SOCIAL CONTROL

Introduction

"Because culture is learned and shared attitudes, values, and behavior, we expect the members of a culture to behave in similar ways. Members of a culture learn the appropriate behavior for a given situation. Not only do they adhere to that behavior pattern, but they also expect others to adhere to the behavior pattern. For example, we not only drive on the right-hand side of the road, but we also expect others to drive on the right-hand side. These regular and expected patterns of behavior are called norms (or standards of conduct)." Cultural Anthropology, a Christian Perspective, Grunlan & Mayers, 1988:204. These norms and the behavior surrounding them, are regulated by a body of observances, traditions, rules and accepted religions and moral standards. Like relationships, standards of conduct fall into four major categories: economic, political, social, and biological. When culture dictates, these norms develop into more clear cut "laws" or taboos. They are taught both formally and by example. and They are also backed up by pressures and penalties to assure the integrity of that culture. Those who refuse to conform to the "norms" of that culture end up that societies' delinquents.

How does has social control developed in cultures? Grunlan and Mayers (1988:204) go on to explain four factors that produce this "normative" behavior.

So, a practical understanding of social control will benefit both our pre-evangelistic teaching and our planting of an indigenous church.

Within social control will lie the tribal definition of sin. Care should be taken by the missionary to understand it well. If anything happens to excite general interest... a quarrel between family members, trading partners;, a breach of some marriage regulation;, etc.;. Note what is said and done. What actions are praised, blamed or penalized;, and what does public opinion seems to require? What was the "crime?" What justice is demanded? There will always be a graduation of severity to both the crime and its punishment..... This could include those things that must be done, should be done, could be done, shouldn't be done, and are never done. There will always be a difference between the ideal and actual severity of the crime and punishment. Whenever possible note how rules come into being, whether they are customary rules of behavior which have grown up within the community, or are sometimes specifically declared by some influential individual or body and enforced by authority.

Ultimately a solid understanding of social control can lead to a means of planting those seeds of truth growing into a meaningful and truly indigenous lifestyle for believers.

As you read these illustrations of social control from other cultures., allow them to expand your understanding of this important universal. Consider how understanding social control would affect your ministry.

An anthropologist was working with the Yanomamos and found that everyone is expected to display his "fierceness" to back up their threats and bluffs. He tells of one incident when the Indians chopped up a small platform on his canoe for no obvious reason. He jumped in it and paddled across to where they were and started lecturing to them about how hard he had worked to put those boards in his canoe, how he had paid a machete for the wood, and how angry he was that they had destroyed his work. He then pulled out his hunting knife and, while their grins disappeared, cut each of their canoes loose, set them into the current, and let them float away. They managed to borrow another canoe and after some effort, recovered their dugouts. The headman of the village later told him with an approving chuckle that he had done the right thing. Everyone in the village except, of course, the culprits, supported and defended his action. This also served to raise his status.

Kalinga - Philippines

A young Kalinga man who doesn't participate in headhunting is called a despicable weakling by the older headhunters.

Cleanliness is next to godliness.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Don't cry over spilt milk.

Waste not, want not.

It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.

A man's home is his castle.

The Bunyoro consider neighborliness very important. They like their neighbors to take an interest in them and they tell the following story to illustrate this.

Once a man moved into a new village. He wanted to find out what his neighbors were like so in the middle of the night he pretended to beat his wife very severely to see if the neighbors would come and deal with him. But he didn't really beat her. Instead, he beat a goat-skin while his wife screamed and cried out that he was killing her. Nobody came and the very next day that man and his wife packed up and left the village to find some other place to live.

Often it is more important to make the person feel good than to tell the truth about him. One Mexican woman was overheard saying, "Oh, she (a missionary) speaks such beautiful Spanish", when actually the missionary was far from fluent or good at the language. She felt perfectly justified in saying it though, because it made the missionary woman feel good. They believe life is too full of tragedies to add another to the daily list. On the other hand, we tolerate a bit of subtle deception in chess or checkers - pretending to be interested in one part of the game, while really concentrating on another.

The Shipibos' ideal is "the one who has a heart", which they use to describe a person who '`has it all together socially'. He doesn't talk too much or too little, he is helpful to others but doesn't neglect his own responsibilities; in short, he is an ideal member of the social unit of the village.

The Kalapalo classify animals and plants into 3 groups: things no one eats (they're taboo), things everyone eats, and things some people eat. Some things are taboo except under certain circumstances; like if they're hungry and nothing else is around, or if no one is watching.

Sexual relations with lovers (other than a spouse) are frequent and considered normal, as long as one doesn't get caught. One time a newly-wed couple came to a village as guests and while the husband was hunting, 11 men came to the wife and had sexual relations with her - within two hours time. All along the husband knew about it and pretended to ignore it. However, to the delight of some of his wife's seducers, he managed to visit a lady one night while her husband was playing the trumpets in the plaza. To turn down a proposition for sexual relations is sometimes taken as a serious insult by the offended party.

When a Manjui does something wrong or bad, the rest of the group will just leave wherever they're camping and leave this person all by himself. For example: A man lost his temper and yelled at his son. One of the Indians standing there said, "What a way to treat a kid!" He replied, "It's none of your business how I treat my kid." A third person said, "If you're going to talk to that guy that way, I'm not going to stick around." So he and the rest of the group (about 8 families) packed up in about 2 hours and left the one family there. The next day he and his family also left.

They'll do this often whenever there is a problem between two individuals. They will pack up and leave, coming back in one, two, or three months, and everything is taken care of then. A person who can't control his temper at all times and remain calm in every situation is viewed as a person to be avoided at all costs. Any contact with a short tempered person you have with them should be is kept as short as possible and ended as soon as possible. This is also true among the Choco, Maka, Chulupi, and the Lengua Tribes.

The Huli have a specific supernatural being, Datagaliwabe, who is the guardian of ethics. He isn't called by the group term used for an ordinary deity but is always referred to only by his personal name. His special function is to punish kinship offenses, so he is always observing social behavior. He punishes lying, stealing, adultery, murder, incest, marrying within the group, and breaking of taboos relating to the ritual. He also punishes those who fail to avenge the deaths of kin slain in war. He has no concern, however, with the behavior of unrelated persons.

A Ma'anyan man, who was an only son, was accidentally killed by a spear trap while walking through the forest. The elders had the owner of the trap pay a large fine and arranged for him to be adopted into the family of the dead man so that the owner of the trap would contribute support to the family of the deceased.

Bunyoro villagers know that unneighborly behavior may cause someone to have bad feelings toward you and that person could express his anger through sorcery, probably with serious consequences. Also, the unsociable or bad-tempered person may cause others to accuse him of working sorcery. The penalties for this are less severe but they still serve to discourage (though not to eliminate) certain kinds of socially disapproved behavior.

All Shipibo men carry on a cord around their necks a very sharp little knife on a cord around their necks, which is used primarily to lay open the back of the neck of anyone guilty of adultery. Usually such "debts" are paid off at festival occasions when everyone is a little drunk. No one is killed or really seriously injured, for the cut is made only an eighth to a fourth inch deep. However, a man guilty of adultery becomes a marked man by the scar which he wears, and those who are habitually guilty carry numerous scars.

At night, the Kalapalo shut their houses tight with large doors fastened from the inside which are placed over the front and rear openings. They are fearful of thieves, witches, and men who come to seduce their wives. But no matter how concealed and protected they try to be, their wives often act against all their efforts. While a husband is in the plaza at night, his wife's lover will slip into his house and quietly put out the fire beneath her hammock before lying down beside her. Women also commonly wait in the darkness beside the rear door so that they can let their lovers into the house. In other situations, too, other members of the family assist outsiders in betraying their family. For example, on one occasion a young man agreed to help his friend, who lived with another group, steal ammunition from a fellow household member who was notoriously stingy and who had himself been accused of stealing from the revengeful thief.

The Yapese put a magic "lock" in their garden which puts a dire curse on anyone stealing taro. It is made of a coconut shell, the word for which also means "skull" (and it stands for the skull of a dead relative of the thief) and a bone of a pig or dog which stands for the bones of all his dead relatives, etc. They tie these on a small stick in the garden.

Any Ava person who does wrong has to go work in the chief's garden for a particular amount of time.

With the Ifugao, reparations, or payment, wipe out a wrong-doing. The payment depends on the class of the wrong doer and the victim. They settle debts through an intermediary. It's considered a shame to be in a financial bind.

Occasionally, after dark, a fight will break out between a Yanomamo husband and wife and soon everybody in the village will be screaming, expressing opinions on the dispute. The shouting may continue off and on for hours, dying down only to break out again as someone gets a fresh insight into the problem. Once in a while, someone gives a long loud speech voicing his opinion on the world in general. Those who are interested may add their own comments but the audience usually grumbles about the noise and falls asleep.

Yanomamo women must respond quickly to the demands of their husbands, in fact, without waiting for a command. If a woman is slow to prepare a meal for her husband, he is within his rights to beat her. Usually he hits her with his hand or a piece of firewood but some of them chop their wives with the sharp edge of a machete or axe, shoot them with a barbed arrow, hold the hot end of a glowing stick against them, etc. The punishment is usually adjusted to the seriousness of the crime, although some men will mete out serious punishment for even minor offenses just to show their fierceness.

The most powerful and effective form of social control among the Ayore is gossip. It is used most effectively by the women. The women can bring down a strong Ayore man to the dust and cause him to leave the little group if he has not conformed to the dictates of the society. To be called stingy is the lowest insult that can be paid to an Ayore man. The strongest violation is not sharing.

A woman caught in adultery gets an arrow put through her thigh.

The Ifugao have go-betweens, or intermediaries, who have no authority but only persuade and take up the opponent's case. They can speak plainly and try to make opponents come together.

If a man is sick, no one can talk to him about his debts. Some men fake being sick and although the other man knows he's faking, he still can't talk to him about a debt he owes.

They also have set interest rates, fees, etc., all very highly structured and everyone knows the law even though it isn't written down.

The clan is responsible for the conduct of its members. and it's lawsuits, it is the clan which must pay for any misbehavior or damage if the guilty party can't pay for himself. This means that a Kipsigis clan really comes down hard on expensive culprits and in desperation, a person's own clansmen may disclaim him by judging him and casting leaves on him. In this way they show to members of other clans that the person can be killed without fear of retaliation. In other words, one's own clan passes the death sentence.

An Abelam man who suspects his wife of adultery can challenge the man to an exchange of yams. The husband, with the object of shaming the other man, sends yams and pigs to him with the challenge that he make an equal return. The implication is that the adulterer is more interested in sex than in growing yams and that he will not be able to meet the challenge. Thus, the yam cult with its taboos on sexual intercourse during part of the year, ambition, and a jealous regard for prestige act as forces to preserve marital fidelity.

The Ma'anyan have a concept of "adat" which means "custom", "tradition", or "customary law". If you ask why a woman wears her head cloth in a particular way, you are told, "It's `adat.' It's the traditional way. We've always worn them like that." The body of "adat" law contains an extensive list of fines required for all social infractions, and is a part of a complex oral code of traditional code which can be referred to more specifically as "adat" law. It also contains a schedule of ritual payments that should be made at the time of various life crises, such as a naming ceremony or a marriage, etc. It is not written down anywhere but is maintained solely in the minds of individuals. "Adat" cases are decided by experts sitting as a group. Each village has a small number of these elders and there is also a chief officer in "adat" matters, the /"pangulu"/. When a problem of "adat" law comes up, these elders will be consulted for advice.

In a serious case, the "adat" head and a group of elders will be invited to consider the matter. The elders don't have to attend, but since part of the fine includes slaughtering an animal and the elders are fed on the meat, they usually come. They discuss the case and the fines involved, and the particular aspects and circumstances of the case involved. They are more interested in the spirit than the letter of the law. Finally, the head will make his decision and all will agree.

In spite of the lengthy list of fairly well defined provisions contained in the legal code, the legal system maintains a good degree of flexibility. Because it isn't written down, old things that haven't come up in a generation or two tend to drop out of the general public's knowledge. When new situations arise that have no guidelines from past experiences, the elders "make up" a law on the basis of reason and fairness, and this decision is then made part of the code for use as a future reference.

If a man refuses to accept the verdict of the elders, he is "put outside adat" - put outside the protection of adat. He isn't physically banished from the community but can have any harm worked against him, including murder, and the adat legal system would take no notice. In the more usual case, the person put outside adat is sent to social and ritual coventry. On the social side, no one in the community will help him clear, plant, guard, or harvest his fields or assist him in any other type of cooperative activity. No shamans will help him and no one will help him celebrate the various life crisis ceremonies required by his immediate family. The threat of being excluded from the adat community is really a strong sanction, and the only way to get back in is to pay the fine.

If a Jewish woman committed adultery and there were no witnesses, but the husband suspected it and became jealous, he took her to the priest and brought an offering of jealousy for her, bringing the sin to remembrance. The priest took holy water in an earthen vessel and dust from the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water. He uncovered the woman's head and put the offering of memorial in her hands and charged her with an oath, "If no man has lain with thee and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse. But if thou hast lain with another man, the Lord will make thee to rot and thy belly to swell." The woman would say, "Amen, Amen." Then the priest would write these curses in a book and blot them out with the bitter water. He would then give the water to the woman to drink. If she was guilty, the curse would come upon her but if she wasn't, she would be free and would conceive seed.

An Ifugao man who had become a Christian Teacher in a Protestant school was involved in a village quarrel. The only way to settle the matter was to go through an ordeal in which the two were to throw an egg and three darts at each other. However, the people disqualified this young man for they claimed that he didn't have faith in the ordeal so it wouldn't work for him. They insisted on a substitute for him. His substitute and the accuser were kept awake for 2 days and nights with various religious incantations and rites. At the end of this time they stood only ten feet apart, but though they both apparently tried, neither was successful in hitting the other. As a result, the case was dropped.

The Kalapalo believe that the worst witchcraft murder is the murder of a young person in puberty seclusion. When the death of such a young person can be attributed to witchcraft and the leaders are able to publicly name the murderer, then more than one person should be executed in revenge. In a case like this, the murderer and other adult males of his household are the ones the victim's kinsmen are after. Ideally, they say, five people should be executed in revenge for the death of a secluded boy or girl.

The Zuni never exalt themselves - they work together. Those that are outspoken are punished. They once hung a man as a witch because he seemed to be possessed by a spirit that caused him to be aggressive, active, competitive.

The Kwakiutl stress the glorification and exaltation of yourself. In the potlatch ceremonies, they say, "I'm the greatest man that ever lived. My father was great, but I'm greater than he," etc. They're aggressive in it, and are rewarded for being so. A quiet timid person has a hard time with it. They push him to brag and he'll try but his whole being revolts against it. He is apt to become a delinquent, disowned by his father or pressed to the point of a nervous breakdown.

Occasional beer parties are held among the Bunyoro just as a social gathering and often just because the beer is available. Communal beer drinking is traditionally regarded as a good thing (though constant drunkenness is not), and although a man who spends all his time at beer parties is despised, one who never drinks beer with his neighbors is regarded as an eccentric or worse.

When a man commits a crime, the villagers get together and hold a court to try to reconcile the criminal and the victim. Usually the payment is beer and meat. The guilty party takes the beer and meat to the victim and the members of the court and others attend the 'party'. They have such a good time that the two become great friends again and the dispute isn't brought up again. This shows the high value they attach to good relations between neighbors, and its most important function is to restore village harmony by reintegrating the delinquent into his community. The beer and meat are not a "fine", for their purpose is to rehabilitate rather than to punish. The culprit actually enjoys the feast, even though he has to provide the food and drink, because the position of host is an honorable one. Thus he is really being paid a compliment, and the community is renewing their confidence in him.