that one 

 leave the community. Most of the limited number 

 of men who at present are engaged in preparations 

 for quarrying, also occasionally work on farms. 

 The only other persons who were born in the com- 

 munity and who are not at present engaged in the 

 same occupation as their fathers, are the three 

 storekeepers ; the owners of the two hotequins; the 

 sub-delegado who also is one of the two local car- 

 penters; the village horseshoer, who also works 

 at barbering and shoe repairing; the tax collector; 

 the fiscal; and the registrar of vital statistics. Of 

 these 10 persons, however, 7 themselves own farm 

 land, the cultivation of which they oversee and on 

 which they themselves occasionally work. 



There is, however, inheritance of function as 

 between the sexes, not only in the obviously bio- 

 logical sense but also, as indicated in detail else- 



