gossip and scandal

8/14/2019 Gossip and Scandal

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Papers in Honor of Melville J. Herskovits: Gossip and Scandal

Author(s): Max GluckmanSource: Current Anthropology, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Jun., 1963), pp. 307-316Published by: The University of Chicago Presson behalf of Wenner-Gren Foundation for AnthropologicalResearch

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Papers nHonor ofMelvilleJ.Herskovits

Gossip ndScandalbyMax qluckman

IT HAS TAKEN the development f anthropologicalinterestn the growthnd break-up f small groupsto putgossip ndscandal nto heir roper erspective,as among the most mportant ocietal nd culturalphenomena e are called upon toanalyse. erceptiveanthropologistsealt with hese henomenarom heearly days of field observation. aul Radin, in hisPrimitive an as a Philosopher1927:177-8), escribedtheway nwhichprimitiveeople re ndeedmonghemost ersistentndinveteratefgossips.ontestantsor he ame onours,os-sessorsf the acred ites fthe ribe,he uthorizedar-rators flegends,ll leaveyou n little oubt s to thecharacterndproficiencyftheirolleagues.Ignoramus,""braggart,"ndnot nfrequentlyliar" re iberallyandiedabout.Radin commentedhat thereforesome observershave drawn the conclusion hat not love, kindness,and forbearance,ut envy, lander nd hateare thedominanttmospheref a primitiveommunity."eargued hat this was incorrect,ecause he"unkindand slanderous emarks o frequentlyandied boutdo notengendereuds nd that often heprincipalsconcernedre on verygoodterms." adin dismissedthe dea thatthiscontradictionas to be explainedby "suppressionr sublimation";uthe fellbackona meagre sychologicalhesis,hat ribal ociety asatheory f freedomf expression hichgives "everyMAX GLUCKMAN is Professorof Social Anthropology t theVictoriaUniversity f Manchester, ngland. Born in 1911, hewas educated in Johannesburg nd as a Rhodes Scholar atOxford (D.Phil., 1936). He carriedout lengthy ield researchamong the Zulu and the Barotseand shorter urveys n otherRhodesian tribes.He was Director of the Rhodes-LivingstoneInstituteof Social Studies in BritishCentral Africa (1939-1947), beforebecoming University ecturert Oxford 1947-9), whence he establishedthe Departmentof Social Anthro-pologyand Sociologyat Manchester.He has been editor of theRhodes-Livingstonenstitutepublications.Gluckman's main publicationsare on politics and law, in-cluding a series of books and essays on the Barotse and anumberof essays on the Zulu, as well as collaborativeworkon the RhodesianTonga and Lamba. Also, he has publishedgeneral theoreticalwork, including Custom and Conflict inAfrica and Rule, Law and Ritual in Tribal Society in press),with contributions o Essays on the Ritual of Social Relationsand Closed Systems nd Open Minds: The Limits of Naivetein Social Anthropologyin press), both of which ast he edited.A collectionof his essays has just been published under thetitleOrderand Rebellionin Tribal Africa.Max Gluckman's paper is the third in a series,edited byFrancis L. K. Hsu and Alan P. Merriam speciallyprepared tohonorMelville J. Herskovits. he entire eries,whencompleted,will constitute new typeof FestschriftCA 4:92).

individual... the sameright o indulge n slander,gossip, utburstsfconceit,ealously,tc., hathehastogivevent othemore espectablemotions."adin'stheory as thusmuchessacute hanhisobservationsofgossip.He may haveconfusedhemaintenancefa surfacefgoodrelationsetweeneaderswith ctualgoodrelations,utheclearly etected owthey om-petedthrough ossip,without eingable to weavethis nto a theory. his is partlyunderstandablenterms f thebackground f analytical deas at thetimehewrote, hough year arlier,Malinowski adpresented is theory f myth s a socialcharter orexisting ocialarrangementsn thebasis of a man'sboasts hathehad theprivilegeo tell a certainmyth(MythnPrimitivesychology,926).In his studyof a TrinidadVillage (1947:1 5),Herskovits robedmuchmoredeeply ntogossip sa cultural henomenon.e discusses owprosecutionsand jailingof a sectcalledtheShoutersgiverisetogossipabout the events hat led to the suppressedmeetings,ales hat retoldandretoldwith mixtureof relish nd sympathy." e proceeds o showhowpopularattitudesnd pointsof view influencehisgossip, othat fantasyupplementsreven upplantsfact n order oweave more losely newmotif ntotheold pattern f grievancegainstdiscrimination."Thusoft-repeatedossip lamed he ocalministerora first eries f arrestsfShouters,or twas allegedthathe was piquedbecause he Shouters ad drawnaway hisown congregation.rominentaymen f arecognizedhurchwereaccused n gossip f leadingthepoliceto a Shouters'meeting. erskovits elatesthisgossipto allegations y thoseof lower socio-economic osition hat the discriminationf largerand wealthierenominationsadachieved hepassingoftheordinanceorbiddingheShoutersnorder tosuppress dangerousival n thequestfor ouls."In another tudyHerskovitsonnects ossipwiththe maintenancef morals. n hisLifein a HaitianValley (1937:74f) he analysessongs sung at theworking-bees-theombites:Atthe ombiteman ot nlyearnsll the ossipf heday, ut njoysearningnd inginghe ongs hichaus-ticallyommentnthe hortcomingsfneighbours,reval-uate hehospitalityfthosewhohave alled ombites,rdetail candal, hrased ith ufficientirectnesso allowthe eferencef the ong oremaintear,utwarily,oasnot ogive he ndividualroundsor irectecrimination.As weshall ee, ll the essons fsuccessfulcandal-mongeringre compressedn Herskovits' ew words.

Vol. 4 *No. 3 *June 1963 307

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He goeson to explainhow thismakes he eaderofthe ongs eared,or s one Haitianexpressedt, Thesimidorleader] s a journalist,nd every imidorsa Judas "Herskovits-anticipatingere he nalysisnwhich shallmainly epend-gives xamples f thesesongs oshowhow they ind avour among peopleto whosenatural oveof gossip s addeda patternedrelish or blique ublic tatementf ndividualhort-comings." e then ites ongswhich cornnhospitalityandmeanness, love affair etweenwofirstousins,andan impendinguarrelwhere suspicionfmagicpractices ntered,nd finally song whichwas achallengen which he singer oasted fhis equalitywith nother.The connectionf gossipwiththe maintenancefthe unity f groups nd theirmorality as takenastepfurtheryJamesWest n his tudy f Plainsville,U.S.A., (1945:99-107,162), a Middle West town;and this s thefirst eginningf an analysiswhichdemonstrateshe pervasiverole of gossip n com-munityife.'Westdescribes ividly he"loafing ndgossip"groups f Plainsville,nd creates hesugges-tivetitle gossip ells."Therearegroups f old menand old women, nd mencan onlyenter he storewhere heold women itby indulgingn a joking-relationship, arkedby sexual innuendo.He alsodescribesoungerliques, ne ofyoungmarried omenandone of four fast"youngmarriedouples.He saysthat n thegroups f old peoplethere s exchangingand garbling f all news,though he old menarekindlierhan heyoungwomen hink. e states, oo,that hese roupsreon thewhole gainst rogressivedevelopments.inallyhe (p. 162) writes hatreligioneemsopermeatehe ir. . as a vital oncerniththe egotiationsnmoralonducthichhe hurcheset p.Thereligiousontrolfmorals perates ainlyhroughgossipndthe ear fgossip. eople eport,uspect,aughat,and condemnhepeccadilloesf others,nd walk ndbehave arefullyo avoid being aughtn anytriflingmisstepsftheirwn....

Taking hese assagesnconjunction ith hebookas a whole, ne begins oget feelingfa communitywhich spartly eldtogetherndmaintainstsvaluesby gossipingnd scandalizingothwithin liques ndingeneral.Wemust iveWestfull redit orhisgreatpioneeringchievement;ut perhaps ecausehe wasa pioneer ewasnotable tograsp hefull mportanceof his own discoveries. e did not bringout thatgossip oesnot have solated oles n communityife,but s partof theverybloodand tissue f that ife.Before examine studywhichdemonstratedhisfully, glance ngeneral ermst ourproblems.heirimportances indicated y thefact thatevery ingleday,and for largepartofeach day,most fus areengaged n gossiping. imagine hat f we were tokeep record fhowwe useourwaking-time,ossipingwouldcomeonlyafter work"-for someof us-inthe core.Nevertheless,opular ommentsboutgossiptend to treat t as somethinghance nd haphazardand often s somethingo be disapproved f. It is

against the canons of the Church. Yet it is possible toshow that among relativelysmall groups, gossip, inall its verymany varieties, s a culturallydeterminedprocess, which has its own customaryrules, trespassbeyond which is heavily sanctioned. I propose toillustrate he social affiliations f thisprocessand tosuggest hat gossip, and even scandal, have importantpositive virtues. Clearly they maintain the unity,morals and values of social groups.Beyond this, theyenable thesegroups to control the competing liquesand aspiring ndividuals of which all groupsare com-posed. And finally, they make possible the selectionof leaders withoutembarrassment.The one theme of my argumentwas clearly ex-pressed nJane Austen'snovel,Emma,thatpenetratinganalysisof the small village of Highbury n Surrey.You may remember hepassagewhen the eliteof thevillage were to gatherfor Christmasdinner at Mr.Weston'shouse.Amongthemwas Mr. JohnKnightly,who had left Highbury to practise law in London.As he was driventhrough he snow to Mr. Weston's,he grumbled o hiscompanions:

A manmusthavea verygood opinion fhimself henhe asks people to leave their wn fireside,nd encountersuch day as this, orthesakeofcoming o seehim.Hemust hinkhimself mostagreeable ellow; couldnotdosuch thing.t is thegreatestbsurdity-actuallynow-ing t thismoment hefolly fpeople's ot tayingthomewhen hey an If we wereobliged o go out on suchanevening s this,by any call of dutyor business, hat ahardshipwe shoulddeem t;-and herewe are, probablywith rather hinnerlothing hanusual, setting orwardvoluntarily, ithout xcuse, n defiance f the voice ofnaturewhich ellsman, n everythingiven o hisvieworhisfeelings,o stayat homehimself,nd keepall undershelterhathecan;-here are we settingorwardo spendfivedull hours n anotherman'shouse,withnothingosayor tohear thatwasnotsaid andheardyesterday,ndmay not be said and heard again tomorrow. oing indismalweather,o return robablyn worse; fourhorsesand four ervantsaken ut fornothingutto convey iveidleshiveringreaturesntocolderrooms nd worse om-panythantheymight avehad at home.

Five idle creatureswere being taken that nighttospend their time in idle gossip with other idle crea-tures.That day theyhad chattedthesame idle gossip.And on the followingday, theywould engage in thesame idle gossip. Now, obviously, in the kind ofsociety describedby Miss Austen-the countryuppercircles of early nineteenth enturyEngland-gossipwas not idle, thoughthe creatureswere. In fact themore idle the creatures, he less idle was the gossip.These were people living on land, rents and gilt-edged shares,marking hemselves ff fromothersbytalking about one another. And talking about oneanotherwas what helpedmaintainthem s a group-an elite-in the wider societyin which they lived.Mr. JohnKnightlyhad left this societyto practicelaw in London; hence he was intolerant f its gossip.His more ntelligent,nd veryhigh-principled rother,joined in the gossip with interest,for he was stillfully absorbed in the social life of the village. Butthe rightto gossip idly was severely restricted venwithin the circle; so that Mrs. Elton, the Rector'sride from Bristol,was pert and impertinentwhenshe joined in that gossip too freely nd too quickly.he novelist Frank Swinnerton pointed out that

1 J draw attention o Simmel's brief reference o "gossip" asimportant n the nuances of human interaction, ut he is led offfromanalysisby emphasising he betrayal f secrets, ven thoughthis is most important n community ossip (The Sociology ofGeorg Simmel, 1950, p. 334).308 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY



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Gluckman:GOSSIP AND SCANDALane Austen uses gossip as a means of interrelatingher characters n a common ocial intercourseo skill-fully, that Mr. Perry, the apothecary,never onceappears in person during the courseof the book, yetin the gossip of others we see him as an individual,influencingheirdealingswith one another 1939:16).Gossip of this kind is one of the chiefweaponswhich those who considerthemselves igher n statususe to put those whom theyconsider ower in theirproperplace. Huntin', fishin' and shootin', n them-selves,as expensiverecreational ctivities,may havebeen-and maybe-among thechief ymbols ywhichcertain sets in England mark themselvesoff fromothers.But with the activitiesgoes a largemeasureofgossip which makes huntin', fishin', and shootin' aconstant nd endurin'bond betweenthosewho prac-tice them-against thosewho do not. The Sphere,theTattler, and othermagazinesbearwitness.The gossipwhich accompaniestheseactivities s interwovenwitha separatetechnicalJanguage. remember akingupthesports f riding nd sailing, nd havingto struggleto acquire these new technical anguageswhich helpmake one a member of the fellowship.But whenit came to riding, was never able to acquire thegossipamongthosewho rode-even in the mall circlesof Johannesburg-andI always felt ost in thegroup.I was glad when the timecame forme to slinkawaywith my horse to carry out my field research inZululand, until there again I found myself xcludedfrom groupsbecause I did not know enoughgossip.Gradually I learnt the gossip; but I never acquiredenough certainty n knowing when and, more im-portantly,when not to use it, ever to becomea mem-ber of Zulu society.The more exclusivethe group,the greaterwill bethe amount of gossip in it. There are three forms fsocial groupwhich testthishypothesis. he one is theprofessionalgroup, like lawyers or anthropologists,whosegossip s built nto technicaldiscussion o tightlythattheoutsidercannotalways detectthe slightper-sonal knockdownwhich is concealed in a technicalrecital,or the technical neer which is contained n apersonal gibe. This is, therefore, he most irritatingkind of group to crashinto,because one has no clueto the undercurrents,o apparatus fortakingsound-ings. And this is why old practitioners f a subjectcan so easily put a comparativenewcomer nto hisplace, can makehim feela neophyte.They have onlyto hint n a technical rgument t somepersonalfactabout thepersonwho advanced the theorydiscussed,to make the eager youngstudentfeel how callow heis. Again, the more highlyorganized the profession,the more effectives the role of gossiphere.I have glancedalreadyat the secondtypeof highlyexclusive group-that feels it has high social statusfrom which it wishes to exclude parvenus. Butwe mnust otice that these groups tend to becomehereditary;and once they are, it means that eachgroupcomprisesnot only thepresentmembers f thegroup,but also thepast dead members.And here liesgreatscope forgossipas a social weapon. To be ableto gossip properly, memberhas to know not onlyabout the presentmembership, ut also about theirforbears. or members an hit at one another hroughtheir ancestors, and if you cannot use this attackbecause you are ignorant,then you are in a weak

position.Gossip here is a two-edgedweapon; for italso means that you have no ancestors n the groupto be attacked through-in shortthat you have noancestors. And each time that someone in yourpresencerefers o a scandal about another's ncestor,or even his own ancestor,he is gentlyrubbing n thefact that you have no ancestorsand do not belongproperly o the group,and are a parvenu.The thirdtype of exclusive group is that whichhas exclusiveness hrust pon it-either by being in aminority, y isolationof locality,or by otherdistin-guishingcriterionwhich the memberscannot over-come. I shall illustrate the functionof gossip andscandal in this typeof group in detail, since here asfar as I know) these mportant henomenaweremostfully subjected to an illuminatinganthropologicalinvestigation. his was in ElizabethColson's studyofthe Makah Indians (1953). I have selectedher studyfor ts detailedpresentation f mycentraltheme, ndof some of the complicatingpeculiaritiesthat enterinto the gossip of each type of group, because shemade manifestto me that gossip and scandal havetheirvirtues.The Makah Indians were a small group of RedIndians resident n the Puget Sound area at the tipof Cape Flattery, ppositeVancouver Island. It wasestimatedthat-in 1780 they numberedsome 2,000people.A centuryater, mallpoxand othervicissitudeshad reduced them in numberto under 700 and in1942,when Dr. Colson studiedthem, herewere400-odd on the tribal roll. The Makah belonged to theNorthwestCoast groupof American ndians, famousin anthropological iterature ortheirperformancefthe potlatch. A potlatch was a ceremonialfeast towhichone groupor individualinvitedsocial rivalsinorder to demonstrate amilyprerogatives.The hostaggressively ssertedhis and his family'sownershipof particularproperty n resources, itles,songs andceremonial privileges while feasting and makingpresents o the visitors.The visitors hen had to givea return easton a bigger cale or lose face.Beforethe Makah came underAmericanprotectionand care by treaty hey ived in fivevillages,dividedinto longhousesin which dwelt extended families.The people were divided into chiefs, ommoners,ndslaves.The American ndianService et outa centurygo toturn heMakah intoAmerican itizens-agriculturalistsin anenvironmentuitable nlyforfishing,untingndcollecting;Sunday School addicts,aware of thevalueofmoney nd averseto destroyingheir wnproperty,living in houses by small families,wearing clothes,eatingoff tables and the like. Childrenweretaken bycompulsionfromtheirparentsand sent to boarding-school to cut themofffrom heirparentsand Indiantradition.All things ndian were prohibitedby thelocal agent of the Indian Service. This process ofindoctrinationwas kept up until 1932, when thepolicyof the Indian Servicechanged, nd it began toencourage the developmentof Red Indian culturalindividualitywithinthegeneralAmericanpattern.Colson tried, n her study,to assess how far thisprocessof Americanizationhad succeeded.She foundthat the Makah in practicehad made a satisfactory

Vol. 4 *No. 3 *June 1963 309



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adjustment o the modern American world. Fromthebeginning,they had paid their way economically,unlike the Plains Indians, who had been put onGovernment ationsafterthe destruction f the buf-falo. The Makah were protected n a part of theirancient territoryby their treaty with the UnitedStates Government; nd fromtheir Reservationtheyhad been able to earn a living first t sealing, andthen at fishing orhalibut,and also by workingforthe lumber company exploitingthe forests on theReservation.By this ime he tribehad ceased to be pure-blooded.Not onlywere theremanyhalf-breedsn it,but manymembersof the tribe had considerablymore whiteblood than Indian blood. Most of the youngerandmiddle-agedpeople spoke Englishand few had a goodknowledgeof Makah. The overt practiceof Makahcustom and ceremonialhad died out. More thanthis,most Makah were subjectto the ntensive ropagandaof what are technicallycalled, "mass media com-munication," .e. cinemas,radio, newspapers,maga-zines.They were also in intensive ontactwithAmeri-cans. Some of theseAmericans ived in theNeah Baysettlement nto which all Makah had moved. ManyMakah cQntinuously,f periodically,moved out ofthe Reservationand scattered n the cities and farm-lands of the WestCoast wheretheyearnedtheir ivingin the same ways as any other Americansof parallelskill. In 1942, Neah Bay was filled by additionalWhites, ome to the wartimenaval base and associatedconstructional ctivities. Again, the Makah were ongood terms with many of these Whites. Indeed, inmany cases Dr. Colson found it impossibleto detectwhether man was Makah or White by his surfacerelationswith others.Many Makah were Christiansand associatedwith Whites n worship.

Colson saw that the Makah were able to adaptthemselves o the new conditionsand that this waspossiblebecause they were able to earn a good livingfrom the sea and fromwork on theirReservationaswell as outside it. Yet they still cling together s agroup, partly because they have economic interestsin being Indians. As wards of the United StatesGovernment, heycannot be taxed by State or localauthorities, itherdirectlyor throughpurchasesalestax, entertainmentax, petrol tax, etc. They are notsubject,while on the Reservation, o certainprocessesof law, such as garnisheeorders on their wages orattachment f goods acquired by hire purchase andtaken on the Reservation.They are entitledto freedental and medical treatment,nd their children tofree lunches at school as Whites are not. There aremanyadvantages n beingan Indian and also in beinga Makah. This entitles a man to free rights n theMakah Reservationand ultimately o a share in theproceedswhentheReservationor partsof it are soldas provided in the Treaty. Therefore the Makahcollectively and theoretically strive to keep theirnumbers ow in total, in order that shares shall begreater,though in practice individuals will try toinsure that the descendants f theirown relatives areon the tribal roll, whatever their parentage,whilethey try to keep the descendants f othersoff.I have su~mmarized beautifully resented rgumentand analysis to give a background o Colson's percep-tion of the virtuesof gossip and scandal among the

Makah. Here we have a very mallgroup 400 people)set againstthemightymass of the Americanpopula-tion. They are hostile in many ways to the Whiteswith whom theyassociate.They feel that the Whiteshave robbedthemof a culture nd a way of lifethatwas theirs, hat theWhiteshave despoiledthemandtheir Indian brothersof land, and so forth. Onewould expect that they would array themselves nunity in order to maintain their independenceandtheir dentity s Makah. Far from t. They are tornby internaldissension and strugglesfor status andthey constantly se thetongueof scandal to keep oneanother n proper place.Colson, knowing that the Makah had previouslybeen divided into chiefs, commoners,and slaves,soughtto establish the natureof this ranking n thepast. She found great certaintyabout the rules asexpressedby variouspeople. But, unfortunately,omerules contradicted thers, nd the applicationof eachwas always uncertain. Someone would tell her thatchieftainship as determinedbsolutelyby birth, othon father'sand mother's sides; and add, of course,thathewas thusdescended.Otherswould corroboratethese rules, but would point out that the first n-formantwas descended from Nootka slave woman,and thereforewas low class. Then others would saythat birth was of some account, but it was moreimportant hata man, to be high-class, hould achievesomething imself, y being a doctoror whale-hunter,or the ike, and of coursehisfatherwas a greatwhale-hunteror doctor or the like. Yet others would thenrundown thesepretensions. gain, under the potlatchsystem, man had had to give feasts to show hisgreatness; o today a man ought to be generous f heis to be esteemed. But now that anyone can earnmoney, f a man givesfeastshisrivals can say thatheis a nouveau riche trying o cover his low-class andthatthereal high-class eople do not need to do thissince their status is well known. Others will thenaccuse them of meanness, nappropriate o high-class,until theybecomeprodigal, when they are nouveauriche. Finally, you can always down another byallegingthathisfamily s addicted to sorcery poison-ing). And to use sorcery means that one is of lowclass-for the man or woman who is secure n socialpositiondoes notneed to use sorcery o securehis ends.Everyone s likely to accuse othersof being sorcerersand to be accused in turn.Thus Colson says (pp. 204-5) that hardlyhad shebeenin thevillage a week,when she heard that therewas a class system... and it was highly mportant.We Indians re ust ikeWhites.Weclassup.There rehigh-classeople nd middle-classpeopleand thenreal low-class eople.Mostpeoplehere omefrom he ower lassthough hey on't ike ttobe said. You can tell the differencehoughwhenyoumeetpeople. Onlythehigh-class eopleknowhowto act. Theothersnaturally on't knowanythingbouthow thingsshould edone.Theyhadnooldpeople oteach hem. ustcertain amilies now.' Each person aying histhen aid,ofcourse,hathisfamily as ofupper-classtatus ndhadbeenso from s far back as Makah traditionwent, ndproceededo warnmeagainst amilies hichhecalled owclass.These in turn warned her against the others. Dr.Colson sums t up:

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Gluckman:GOSSIP AND SCANDALSo it wentfromperson o personuntil foundthateveryonen thevillageaccusedothers f being ow-classandnotentitledospeakfor heMakah or to holduptheirheads n front f thereallygood people.The result s that nNeah Bay today class ystemheo-retically xists, ut t s impossibleor heobserveroplaceany single ersonn hisproper lass because here re nogenerallyccepted tandardss to whatconstitutesvalidclaim to class status.Nor is there ny generally cceptedplacingof individualsn various lasses ecognized y allMakahthemselves.et, they re conscious f class and itentersntotheir hinking ithreferenceso otherMakahto an extent hat s incomprehensibleo a newcomer. achindividualclaimshigh-class tatus for himself nd hisimmediatencestors; ach usuallyderides he claims ofotherMakah unless heyhappen obe closerelatives-andevena closerelative s not safe sincehis claims o statuscan alwaysbe derided n the ground hat through omelinenot haredwithyouhedescends romow-class eople,or itmay be claimed hat he has not achieved nough ojustify is equal positionwithyourown.Makah also attach great value to the theory thatkinsmen hould help one another, nd for pride's saketo maintain their ocial standing; hey go out of theirway to assistdistantkin. So that the poor Makah whorunsa store or restaurant s compelled to give creditto his kin, and they do not feel it necessary o paytheirdebts. He cannot, on the other hand, make aliving out of people who are not related to him; forunrelatedpeople will not buy from him because ifhe becomes rich he will rise in status. They prefer obuy fromWhites and make Whites rich. Similarly,when the Makah try to run any political activity,those who take the lead are sniped at by vicious,scandal, to undermine heir rise in status, until theyabandon the activity.This has happened to the Pre-sident nd otherofficers f the Makah Tribal Councilinstituted y theUnited States Government. candalalso attacked and drove frompublic life a number fMakah who tried to run an Annual Makah Day,during which so-called traditionalMakah dances andceremonieswere staged.2Historically,it is easy to see how this situationarose. In theold days the chiefs' tatuswas validatedby their control over economic resources and overtheir ubordinates. his statuswas periodicallydemon-stratedthrough eremonialprerogatives xhibited npotlatch feasts. Today anyone can pay his way byearningmoneyand can give feasts.Lines of ancestryare blurredby intermarriagend connections utsideof marriagewith Whites and other ndians and ulti-mately, all Makah are probably interconnected yblood with each other. At the moment,there arecertaingroupings f closelyrelated kindredbut newmarriages nd new birthsmay changethe alignment.Hence it is impossible o demonstrate tatusby refer-ence to thepast. That the Makah should stillput somuchenergynto thisfactious truggle or class statusmay largelybe a relic of theformer ankedpotlatchingcompetition.t may also be the ntrusionmongthemof Americanclass-ideas.But I ventureto go beyondColson's analysis and suggest omethingmore.Colson concludesherdiscussion p. 228):

Thewholepicture f rivalry orposition ives he m-pressionhat he lass onceptsftheMakah recompletelyunconstructivend workonlyto disrupthe smooth unc-tioningf thegroup.That is not entirelyrue.The desireforprestigend forsocialposition ontributesomethingto tribal ife. ndeed, he ncessantossip nd back-bitingwhich oes n canbe viewed s animportanteatureoldingMakahin a setof social relationship hich s distinctivewithinwiderAmericanociety.It wouldbe too simple o characterizehebickeringndsnipings 'in-groupggression'asBarnouw oes mongheChippewa] nd et tgoat that.TheMakahcriticizethersintermsf setofvalueswhich peratewithinhegroup ogovernhebehaviourf membersfthegroup. heconstantcriticism,ossipand backbitings a reassertionf thesevalues,which odaycan be expressedn no otherway. Ifthey epressedhegossip ndback-biting,hevalues hem-selveswoulddisappear,ndwith hemmuch fthefeelingthat heMakahare a distinct eople.To some xtenthe back-bitingtself asbecome n endinitself, systemfbehaviourntowhich heMakahhavethrownhemselvesith zestand a determination,hichhavebroughtheartof verbaldenigrationo a highpeak.Certainlyhemalicioustatementsf their ellows iveriseto hatred nd to unhappinessnd to a retreat rom ublicview,but from he zest withwhichtheyrecount heirexperiencesn thefield fslander,t is apparenthat heyhavedeveloped his ype f behaviournto gamewith tsownrules nd nterest.Shefootnotes:Makahwere xpertsin Lifemanship'3efore his rt obtained eneral ecogni-tion."]Likeall artists,r sportsmen)he Makahdelightnplayingwith heir echnicalkill.And onlyothers ftheirowncommunityavethe technical nowledgeo competeinthegame, rtoappreciatehe killwithwhich point sscored.In this analysis Colson clearly establishes he im-portantpointthatspecific nd restricted ossipwithina group marks it off fromother groups,both likeand unlike. The gossip and scandal which are sobiting n Makah lifeunitethem nto a groupoutsideof generalAmericansociety.And, as she pointsout,sincethisgossipand scandal involvethe criticismndassessment f people againstthe traditionalvalues ofMakah society,they maintain the tribe as IndiansagainstWhites,and as Makah againstother Indians.These Makah values and traditions argelypersist nthegossipand in no otherway. To be a Makah, youmustbe able to join in the gossip,and to be fullyaMakah you mustbe able to scandalize skillfully. hisentailsthatyou know the individual familyhistoriesof yourfellows;for theknowledgeable an hit at youthroughyourancestry,nd youmustbe able to retortin kind. You have also have got to have someknowl-edge of the old ways of the Makah tribe.In thespecific ituation f the Makah, it seems lsothattheirbiting candal is used to maintaintheprin-ciple ofequalitybetween ll members.What thegroupseems to be unable to do is to admitthatone personis superiorn any respect.The Makah fought Wash-ingtonState law to protectthe breedingof fish,byclaimingthe rightto fishout of season in a certainriveron the groundsthat theyfishedtherewhen theTreaty of the Reservationwas signed.To win theircase,theyhad to admitthatone familyhad hereditary2 Colson contrasts he situation f the Makah with the situationdescribedbyV. Barnouw in "Acculturationnd Personality mongthe Wisconsin Chippewa," Memoirs American AnthropologicalAssociation,No. 72 (1950). 3 Stephen Potter, Lifemanship (1950) and One-Upmanship(1952).

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rightsn the river.They preferredo lose their ase.It appears o be in the nature f their ituation,hatthey refuse o admit to Americans ny inequalityamong hemselves-nor are they laim t publicly sindividuals. hey are a smallgroup,whosemembersmove withequal freedomn the argeAmericano-ciety.The group s too smallto sustain ny divisionof status within itself, and none of them in theirdealings with otherAmericanswould admit that afellow is his superior. What they are clingingto isthe status of Indians, as wards of theUnited StatesGovernmentwith theprivileges f wardship, nd thestatus of Makah, with its rights n the Reservation.To maintain this status, they have all to be equal,lest anyonewho acquires superiority etsmore thanhis share of privilege.Old traditions nd present m-bitionsdrive ndividualsto assert hemselves nd theirstatus; Makahship, throughthe weapon of scandal,keeps them n practice equal.The desire to remain Makah, with its attendantadvantages, explains why people do not tryto breakaway from hegroup. Otherwise, t seems hatat leastthe lighter-colouredMakah could disappear into theAmerican population: probably many have in factdone so. But this desire s feltby the individuals andextended families which make up the Makah tribe.And the interestsn the Reservationare competitivebetweenthem,because if it is sold it will bring n alimited amount of money. Hence, I suggest,Makahgossip does not show merelythat generalinterest nthedoings, nd the virtues nd vices,of others,whichcharacterizes ny group.The gossippasses beyondthisstage and becomesvicious scandal, aimed at demon-strating hat the other parties are not worthyto beMakah. The different roupsand individuals in thetribe fightan unceasingbattle to demonstrate heirown true Makahship, as against the failures f othersto attain Makahship. But this involves them in acontinual process of remaining Makah, which (asColson says) gives high mportance o thescandalizingitself, s a mechanism or maintaining he Makah asa group encystedn the Americannation,whoseothermembers re excluded fromthis war of scandal. Andthepracticeof thisscandal is developedto a high art,culturally efined. candalizing s one of theprincipalmeansby which thegroup's separatenesss expressed,even though t is also the principal manner n whichinternal struggles re fought. This combination offunctions f scandal makes thehostilitytself modethroughwhich thetriberemainsunited.This analysisof gossip passing into scandal bringsout some of the generalcharacteristics f gossip, as aculturally controlled game with important socialfunctions. t also shows that in differentkinds ofgroupsthe role and function f gossipwill vary withtheir pecifichistoriesnd their ituations n the argersociety. Colson's penetrating study has lessons forus all as observers f life around us. We learn fromit that gossip is not idle: it has social functions ndit has rules which are rigidly controlled. RonaldFrankenberg as applied Colson's analysis to a Welshvillage (1957) whichwas strugglingo remain a com-munity, houghmostof itsmen now go to work in atown some miles away.4 The villagers ran a series of

communalctivitieswhich ymbolizedhisdesire obe a community:illagechoir, rass-band,ramaticsociety, ootball lub,carnival.These activities ererun in succession,not at the same time. For it seemsthat each activityin time became so bedevilled bythe internalgroup and personal feudsin the villagethat t could no longerbe pursued uccessfully ithoutleading to irremediable reachofrelationshipsetweenvillagers.Therefore s thebrass-bandfailed,thechoirwas started;as the choir failed, a footballclub wasfounded; when that failed, an annual carnival wasinstituted.And as each failed,the villagersfelttheycould make a fresh tart,withold animosities urgedwith thefailing ctivity.But theanimosities ontinuedinto the new activity.This is a fascinating tory nitself.But what I want to emphasize here is thatthe struggles etweenvillagers are not fought penlyin committeemeeting ntilcrises re reached. nstead,differencesf opinion are foughtout in behind-the-back tattle,gossip, nd scandal,so thatmanyvillagers,who are actuallyat loggerheads, an outwardlymain-tain the show of harmony nd friendship cf. Radinabove). They remain a community,espitetheverbalcut-and-thrustn thedark,wheretheytryto advancetheir eparate ausesagainsttheir stensible riends hoaretheir nemies. omeaccommodations thusreached.In thisgossiptheyevaluatepeople as leaders, as goodvillagers,and the like, so that gossip also serves tobring,onformitywith village values and objectives.Eventually,when a crisis is reached, a stranger5 othe village is thrustnto thepositionof appearingtotake the decisionwhich forces one party out of thecurrent ctivity; and gossip can blame this strangerfordestroying illage unity:"We would be happy ifforeignersdid not make trouble " After one suchcrisis,when a stranger ad proposed the critical, ndCcobjectively"ensible,motion in open committee,woman said: ccAll trangershould be shot "Here, too, the outsidercannot join in gossip. Thepoor anthropologist, eforehe understoodthis, gotinto trouble.His landlady and some friends, fter awhist drive were criticising he play of a certainwoman.The anthropologistfter while oined nwithan example. His landladyturned n himand remindedhim that he was referring o her prospective on-in-law's grandmother. e was oftenrebukedforcriticis-ing distantcousins.Thus, thoughthe villagerswerekind and friendly,he was remindedoften that hewas a foreigner. e sumsup by sayingthatccvillagersdid not hesitate to make accusations against andridiculetheirfriends nd relatives, ut outsiderswerenot allowed this privilege." Frankenbergfound, asColson had among the Makah, that the constantcrit-cismof those who tried to run village affairspunished anyone who appeared to get too muchprestige s a leader.The members f thevillage wereequal against the overwhelmingonslaught of themodernindustrialworld. The brass-bandcould not

4 "Gossip" is mentioned n studiessuch as those of WilliamsThe Sociology of an EnglishVillage: Gosforth1956), and Stacey,312

Traditionand Change: A Study of Banbury(1960), with someattention o the restricted irculationof gossip, but withoutfullanalysis.5 The definition of "stranger,"and the differencebetween

"strangers" nd "outsiders," s a verycomplexproblem,discussedat lengthbyFrankenberg. he criticalproposalmaybe put forwardbya "stranger" o the set ofsocial relationshipsnvolved. have tosimplifyn order to compress.CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY



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Gluckman:GOSSIP AND SCANDALun, though-heyhad the nstruments,ecause neitherof the conductorsn thevillage dared tell his fellowshow to play. A local lad could not captainthevillagefootball team as he did not dare give orders to hismates: they had to import a West Indian from anearby town to be captain. Again the anthropologisthas been able to show that dispitethesedisputes, uar-rels, gossip and scandal, and the restrictingf theprivilege to talk thus, have the effect f maintainingthe village as a village and of preventing t frombecoming collectionof houses, ike a housing state.Town planners are very anxious to turn housingestates ntocommunities: heyshoulddevelop scandalin them. erhaps t is theirdutytoprovidecause for t.Gossip and even scandal unite a group within alarger society,or against another group, in severalways. Firstly, ll groups tryto thrust heirroots ntothe past; scandal by creatinga past historyfor themembers n relationto one another, nto whichnew-comers have to be inducted if they are to be fullmembers,chievesthis; Secondly,no groupsare com-pletely undifferentiated. ll of them consist in thefirst lace, of individuals, nd, secondly,most consistof smaller groupingsof individuals, cliques. Theseindividualsand cliques may be competitively lignedagainst each other. They struggle for status andprestige. These struggles have to be kept withinbounds, while the general values of the group areasserted, f the group is to survive. The values ofthe group are clearlyasserted n gossip and scandal,since a man or woman is always run down forfailingto live up to these values. But the strugglesto fulfil those values by individuals and cliques arealso restrained ecause the methods f achieving hemare definedby gossip and scandal: and the3e them-selvespunish any excess. For theycontroldisputationby allowing each individual or clique to fightfellow-members of the larger group with an acceptabile,.socially institutedcustomary weapon, which blowsback on excessively xplosiveusers. For thebattleofscandal has its own rules, nd woe to him who breakstheserules.By the act of carrying is scandalizingtoofar,he himself versteps he values of the groupandhis scandal will turn against him, will prove that heor his small clique is unworthy f the larger group.And the scandal will in fact redoundto the creditoftheperson attacked,since he will have been unfairlyassailed.Colson tells 233-34) thestory f twoMakahwomenwho were on bad terms.On one occasion onewoman in the streetshurledstrings f insultsat theother,who kept walking along, singing,ccThe bearwent over. the mountain." ccBothwomen knew thatone was behaving ike a clow-class'person,the otherlike a "high-class' erson, nd the advantage lay withthe one who ignored the insults." Thus the grossscandalmonger verreacheshimself nd is hoist withhis own slander. Similarly, gamesmanship s the artof winninggameswithout ctually cheating.)6 n thisway,the nternal truggles ithin he group are foughtwith concealed malice, by subtle innuendo, and bypointed ambiguities.Yet all of thesehave theirownmoral norms,which must not be overstepped.Themain moral norm is that you must scandalize about

an opponent ehindhis back, f your llegations reat all open, to his face, you mustbe delicate ndnever ivehimground o state hatyou have nsultedhim.For nsults f thiskind, f open,make mpossiblethe pretence f group amity. Similarly,misplacedbehind-the-backossipmayforce hegroup ither oexpeltheperson landered r to turn n thegossiper.More han his, heprocess f scandal nables group,to evaluatepeoplefor theirwork, heir ualities fleadership, nd theirmoral character, ithout verconfrontinghem o their aceswith failuresn anysphere. Thus animosities etween ndividuals ndcliques re built nto the arger ocialorder hroughthe cultural echniquesf gossip nd scandal.I begof you, therefore,f you are convinced ythis nalysis, ot to feel that t is easy to fulfil heimportant bligation hat ies on you to scandalizeabout yourfellows.As Colson says, t is an art anda skilland a technique.We do need cca school forscandal"-as Her Majesty's nspectors f Educationhave seen. found n theLondonTimesof October13th, 954, hefollowing:A recommendationhat hildrennWest idingchoolsshould eencouragedogathern small roupsor gossip'sessions,s an aid to earningnglish,smade ythe du-cation ommitteenspectors,hohaveconcludedn in-spectionfmodernecondarychoolshroughouthe oun-try. heymake he ecommendationna memorandumncthe eachingfEnglishnsecondarychools.'The inspectorslaim hat mphasisn oralexpressioncanbeachievedy llowinghildreno alk aturallyboutthings hichnteresthem....Thusearly eginshis nterestfours nourfellows,and a mark f that nterests ourwillingnesso talk

about them.To Gamesmanshipnd Lifemanship emust add Gossipship. he rulesof Gossipship resomewhat s follows:The importanthingsboutgossip nd scandal rethat enerallyhese reenjoyed y people bout therswithwhomthey are in a close social relationship.Hence when we tryto understand hy it is thatpeople in all places and at all timeshave been sointerestedn gossip nd scandal bouteach other,wehave also to look at thosewhomthey xcludefromjoiningn thegossipingr scandalizing. hat is, therightogossipbout ertaineople sa privilege hichisonly xtendedo a personwhenhe or she sacceptedas a memberf a groupor set. It is a hallmark fmembership.encerightsogossip erve o mark ffa particular roupfrom thergroups.There is noeasierwayofputting strangern hisplace thanbybeginningo gossip: his howshimconclusivelyhathedoesnotbelong.On theother and, fa mandoesnot oin in thegossip nd scandal,he shows hathedoesnotaccept hathe is a party o therelationship;hencewe see thatgossipings a dutyof membershipof thegroup. hat swhy t is goodmannerso gossipand scandalize boutyourdearest riends ith hosewhobelong, venthoughtbe their earest riends-but t sbadmanners-whichs a moral udgmentndhence sanction-to ellunpleasanttories boutyourfriends o strangers.or whenyou gossip boutyourfriendso othermutual riendsouaredemonstratingthat you all belong to one set which has the duty to6 See StephenPotter, he Theory nd Practiceof Gamesmanship,or The Art of Winning Games withoutActually Cheating 1947).

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be interestedn oneanother's ices s wellas virtues.Whenyou gossip boutyourfriends o strangersouare either howing he strangershat theydo notbelong, ryouareadmittinghem o a privilegendto membershipf a groupwithout onsultingheotherpeople involved. o that f you want to rundowna friendo a stranger oushould irst skthatfriend'sermission.ou do notneedhispermissionorunhimdownto mutual riends-providedhat heyare in the same set of relationshipsithyourself.think t would be bad manners o run two peopledownto oneanother,venthough hey remutuallyacquainted,f youarenotassociated ith hem nthesameway. So itwouldbe bad mannersogossip boutyourUniversityellow o a memberf another ni-versity,ven f the two of them ived in the samevillage.For scandal s onlyvirtuousf itsaim be todemonstrateomekindofsocialunity. candalwhendirectedymembersf a group gainst nother roupisunifyingnanother,nd anobvious,way-it assertsthe uperiorityf thescandalizing roup.I amsure hat f you eflectnyour wnexperienceyou will realisehow soundColson'sanalysis s. Itssignificancemergesmostclearly f we consider heway in which newmember f a group s inductedintothe group.He may earnthe rules f techniquewhichkeepthegroup n being, nd he maybe onexcellent ermswith heothermembersf thegroup,buthe does notbelong o thegroupuntil t is im-possiblefor himto be rude to one of its membersunintentionally.hat s,hemust now o much bouteachofthemembers'istoriesnd ikingsnddislikes,thathe willnever ay somethinghich s hurtful oanyone nlesshe wants o hurthim orher).Corres-pondingly,hebadgeofmemberships that personcan quiteallusively, nd apparently aively, ut an-othermembero thequickby a seeminglynnocentstatement. nd of course, t is important hat theperson ffended nows hat theallusion s intendedbutnotbe able to pin it down, nd thatthe njurershouldknowthat theoffended nows, nd thattheoffendedhould now hat he njurer nows hat heoffendednows-and so on ad infinitum.Therefore most mportantartof gainingmem-bershipfanygroup sto learn ts candals:whatyoucan say with pparentnnocence nd what youmaysay byindirect ude llusion.Anthropologys a verytightlynit rofession:t s one of thefewprofessionswhich tillhasan initiationeremony.ou must avestudied ome exoticcommunity.We maintain urtight ondsof friendshipy a vast store f scandaland gossip s well as by legends.A most mportantpartof myduty n training esearchworkers s toteachthem he scandals. believe am not aloneamong enior nthropologistsn finding t more n-terestingo teach tudentsbout nthropologistshanaboutanthropology.t is worthnoting ere hattheGreekLexicondefines an anthropologist"ot as"anthropos lus ogos," "student f man,"but onlyas "a scandalmonger;"nd ntheNicomacheanthics,Aristotle-who nticipated s all-says of the great-souledman: He is noscandalmongeranthropologos):he will not talk either about himselfor anotherperson."What applies to anthropologists,pplies to all pro-fessions. awyers are supposedto talk shop and to be

very exclusive. I grew up among them,and woveninto their legal shop is a considerable amount ofscandal about other awyers.Colleges at Oxford andCambridge are similar. n some Oxford collegesthereis a taboo on talking t dinner boutwork or women-the sanction at Exeter College is that the offendermusttryto drink 5 pintsof beer at one draught. fhe fails, he pays forthat beer and for a refill of thelargesconcewhich s passed around the table. Talk ofwomen introduces n element nto College life thatis hostile to its unitedmonasticism, xpressed n theritual of commensalism; alk of workdividesmembersof the College according to theiracademic interests,and theCollege as an association s hostile o organiza-tion in termsof commonscholarship.I am, of course, ware thatgossipand scandal willnot contribute o the cohesionof a groupingof per-sons, unless these persons are united by a sense ofcommunitywhich is based on the fairlysuccessfulpursuit of common objectives. In his study of ahousing estate n Coventry Living in Towns, 1953),Leo Kuper and his colleagues noted that the newsettlers n the estate were afraid of, and resented,the gossip of theirneighbours.This can be relatedlargelyto bad designof the houses: the two master-bedrooms in the semi-detacheds ay back to back,without a soundproof wall between, so that eachcouple was bound to overhearpracticallyeverythingdoneby theirneighbours, sourceof greatembarrass-ment.Moreover,each house looked into the other'slivingroom.Therewas constant respasson theessen-tial intimacies of family life. No group life couldemergehere. I was told by the wife of a Universitylecturer hat in a betterdesignedestate n Newcastleneighbours ormed hemselvesnto gossip cells whichgot along veryhappily-except for her.Foolishly shethought hat therewere more important opics thanpersonalgossip; and she was sent to Coventry-meta-phorically, mean. In a housing state n EssexwhereI lived, gossip cells were again determinedby thesociometric ules of neighbourliness-plusa compli-cated evaluation of social status-and togetherweformed happy and unitedscandalizingcommunity,with constantfightsgoingon between our secondarymodernschools to emphasizeour overall unity.HereI observedgossipand scandal biuldingup communitylife.When a group, even one with a united history,begins to fail in its objective, gossip and scandalaccelerate the process of disintegration.Anthropol-ogistshave analysed how if joint families and sub-sistence illages ncrease heirnumbers hey re boundto disintegrate r hive off segments.This process isoftenaccompaniedby chargesof sorcery nd witch-craft.Africancustomary udgments ssertthat as thisoccurs scandal and back-biting ncrease. Hence asJunod reportedmany years ago for the Tsonga, thebarrier f magic to keep out thewitch s breached byinternal gossiping and grumbling.7 hese processeswithinthe groupmake possiblethe entryof an out-side witch, though n Tsonga societywitchesdo notdirectlykill theirown kin. In CentralAfrica,witchesdo kill theirown kin and heregossip and back-bitingare additionallydangerous. n his analysisof Th;e YaoVillage (1956:1328) Mitchell writesthat:

7 The Life of a South Af ican Tribe (1927; reprinted1962).314 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY



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Gluckman:GOSSIP AND SCANDALn interestingariation f thedanger f sorcerys thebeliefhat orcerersake he pportunityf quabbles ithina matrilineageo kill one of its members. he rationalebehind his s thatthe diviner'snstrumentsre unabletodetect heorigin f the orcery eyond he mmediateause.A divinerwill indicate hatthecauseof deathof, say,achild s sorcery,ut thatthewitch s obscured ehind hequarrelling ordsof some relative.Consequently,angerto a matrilineagensues hen neof ts membersoesto anoutsidernote:to an outsider-bad mannersndeed] ndgrumbleso him aboutthefamily quabbles nd quarrels.The outsider hen akes he pportunityfusing his quab-ble to introduce is sorcerynto the lineage.The Yaogreatly ear ackbitingasMitchell ranslatesheYao word,miseci] ecause ftheir read fsorcerynd nonedreadstmore han villageheadman, warden fa sorority-group,ora personn theposition fhaving okeep matrilineageor section ogether.hese eople reconstantlydjuringhewomen nder hem-for t is thewomenwho arebelievedtobe themain ulprits-not ofightmong hemselves;ndifthey o,not to taketheir omplaintso an outsider utto the eniormember f thematrilineage.he Significanceof this n relation o lineageunity s plainenough.Later (p. 170) Mitchell recountsduringthehistoryof a long disputewithin a lineage,how a woman'sfriendshipwith another woman was frowned on be-cause friendship eads to gossip and thismightopenthe way to sorceryby the member of the opposinggroup.8I notefinally hat have discussedgossip onlywith-in small groups. Gossip about royalty,by the lowerclasses about the upper, and the upper by the lower,has to be related to other areas of social relations.I thinkwe can say thatmen and women do wish totalk about personalmatters, or reasonson which Iam not clear, and in the great conurbations he dis-cussion of, for example, stars of film and sport,produces a basis on which people transitorily sso-ciated can find somethingpersonal to talk about.Frankenberg eportsthat when he was studying heWelsh village, the firsttime he went to buy a loafof bread he was back in five minutes. His land-lady said scornfully: Back already? It takes me anhour to buy a loaf of bread." When Frankenberg adbeen in thevillage forsome time,as soon as he wentinto a shop, the tea-kettlewas put on the fire: afterall, as anthropologos,he was the scandalmongerparexcellence.And I myselfhave foundthroughmy in-terest n soccer and cricket, hat I have steadily ex-panded my commercial ransactionswith shopkeepersinto warm friendships, ven into a kind of bloodbrotherhood,n whichour ritual lliancemoves erkilyfromelation to despair with the fate of our city'steams, and our county eleven at cricket. To buy a

packet of tobacco may take me twentyminutes.Butthis field of gossip and scandal still awaits studyofthe kinddeployed by Colson upon theMakah. Mean-while, for small groupsalone, my conclusion s thatwe mightformulate law to say, the more exclusivea social group is, the more will its members ndulgein gossip and scandal about one another. And themore persistentlywill they repeat the same gossipagain and again and again withoutgetting ored."Weare back in the carriagesdrivingthroughHighburyto Mr. Weston'shouse.Outsidersfrequently omplain that anthropologistsare able to find that anythingsocial has a usefulfunctionnd theymay thereforeonclude that anthro-pologists approve of everything.Thus it has beenargued that the criminalclasses are as important sthe police for the maintenanceof law in a society;theyprovidepeople who commit rimesbutwho caneasily be caught by the police and publicly tried.Their trials demonstrate o the societyat large, andparticularly o its growingyoungsters, ot o-nly hatcrime swrong-which is true, utalso thatcrimedoesnot pay-which is not true.Amateurcriminals, esseasilycaught, re not so useful.But this doesnot meanwe approve of crime. We argue only that the com-mission of a crime,provided that the criminal iscaught, tried, and punished, serves useful ends inmaintaining he law, and thereforeociety.My argu-mentabout gossip and scandal is similar: f I suggestthat gossip and scandal are socially virtuous andvaluable, this does not mean that I always approveof them.Indeed, in practice I find that when I amgossiping bout my friends s well as my enemiesam deeplyconsciousof performing social duty; butthat when I hear theygossip viciously about me, Iam rightfully illed with righteousndignation.

8 Contrast his sophisticated pproach withKluckhohn'ssimpletreatmentf the relationbetweengossip and witchcraftn NavahoWitchcraft1944).

9 Richard P. Werbner has supplied me with the followingbeautifully llustrativepassage fromCarl Carmer,Stars Fell onAlabama (1940, p. 12):"Aside fromthese the main diversions of the Alabamians arelove-making nd gossip. The constant social chatterdealing inpersonalitiest first nnoys nd boresthe stranger. radually,how-ever,as he picksup thethreadsof the relationshipshroughwhichit sometimes eemsthatthe entire Late s bound into one family,he becomesnot onlytolerant ut an eagerparticipant. he propor-tion of malice in this talk is notgreater han n othercommunities.There are the usual Mrs. Grundys nd meddlesome candalmongers.But the majorityof Alabamian gentlefolk ake a strong nterestin people that s not unlikethatof a novelist.Theyare entertainedand instructed y the antics of their fellow-beings-theyike tospeculate on motivations.And talk about an individual takes onadded zest when (as frequently appens) he is a cousin in whomflows the blood of a common ncestor.As for ove-making,t is the accepted basis of all social activity.Even very ittleboysare trained o be gallantand the ambitionofeverydaughter'smother s that her girl shall be a belle."

ReferencesCitedBARNOUW, V. 1950. 'AcculturationandPersonalitymong the WisconsinChip-pewa,' Memoirsof theAmericanAnthro-pologicalAssociation,No. 72.

CARMER, C. 1940. Stars Fell on Alabama,London: Lovat Dickson and Thompson.COLSON, E. 1953. The Makah Indians,Manchester:Manchester niversityress;Minneapolis: Universityof MinnesotaPress.

FRANKENBERG,R. 1957. Villageon theBorder,London: Cohen and West.HERSKOVITS, M. 1937. Lifein a HaitianValley, New York: Knopf.--. 1947. TrinidadVillage,New York:Knopf.

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JUNOD,H. A. 1927. The Life of a SouthAfricanTribe,London: MacMillan. Re-printed, 1962. New York: UniversityBooks.KLUCKHOHN, C. 1944. Navaho Witchcraft,Papers of the Peabody Museum ofAmericanArchaeologyand Ethnology,xxii, No. 2.KUPER, L. et. al. 1953. Living in Towns,London: CressetPress.MITCHELL, J. C. 1956. The Yao Village,

Manchester:ManchesterUniversity ressfor the Rhodes-Livingstone nstitute;New York: Humanities Press.

POTTER, S. 1947. Gamesmanship, r theArtof WinningGames withoutActuallyCheating, London: Hart-Davies.--. 1950. Lifemanship, ondon: Hart-Davies.--. 1952. One-Upmanship,London:Hart-Davies. The first wo,with uper-manship,republishedby PenguinBooksof Harmondsworth, 962).RADIN, P. 1927. PrimitiveMan as a Philo-sopher,New York: Appleton. Reprinted1957. New York: Dover.

STACEY, M. 1960. Tradition and Change:A Study of Banbury,London: OxfordUniversity ress.SIMMEL, G. 1950. The Sociologyof GeorgSimmel, translated, dited and with anIntroduction y K. H. Wolff, Glencoe,Illinois: Free Press.WEST, J. 1945. Plainsville, .S.A.,NewYork: Columbia University ress.WILLIAMS, W. M. 1956. The Sociologyofan EnglishVillage:Gosforth, ondon:

Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Erratum: Vol. 3, No. 5, Dec. 1962,top of p. 479. The last sentence be-ginning n column 2 and ending incolumn 3 should read, "I sometimesget thefeeling hesedaysthatwe haveentered stageof evolutionwhich canbe identifiedmoreor lessdirectlywitha revivalist cult whose practitionersclaim to be able to transform theistinto a materialistby the very rapidturning f thepages ofAncient ocietyto the accompaniment f suitablein-cantations."

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