Apply Functionalism and Structuralism to the Trobriander Islanders Economy

The first 200 words of this essay...

Apply Functionalism and Structuralism to the Trobriander Islanders' Economy

Jonathan Quaade

Ethnographer: Bronislaw Malinowski 1914-1918,

Ethnographer: Anette B. Weiner 1980's

Location: Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea

The Trobriand Island inhabitants live in a society composed of four clans further divided into subclans or dala, in the local language. These dala follow a matrilineal descent system that define territory, kinship and marriage, and are the corporations of society via the yam exchanges of kin, but the higher structure, clan, have no corporate interest and have no chiefs, but only chiefly dala's have chiefs, commoner dalas have managers as leaders and they cannot marry polygamous. Although, the Trobrianders have a matrilineal descent system they have patrilocal residence structure.

Looking at the Trobrianders from a functionalist perspective that all aspects of that all aspects of society (ex institutions) have specific functions Malinowski said that functionalism is the theory that a society is a set of interconnected parts where the social institutions support the needs of the individual's society by contributing to the social structure. These needs are either social, biological or economical, e.g. biological needs involve aspects such as food and water necessary