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h e Utility of the Equilibrium Model

in the Study of Social Change*’

M A X GLUCKMAN
University of Mancheder
There has been considerable criticism of the use ofthe equilibrium model by social anthropologists. The
argument ofthis paper is that much of this criticism isdue to a misundershndin~arising baause though
all SOCW life exists in time, and aU processes in time involve changes, we have to dejine smeral dijermt
kinds of “time” as well as distinctive types of “change.” It is contended that each type of social institu-
tion, or cultural patlern, has a particular kind of time scale in its very structure. Thus the structure of a
family system can only be analyzed in four generations, and 4 subsistencesystems perhaps onLy in jive
to six generations. Other institutions &we other built-in time scales. It is proposed to call the time scale of
an institution its structural duration. One important way of studying an institution is to analyze i t s
structural duration. In an analysis of this kind, the emphharis is on the manner in which the institution
would operate through time internal contradictions or external intruding cuents did not interfere with
its passage through iAr structural duration. Therefore an analysis of the structural duration of an institu-
lion is necessarily in an equilibrium model. Many studies hawe taken this form,but have bemr misrcod as
if they were dealing with what happened in a c t d hislolical time. It is argued that since changes are of
several kinds in a suggested range, from repetitive or rccuwmt changes of personnel through limited
strwtural changes to radical structural changes, il is possible to assess what kinds of changes are accur-
ring only by examining them within the structural durations of institutions, held steady as a jirst step in
analysis as in actual equtXbrium. But this provides only a henrislic scheme in which to h a d e the
obserwations; it i s not a theory giving us a set of interdependent propositMns. More and more actual
changes may be fed in as the analysis tries to cope with greater ranges of reality. The argument i s illus-
trated with examplesfrom studies of several s o c a spheres. There is also a discussion of how the method
mables the a d y s t to analyze observations coUcckd ower a limited pniDd of time in terms of a much
longer period in order to assess the types of change that are occuwing.

I N THIS address I hope to clarify some of


the implications in the use of the so-called
equilibrium model in the study of allegedly
clarify the situation we may be some steps
nearer to an attempt a t bringing the results
of studies of the structure of institutional sys-
stationary societies. I believe that clarifica- tems together with those of the structure of
tion is necessary because of present-day crit- fields of interaction between persons; this
icisms of the model, some of which, I feel, seems to me to be one crucial problem facing
arise from a misunderstanding of what its social anthropologists in the coming years.
exponents were doing, although undoubtedly I have defined the “equilibrium model” as
those exponents did not always themselves one method for studying changing social
make their intentions clear. Obscurity and systems. I emphasize that it is only one method.
ambiguity have accumulated around the First, our field of study is so complex that
problem. If we can remove these so the prob- there are necessarily many different ap-
lem becomes clear, I believe discussion will proaches to analysis, each fruitful in its own
then show that the equilibrium model has way; if I argue the merits of one method, this
what Leach has called great power (1954:4), is not to deny that others have advantages.
not only for the analysis of seemingly sta- Second, it is a method, a manner of approach-
tionary social systems but also as one method ing the study of social systems, because it il-
for studying changing social systems,’ though luminates understanding of the structure of
I shall disagree with Leach about the reasons those systems in reality. It might be described
for this power. I also believe that if we can as a heuristic scheme; or we might follow
Merton in calling it an orientation, and per-
Plenary address to the Amencan Anthropological Assoda- haps even class it as one of those orientations
tion, 1966. Publication of this address is made possible by a con-
tribution from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological that he said are neglected at the peril of the
Research. investigator (1957~7-89).Third, the equilib-
2 19
220 American Anthropologisl [70, 1968
rium model is a method, and not in itself a lem of time-development in time, and change
theory, for i t is not a body of interdependent through time. It is about the significance of
propositions about the structure of social sys- time and changes in time that much of the
tems. But it can form a framework for a set obscurity has accumulated; for “time” exists
of such propositions (see Homans 1950: 1-11). in social life, as many studies have shown, in
I n his study of Political Systems of Highland different modes. First, there is, as far as we
Burma (1954, 1964) Leach worries about the can assess, a “real” history of events that have
difficulties of the equilibrium model, though constituted the past of any personality or
(I repeat) he says i t has “great power” in culture or society, events that in a phylo-
sociological analysis. These worries he sees as genetic sense account for its present form.
emerging from the fact already frequently Secondly, as many historians and social
stressed that “real societies exist in time and scientists have pointed out, there is an incap-
space. . . Every real society is a process in sulation of past events within the present
time. . .” (1954:s). The problem of time is pattern of society; thus Fortes wrote, “Among
critical for all studies of social and cultural the Tallensi the lineage system enables us to
systems. see the operation of the time factor in social
Out of our common tradition, I believe we structure in a very concrete way. We see how
derive a common fascination with customs, the lineage structure a t a given time incap-
and I believe that i t is through this fascination sulates [with acknowledgements to R. G.
with customs that we make our distinctive Collingwood] all that is structurally relevant
contribution to the social and behavioral of its past phases and a t the same time con-
sciences (Devons and Gluckman 1964:254 f.)? tinually thrusts its growing-points forward”
But it is a long time since anthropologists op- (1945:224). There is a similar incapsulation of
erated with single, isolated customs. Cultural the past within the present structure of a
(sci. culturological) anthropologists seek pat- particular personality. Thirdly, this process of
terns in customs; and psychological anthro- incapsulation produces certain standardized
pologists seek the interdependent, concomitant ideas about time and history, in varying social
relations between patterns of customs and contexts, held by members and sections of a
personality structures. We sociological anthro- society, on which anthropologists and other
pologists see customs as linked together into scholars have written a t length, as we shall
what some call irtstitutions, which are in some see later; while similarly individuals have
way external to, independent of, and con- varied conceptions of their own history and of
straining on, the individuals within them (to time arising from the accumulation of experi-
use Durkheim’s criteria for what he called ence and reaction to experience. Fourthly-
“social facts”). I do not want to enter into and it is with this problem that I am mainly
controversies about the different ways in concerned-a cultural pattern, or a personality,
which the term “institution” has been used or an institution, has its own time-scale
in anthropology and sociology. Perhaps you “built into” it, if you will permit me a meta-
will allow me to use it as a shorthand expres- phor. The speed a t which a personality op-
sion to cover the facts that men act in stan- erates is extremely high, and has no reference
dardized roles, through specific modes of to the means by which we normally measure
behavior, with reference to other men, as they time; all students of personality are aware of
aim to achieve certain purposes in an ecologi- this. Similarly, I would argue that each insti-
cal, biological, and social environment; and tution has a specific time-scale built into its
that these purposes and the means of achieving structure, and we cannot understand an insti-
them are defined by a set of controlling rules tution unless we do so in that scale. Fortes has
with guiding beliefs and values. Finally, in put the problem thus: “social life is a pattern
their actions men use types of material goods of processes, and the time dimension is a
(cf. Malinowski on institutions, 1931, 1944). significant factor in social structure every-
When we deal with customs not as isolates, where” (1945 :ix); and “The dynamic equilib-
but as constituting patterns, or as influencing rium of a lineage is an equilibrium in time”
the development of types of personality, or as (1945 :224). To avoid confusion, I shall follow
dominating social relationships within insti- a suggestion made to me by John A. Barnes,
tutions, we come up a t once against the prob- with whom I have had fruitful discussions of
GLUCKMAN] The Utility of the Equilibrium Model 221
the general problem, and call the time-scale treated as ij they were part of a n equilibrium
built into a n institution, that institution’s system.” I shall argue later that Leach under-
“structural duration.” estimates the dependence of the idea of equi-
The “structural duration” of a n institution librium on reality (as Vaihinger underesti-
is that period of time required to work out the mated the connection of scientific laws with
implications of its rules and customs within reality). I myself feel that this model has
the biological, ecological, and social environ- great power because i t “maps reality” in the
ment (see Homans 1950:81 f. on external mathematicians’ phrasing. B u t i t is useful to:
environment). This period of time, the dura- speak of a n “as iy’ equilibrium in order to
tion, is contained in the structure of the insti- emphasize that i t is abstracted from reality,
tution, and i t is only in terms of expositing since i t may not deal with the whole com-
the institution through that duration that we plexity of reality. I see i t as a framework,
can work out the interdependence, the sys- which is based on observations of reality and
tematic structure, between the elements that then tested against other observations. We
comprise the institution-what Fortes has employ i t in order to handle the time element,
called the contemporaneous interdependence the duration, involved in the structure of the
of variables (with no period attached to “con- institution, since only thus can we analyze the
temporaneous”). Since we are here concerned real interdependence that exists within the
with establishing constancies, i t follows that institution as an organized structure. I n
this type of exposition is in terms of an equi- reality, many external events, and internal
librium model, with the institution working “distortions,” prevent the institution working
through a cyclical, or oscillatory, or other thus perfectly, and these have to be fed in to
form of process at the end of which i t presents complete the analysis, a most important step
the same form as i t started from. for a fuller study. T h e equilibrium model is
Three caveats are essential in approaching used to provide a framework within which we
the model. First, a n analysis of this kind does can formulate propositions about the inter-
not state that the institution has operated in dependence of elements; i t is these proposi-
that way in reality in the past, or will continue tions which form our desired theory. They
to operate thus in the future; the analysis is too must contain a time element, since all
not dealing with the institution in real, his- reality is a process in time. To formulate such
torical time, nor affirming that the institution propositions we need for the time being to
is in a state of actual equilibrium-a state exclude interference.
that we can describe as slasis. The idea of an The second caveat is that the very defini-
equilibrium through time, with the elements tion of equilibrium contains the idea of di+
of the institution in a “state of balance,” turbance, with return to the previous state
and the fiction of stable equilibrium, “tending after that disturbance. I n short, we assume in
to recover equilibrium [stable balance] after advance that the working of an institution will
disturbance” (Oxford English Dictionary), contain, in the very structure of the institu-
are devices to enable us to handle the time tion, disturbances occurring without any pur-
element involved in the assumed systematic posed action on the part of its personnel, as
interdependence of elements of the institution. well as from strife between its personnel. If
We assume that this interdependence exists the institution is functioning, balanciog
because that makes possible scientific analy- forces and redressive mechanisms come into
sis; and the assumption is in reality warranted play to restrain the effects of the disturbance
insofar as we observe that the events relevant in order to preserve, or restore as far as pos-
to the institution occur in a regular and not a sible, the earlier form.
haphazard manner. Third, the model of the system in no way
Time here is handled in an as if manner, as states that the same persons will occupy the
Vaihinger would have put it; indeed Leach same positions relative to one another through-
speaks of “as if systems” (1964:I?tlroductionto out the duration of the institution’s working.
reprint of 1954) though he sees the balance as Insofar as there is continuity, i t is in the roles,
being, for purposes of analysis, one of facts not in the people.
forced “within the constraining mould of a n Finally, I repeat caveats entered earlier.
as if system of ideas, composed of concepts The use of the equilibrium model is to provide
222 A merican Anthropologist [70,1968
the framework to formulate propositions about family structure, I shall argue later that in
the interdependencies between the elements of some societies the relevant number of genera-
the institution. If, having analyzed these, we tions, incapsulated so-to-speak in each mo-
wish to understand how that institution op- ment of a family’s existence, may be five gen-
erated through a period of actual time, a real erations, and occasionally more. This struc-
history, we have to feed into the analysis tural duration within which alone we can
many kinds of other data and analyses of understand the life of a family is contained
other institutions. But if the analysis of the in the combination of specific rules and cus-
equilibrium model has been fruitful, the prop- toms set in the general human biological
ositions we arrive a t give us insight into, and framework, and set also in a wider socio-
understanding of, what happened in historical cultural environment. Not every family can
reality. Hence the analysis in terms of theoreti- pass through the cycle, even excluding the
cal propositions within an equilibrium frame- effect of radical changes: a marriage may be
work does not state that the institution is in broken early by death of a spouse or divorce;
practice in stable equilibrium, does not deny other marriages are childless; and so forth.
that change is occurring, and does not of itself But in analysis we treat these as deviations
assert that the institution has been as i t is for from the “standard” cycle, and fit in similarly
any period in the past or will continue as i t is remarriage, relationship with stepchildren,
into the future. It is a mode of analysis, not a and such forms of marriage as levirate, ghost-
description of reality, though i t is derived from marriage, sororate, woman-marriage-to-a-wo-
reality. Whether the institution is in actual man, etc., as well as the effects of there being
stable equilibrium, in a state of stasis, is a varying numbers of children born to parental
matter of historical record over a denoted pairs in each of the generations within the
period, or of prediction about the future. structural duration. This is a usual form of
The nature of structural duration is well presentation; and even when radical change
shown in all studies of family organization. in family law and relationships is occurring,
The stability of an institution-i.e., its most studies discuss these against the stan-
tendency to maintain its form-is only par- dard cyclical analysis (Goody 1958; Fortes
tially determined by its internal structure. 1962).
Much depends on the constraining effects of Analysis of the structural duration is also
the external environment, or of internal mate- the core of studies of political institutions. If
rial factors. I n family organization the bio- I want to analyze any period in the life of the
logical processes involved in mating, repro- British House of Commons, I must see what
duction, maturation, and death constrain is happening during that period in relation to
developments, and tend to maintain a par- a longer period of somewhere around fifteen
ticular form of structure. Within the biological years, i.e., the period covered by three five-
framework, and a t the same time incapsulating yearly elections. Activity in the House of
it, there are numerous vaned forms of family, Commons shortly after an election is influ-
but analysis of all of these forms is usually enced by a t least two preceding elections and
done in terms of much longer periods of gen- the prospects of the election to come in five
erations than the actual period during which years; while as that Parliament moves through
observations are made. That is, to under- its incumbency there comes a shift at a cer-
stand even a day in the life of a family, i t bas tain point, and activity is influenced more by
to be analyzed as if its systematic interde- one past election and the two elections to come.
pendencies were worked out through a “cycle” Thus three elections (fifteen years) seem to
(in this case) of a t least three generations; for form the basic structural duration of the
each family contains within itself, at any one House of Commons. Within that duration,
moment, parents, children or the expectation there are other durations internal to the
of children, and the anticipation of those parliamentary system; these are set by Budget
children marrying and having children. It may Day debates, since money is the most crucial
be better to work with a structural duration need of a government, and subsidiarily by the
of four generations, since the parents were stages through which bills must pass and the
themselves derived from an earlier pair of debates thereon, and so forth. Analysis of this
parents who produced siblings for their structural duration therefore tends to have the
children, people who may be relevant for form of an equilibrium model. Any period of
GLUCKMAN] The Utility of the Equilibrium Model 223
actual Parliamentary history is affected by have been faced with more rapidly changing
other systems of events, some intrinsically in- societies. They then insist, against the analysis
volved in the legislature itself. Thus problems of structural durations, that all real societies
of selection of party leaders may be influenced in real time are always changing and have
by the age distribution of members in the always been changing-without specifying
party, since a man voting for a candidate what is changing, what the changes are, and
slightly older than himself may be ruling out how far the changes go, in affecting structural
leadership for himself, and so on. Other forms. It seems obvious that there are very
events, in the external system of both Britain different kinds of change, and we shall have
and the international world, are “haphazard” to develop a vocabulary to differentiate be-
in respect to the system of the legislature, tween them.
though systematic in relation to other events.
Seen in this way, we can examine the effect I1
of the House of Commons with its own dura- I have written above in terms of the struc-
tion on the history of political life in Britain ture of a single institution. The problem of
and vice versa; the institution in its general analyzing a set of institutions, or a whole
cultural form has persisted for centuries dur- social field, is obviously much more compli-
ing which radical changes have occurred both cated. Various institutions have different
in the external environment and in the internal structural durations, and their “intermesh”
structure (as in the types of persons who sit in has to be analyzed. Events emerging from the
the House of Commons). We can then assess operation of one institution may intervene in
the relation between continuity of form of the the operation of another institution in a
legislature and actual political relationships, manner that is haphazard as far as the sys-
and we might conclude that the relation is tematic interdependencies of the recipient
relatively tenuous, though I think it is im- institution are concerned. External events
portant. Again, as with the family, the struc- from quite different areas of the world may
tural duration of the House of Commons is intrude into the field under analysis, again in
contained in the rules and customs which what, from the point of view of an analyst of
organize it, but there is not a constraining systems, is a haphazard manner. But for
framework akin to the biological framework analysis of institutions we have to carry out
which constrains the structural duration of our process of mental abstraction, and when
the family. we do this I consider that we find that institu-
If this is correct, it follows that whenever tions and wider social fields have a marked
we attempt to analyze an institution, we have tendency to endure, that they and/or their
to “throw it” (forgive the metaphor) into its parts are resistant to both unintended and
structural duration, since all social life is a deliberately attempted changes, though radi-
“process in time” and rules and customs con- cal changes will, after some period of time,
tain a time-element. This involves analyzing occur. We might say therefore that an institu-
the institution as ;f it were operating through tional system, or a field of institutional SYS
a far longer period than the actual period tems, will tend to develop, and even hyper-
during which we observe i t or its parts. This trophy, along the main facets of its organiza-.
may be truistic; but it is fundamental. The tion, until conditions make it quite impossible
failure to appreciate this when reading an for the system to continue to work (e.g., major
analysis of institutions may give the reader a demographic shifts, invention of new tools
false impression that the writer believes that and machines, and so forth). This excludes the
the institutional form he analyzes has endured effect of attacks on the system from outside,
in exactly the same form from far in the past, as by invasion from elsewhere. Even after
and will thus endure into the future. This is radical change has occurred, moreover, insti-
not always the reader’s fault, since often the tutions are so tough that they often survive
analyst has not made clear that the time ele- into, or revive in, the new conditions that
ment in analysis is a structural duration, and eventuate, and operate again within a new
not actual historical time. There is a tendency, overall system of institutions.
however, to overlook the difference between If this view of the history of institutions is
these kinds of “time” or “durations,” perhaps validated by our knowledge of the actual
because in more recent times anthropologists history of events, it would mean that, as the
224 American Anthrojologist [70, 1968
dialecticians argue, periods of revolution and all work in this framework, it shows that they
other forms of rapid and radical change sub- are constrained in a t least two ways. First,
verting the structure of a system completely there has been the sheer incapacity of the
appear as sudden crises after the steady ac- human mind to work with, and write about,
cumulation of smaller and more limited struc- more than a limited amount of facts. Second,
tural changes, constrained within the major there is in reality itself something that is re-
pattern of the institutions concerned (save flected in this framework. I consider the
where there is external invasion). I consider second the more important; and therefore I
that here the dialecticians are right, and this feel that the model of an equilibrium, if used
implies that to understand even revolutionary in analyzing many parts of the institutional
change we have to work from the structural set-up within a complicated social field, does
duration of institutions (or social fields) in an illuminate what has happened in actuality. I t
equilibrium model. also illuminates the structure within insti-
I find support for this view in the methods tutions and the structure linking these to-
by which the best analyses of major social gether in more complex arrangements.
developments have been written. It is clear in Weber’s conception of “ideal types” is
the Marxist treatment of the movement from clearly a model similar to the one that anthro-
primitive communism, to classical slave soci- pologists have developed and that I am de-
eties, to feudalism, to bourgeois mercantilism, lineating here. But there are differences be-
to early capitalism, and on to monopoly capi- tween them. Weber’s “ideal types” are com-
talism. I n this Marxist model, centuries of posed of consistent principles of organization,
relative stability of institutions are assumed with one dominant. The “ideal types” are
and analyzed in a relatively equilibrated frame- drawn from reality, but they go beyond reality
work, before the conflicts and contradictions in emphasizing the dominant principle, against
inherent within each system lead to revolu- which real institutions can be assessed. The
tionary changes, which are handled largely other theories I have cited also emphasize
in the quite different form of narrative (as dominant principles of association, or eco-
against institutional analysis) when the move- nomic structure, a t each stage or relative
ment to a new institutional system occurs. stasis. Marxist theories bring in the emergence
Durkheim handles similarly the movement of a contradicting “submerged” principle that
from the stasis of mechanical solidarity to will become dominant; here the relative stasis
the institutional structures emerging as the involves that the groups whose interests are
division of labor increases, as does Max Weber dominant suppress the increasing resistance
the developments from traditional society to and revolt of those whose interests are founded
rational bureaucratic society; the theories of in the new potentiality. The models with which
Sir Henry Maine, Tonnies, Von Wiese, and anthropologists have worked usually have
many others are similarly constructed. I see reference to institutions that are much shorter
a similar mode of analysis in the work of all in their structural durations. And most anthro-
the ‘cultural evolutionists, with quite different pologists (like many sociologists) have stressed
theories, who have enriched the history of that, though there may be dominant ideologi-
anthropology. I repeat, they are using a mode cal principles, and constraining variables, the
of approaching history when they use this equilibrium results from the working out of
framework of long periods of relative stasis, processes arising from principles of social
to be understood in as equilibriums of organization that are independent of one
structural durations that to a large extent another, while many principles are mutually
neglect actual historical time in a manner in- discrepant, discordant, conflicting, and, even-
furiating to many historians; therein they tually, when radical structural change is going
formulate theories of interdependence be- to develop, contradictory. These principles of
tween social elements. The theories of each of organization are partly contained in social rela-
these analysts or types of analysts may differ; tionships operating on the physical environ-
the model of approach, the method, is very ment through material equipment, partly in
similar. the interests and demands of the varied social
If so many thinkers, holding different relationships in which individuals severally
political views and elaborating diverse theories, participate, and partly in the setting of social
GLUCKYAN] The Utility of the Equilibrium Model 225
relationships in a culture (the “shreds and cate that he did not believe that his analysis
patches” [Lowie] of values, allegiances, goals, showed “the Nuer as they are, now and for
and so forth). ever.” I therefore review the implications of
his analysis, and particularly of his concept of
I11 “structural time” (Evans-Pritchard 1940, and
A certain ambiguity, and lack of clear expo- articles from 1934 onwards cited therein). So,
sition that we were analyzing in terms of after a monstrous deal of sack, I come to the
structural durations and not of real historical loaf of bread.
time, has contributed to misunderstanding of Evans-Pritchard seems to me to have made
what we attempted to do. This ambiguity clear that his analysis of the Nuer was not set
arises from the multivocality of words l i e in actual historical time, when he differenti-
equilibrium and stability; Leach (1954: 7) ated for the Nuer what he called “structural
therefore alleged that there has been “con- time” as against ecological time, social time,
fusion between the concepts of equilibrium and historical time. I n the Nuer system of
and stability. . . so deep-rooted in anthropo- segmentary lineages, rights and duties be-
logical literature that any use of either of these tween male agnates (patrilineally related men)
terms is liable to lead to ambiguity.” I con- and the fluctuations of amity and hostility
sider that the ambiguity arises because not between groups, theoretically depend on how
everyone, writing or above all reading, dis- recently they share a common agnatic ancestor.
tinguishes continually between the equilib- Where the lineage system provides the frame-
rium of the relative stability of a system of work for territorial groups, the closer men are
interdependent relations, and the stability of on the ground, the less the “structural space”
actual social life. Some readers have regarded (as Evans-Pritchard called it) between them,
a statement about equilibrium as implying and the more recent their linking ancestor on
that no disturbance occurs, or they have, as is the agnatic genealogy which provides the
much more easily done, failed to see that ideology for political combinations and feuds.
there can be stasis or stability a t one level of Thus depth of structural time is a means of
organization and not at another. As a chair coordinating relationships in the present,
maintains a constant stable form (stasis) de- rather than a means of coordinating events in
spite the continuous movement of particles the past. Therefore Evans-Pritchard proposed
within the molecules of the elements that com- the theorem that depth in structural time is
pose it, so a macroscopic structure might re- directly proportional to spread in structural
main stable despite disturbances in the struc- space. The depth to the original ancestor of a
tures of families; conversely, structures of maximal lineage in the Nuer system is about
family patterns may remain in stasis while the eleven generations, presumably because this
macroscopic political structure is radically covers the widest spread of groups that can be
altered (Homans 1950). In the analysis of coordinated in this type of system. We can say
systems we have constantly to be shifting our this because there is something constant about
viewpoint with the problems we pose. this depth of eleven generations, since we find
This confusion seems to me to be inherent it amongst other peoples, some with other-
in Leach’s argument in Political Systems of wise very different systems, such as the agnat-
Highland Burma when he says that [all? ic Bedouin, Nyakyusa, Zulu, Tallensi and
most? many? some? a few?] anthropologists Tikopia, and the matrilineal Ashanti, though
present a “stable equilibrium.” He adds that there are deeper and shallower systems. Evans-
Malinowski, Firth, and Evans-Pritchard “write Pritchard argued therefore that the lineage
as if the Trobrianders, and Tikopia, the Nuer system never grows; its largest structural
are as they are, now and for ever” (1954:7). time is fixed in depth. This shows clearly that
This does not seem to be correct for any of he did not believe the system had started
them, once we see that they were analyzing eleven generations ago, and that he could not
structural durations, but Leach’s statement decide how long it had been as he found it.
is presumably explicable on the grounds that That eleven generations is not a report of
they did not make this clear. Evans-Pritchard real descent is clearly demonstrated by gene-
did however put forward a differentiation be- alogies among the Bedouin of Cyrenaica. We
tween various kinds of time in order to indi- know they invaded the region in 1056, i.e., 900
226 American Anthropologist [70, 1968
years ago (Peters 1960, 1967). But the gene- can be organized by a kinship ideology. Sah-
alogies of their nine tribes show eleven genera- lins (1961) has suggested that a developed
tions to the nine sons of their alleged founding lineage system of this type emerges from preda-
ancestress. Some ancestors may be fictitious; tory expansion a t the cost of other peoples, but
but clearly many actual progenitors have been he does not discuss, as it is not relevant to his
eliminated from memory. argument, the problem of why this depth.
These eleven generations show a definite Nuer ideas about time are thus not merely
break at the fifth or sixth generation level the ideas of an isolated Sudan people. Nor
going backwards in “structural time.” Up to do they provide us with a n analysis of social
this point, the genealogies serve to coordinate structure, any more than do Kachin ideas
relationships of everyday cooperation, inheri- about aristocratic authority (gumsa) and
tance, and so on, between living people, re- democratic organization (gumlao) (Leach
lated through the recently dead. The upper 1954, 1964) provide us with an analysis of po-
half of the genealogies relates larger groups litical relations (see Cohen 1966:72). Such
together-that is, these genealogical links ideas are clues to the structure, and the struc-
define political or group relations, rather than tural durations, of various institutions.
interpersonal relations. This is demonstrated I n the institutional analysis that Evans-
by the fact that in shorter lineage-type gene- Pritchard made of the Nuer system, his first
alogies we still find five-generation bases for step was in effect a n analysis of the structural
groupings of living people, interconnected a t duration of some institutions in as i f equilib-
higher levels by a band of two (Cunnison 1951, rium. He then showed that there were occur-
1956, 1957, 1959) or three (Watson 1958) ring changes in systematic structure, and he
generations. This band consists of politically assessed these against the analysis of the other
significant relationships in “perpetual kin- institutions in equilibrium. After showing that
ship” (Cunnison 1959) between groups or the greatest structural depth in the Nuer
political positions; and the names in this band time-scale is eleven generations, Evans-Prit-
do not alter or shift their relative positions chard discusses the rise of the “prophets” who
save when there are major changes in the re- led ephemeral unions of Nuer groups both in
lationships between political groups. The key attacks on the Dinka and in resistance to
positions are maintained in perpetuity in Arab and European attacks. He shows the
themselves and in relation to one another by difficulties these prophets had in uniting Nuer
what Richards (1933) called “positional suc- groups because of the instituted hostilities and
cession”; they stand now for social positions, persistent feuds between them, and he is able
not for men or women. I have not space to to assess what they achieved and how they
consider the systems where the genealogies are achieved it. That is, the historical rise of the
deeper than eleven generations. prophets is made analytically significant only
Evans-Pritchard’s concept of structural because of the equilibrium analysis involved in
time is thus a means of describing people’s treating the Nuer lineage system, this equilib-
modes of thinking about their past, and ideas rium analysis being based both on historical
of structural time may cover institutions of data and on observations in the present. Evans-
very difterent durations. The theorem that Pritchard’s later analysis (1949) of the rise of
structural time is directly proportional to the Sanusi holy order to religious prestige
structural space leads to further analysis. For among the Bedouin of Cyrenaica takes this
the lower five-generation base is presumably problem a step further. Again, the setting is
connected not only with descent as such, but an equilibrium analysis of the Bedouin lineage
also with external factors controlling reproduc- system; only by understanding that system
tion and education of people and with modes in this way can we understand how the Sanusi
of organizing production, distribution, and holy men placed their lodges a t key points in
consumption of goods in domestic organiza- the interstices of the lineage system, so that
tions at this technological level. The wide they were not aligned with any local section,
occurrence of a top six-generation band pre- yet could exert influence. During the Italian
sumably is related to external factors that invasion of Cyrenaica, and through continued
determine the extent to which cooperation of resistance by the Bedouin into the period of
political groups, and the distribution of power, World War 11, the Sanusi could emerge as the
GLUCKhfAN] The Utility of the Equilibrium Model 227
titular, if not the actual fighting, leaders of institution. But we have not. I n these circum-
the Bedouin until their head became king of stances, our standard technique is to make a
the new state of Libya. series of synchronic observations of present
It seems that his “structural time” is distributions, supported by collecting histories
partly a description of Nuer ideas, partly a of individuals and groups, and by using such
conception to analyze their relationships. written historical material as is available. We
Hence, on Barnes’s advice, I adopted “struc- then try to throw these synchronic observa-
tural duration.” I am not stating that Evans- tions into varied kinds of time, in order to work
Pritchard’s analysis was perfect. My conten- out the structural duration of the institutions
tion is that Evans-Pritchard’s analysis shows involved, before we assess what kinds of
that in contrast with the study of recurrent or change are occurring. We examine how far
repetitive change of personnel and their inter- observed Merences between the groups, re-
relationships within a pattern of institutions, lationships, and individuals can be explained
we can develop considerable understanding of in terms of situational changes or phases in-
radical change in some institutions by setting volved in some institutions’ structural dura-
this radical change against an analysis of the tion, and how far the differences indicate that
structural durations of certain other institu- there is more radical change occurring in the
tions, held constant in as if equilibrium analy- basic structure of the institutions.
sis. This enables us to formulate laws of struc- This is the technique which Evans-Pritchard
tural change. Evans-Pritchard’s studies of the used in his study of the Nuer. It has been fre-
rise of the Nuer prophets also emphasized that quently applied to the study of domestic
they were “foreigners” to the Nuer groups groups whose structural duration, as stated,
they united, as the Sanusi order were foreigners is largely controlled in an almost cyclical
to the Bedouin. This is a phenomenon we pattern by the processes of birth, maturation,
know from many other eras and regions: Peter and death. If we collect quantitative and other
the Hermit and Joan of Arc were both “out- data on, say, different families with parents
siders” in some sense to the disunited groups and children of different ages, and we study
they brought together in their crusades; in family laws and customs, we have to throw
South Africa commoner, and female, prophets, what are mainly synchronic data into dia-
united the divided tribes against the encroach- chronic duration or durations, for various
ing whites. The equilibrium analysis of dis- families may be a t different phases of a pat-
unity between groups in a segmentary system terned movement, or a systematic change of
enables us to understand why leaders must be family structure may be occumng, or both
in some sense “foreigners” or “outsiders,” who processes may be present. If structural change
are moved by spirits, by God, or other form of is occumng, how can we assess its incidence
extra-societal force. Other circumstances of except against an as if equilibrium analysis of
as ij equilibrium allow independent groups to what was the family structural duration in
form deliberate, if temporary, alliances. the past, possibly shown in some phases in
Within the model, we can seek for propositions families observed in the present? Otherwise
about the variables involved in particular we would be left with random observations
types of change.’ only. We use life histories and other similar
data to make this assessment.
IV Since structural duration of family and
This type of analysis raises many problems domestic organization is largely set by bio-
for the analyst of institutions for which we logical processes, this technique is under con-
have no history-and this applies not only to siderable control. Fortes discussed the tech-
the anthropologist who is trying to study a nique in his essay “Time and Social Structure”
previously unstudied tribe, or village, on whom (1949b), where he dealt with Ashanti domestic
historical records are poor, but also to the organization, thus: “An important aspect of
sociologist or anthropologist who is studying domestic organization is the normal duration
many institutions in our own society on which of the unit. It is an index of the process of
information is inadequate. Obviously it were growth by which the physical and social re-
best if we had detailed longitudinal reports on, placement of one generation by the next is
or studies of, whole social fields and of every assured and depends on the functions per-
American Anthropologist [70,1968
data, here summarize a series of synchronic
formed by the domestic unit in the rearing and
observations, which are thrown into two dis-
education of children.” Fortes is concerned t o
demonstrate for the Ashanti both the cyclic tinct diachronic models: the one is of varied
duration involved in family processes and thetypes of domestic units moving through pat-
changes occurring in Ashanti families in new terned durations, the other of a process of
limited structural change proceeding through
conditions, and he therefore focuses his analy-
these durations, and possibly leading to radical
sis on an argument for the use of quantitative
social change.
and statistical data to elucidate structure, as
against bare statements of principles like The same procedure was followed b y Esther
matriliny and matrilocality. H e presents Goody (1962) in a n analysis of the factors
quantitative data, collected from dispersed influencing the divorce rate of women at
situations in two areas of Ashanti, on such different ages among the Gonja. She collected
records of divorces affecting women of different
matters as age distribution of household heads;
age, residence, and marital status of women; ages through their lives u p to that point and
and so forth. The structure of matrilineal, illuminated the varying pressures that move
a woman at different ages to remain with her
mixed virilocal and uxorilocal, patrilocal and
husband, or leave her husband for another
matrilocal and avunculocal, societies are well
known, so I give summarily Fortes’s conclu- husband, or return to her brother’s home. B u t
sion : when it came to assessing what factors influ-
enced the divorce rate in the past of older
elementary statistical analysis is indispensable for
women, she had to rely on observations on
the elucidation of certain problems of social struc-
younger women i n the present day. T h e
ture that arise in a society which is in process of
method is full of dangers, and I suppose i t is
becoming socially diversified. The futility of
always vulnerable to logical attack, for it has
blanket-terms like “patrilocality” and “matri-
locality” in this context is obvious. The use of
flaws. B u t if we are to make progress we
numerical data has enabled us to see that Ashanti
must face the dangers, and do what we can
domestic organization is the result of the inter-
(see Barnes 1949, 1951, 1967). Always, in my
action of a number of fairly precisely defined
opinion, we can seek support in the extent of
factors operating both at a given time and over a
our comparative evidence. Thus Goody finds
stretch of time. Granted the dominance of the rule
a high divorce rate among the Gonja, and it
of matrilineal descent and the recognition of
is striking to me that they are what we call
paternity in Ashanti law and values, the sex of the
cognatic; that they do not have levirate, soro-
household head is the factor of first importance.
I t determines the main possibilitiesof the arrange-
rate, or ghost marriage; t h a t they disapprove
ment of kinsfolk in the domestic unit in relation
of sororal polygyny; and that they let a child
to the polar values of “matricentral” and “patri-
go to its genitor and not its mother’s husband.
central” grouping. The other factors are the
Their institutions resemble those of the Lozi
tendency to seek a compromise between the op-
(Gluckman 1950) who are also cognatic and
posed ties of marriage and parenthood on the one
whom we know, from historical records, have
hand and those of matrilineal kinship on the
had a high divorce rate ever since they came
other; and the ideal that every mature person,
t o our knowledge. This makes i t seem plausible
especially a man, should have his own household.
that the Gonja high divorce rate is unlikely,
How these factors interact depends, among other
things, on local social conditions and historical
in this institutional concatenation, to be en-
circumstances. The domestic arrangements I have
tirely a product of modern times, for in these
described are possible only in the long-established
respects the Gonja, like the Lozi, contrast
stable capital towns of chiefdoms, where both
sharply with the Zulu type of society (Gluck-
spouses in every marriage are equally at home. In
man 1950) with its agnatic emphasis and dis-
new villages the ordinary patrilocal household is
more common [1949b:3f.]. tribution of property through wives of a
husband. Here we find levirate, sororate,
These domestic arrangements include the ghost-marriage, and sororal polygyny ap-
movement of children a s they mature between proved; adulterine children going to the
different homes, the movement of men, and mother’s husband; and no divorces, or very
the movement of women-as well as the few, both in the past and in modern times, a
movement of food between houses. Fortes’s pattern distributed throughout South and
quantitative data, backed by biographical (far away) Northeast Africa. Hence we have
GLUCKMAN] The Utility of the EquiCibrium Model 229
several types of controls on this kind of in- which are multiple like families but not so
vestigation and analysis so that it is not sheer tightly controlled by the biological frame-
guesswork when we try to assess what are the work; yet similar methods have been applied
situational changes through a traditionally with similar gains.
oriented life-cycle and what are radical When he studied the Yao of Malawi, Mit-
changes related to new conditions. chell (1951, a, b; 1956) observed that their
I would argue that here too, if we are to villages varied in internal composition. Some
assess the extent and nature of institutional consisted of small matrilineal lineages, others
changes in marriage patterns, we have to set of a range of several such lineages grouped in
these against an equilibrium model. In study- complex association both by more distant
ing the rate of divorce among the tribes of matrilineal or other matrilateral links and by
Zambia, Malawi, and Rhodesia, my colleagues patrilateral ties. He examined how some of
have worked out divorce rates despite aware- these matrilineage-based sections within the
ness of the difficulties involved in throwing villages left their parent villages and set
synchronic observations into a diachronic themselves up as independent villages, either
model. Their studies show (Mitchell 1963) in search for new land or after quarrels. He
that among the patrilineal peoples the rates related processes of growth in numbers through
are lower than among the matrilineal and marriages and births to an ever-increasing
probably cognatic peoples. (There are some, complexity of all villages, realized in reality
but very few, exceptions.) Central African in some of the villages, and then the reduction
patrilineal systems have adelphic succession of expanding villages through division. He
and inheritance along a line of brothers; and thus established the structural duration of
this may be why they have a higher divorce various types of Yao village, in dendritic6 pro-
rate than the Zulu type of patrilineal society cesses of growth and proliferation of sections
where position and property are divided up till divisions occurred. He examined the role
among wives in a polygynous household and of variable prestige, of the custom by which in
devolve through those wives on to their own a dominantly uxorilocal society village head-
sons. In this region (and most others) the men brought their wives to their own homes,
generalization stands that divorce rates are of beliefs in witchcraft and sorcery and ances-
higher in the nonpatrilineal than in the patri- tral spirits as causing misfortune, of the rules
lineal systems. However, in the urban areas of positional succession and perpetual kinship
the rates of divorce of patrilineal and matri- between positions, and of other customs and
lineal peoples move toward a common norm, beliefs in these dendritic processes built into
as does the amount of the marriage payment- varied types of villages. If we judge from
in tribal areas marriage payments are low in written and oral tradition, some villages re-
matrilineal and cognatic tribes, much higher mained large and complex for long periods,
among patrilineal peoples who have property despite shedding some sections. Mitchell was
to give. The indications are therefore that the able to specify the social factors associated
urban situation is beginning to establish a with this durability. Other villages, denoted
common institutional pattern in marriage, for by different social factors, never became very
the changes in the amount of marriage pay- complex, and sections breaking off from the
ment accompany changes in the rights trans- large villages tended to fall into the second
ferred, and duties entered upon, in marriage. category. Marwick (1965) confirmed this
This most important set of changes in the in- analysis among the nearby Chewa, and was
stitutions of marriage can be understood only able to pursue more deeply how sorcery be-
in the setting of the equilibrium studies of liefs, and so on, operated to control, expedite,
tribal marriage. and maintain the system and the structural
durations of its parts.
V The core of Mitchell’s analysis of Yao vil-
It is again not too difficult to work out struc- lages was investigation of a limited number of
tural durations, and to isolate continuity with types of structural durations in a complex as if
repetitive change from radical change, in such equilibrium model. Then from historical
singular institutions as kingships. It is most records he examined how far war, slavery, and
difficult to do so with groups like villages, trade to the coast from Malawi and beyond
230 American Anthropologist [70,1968
had in the past contributed to the growth of durations” (see e.g., Pospisil, 1958a, 1958b,
big villages, in order to assess what were the 1960; Reay, 1959; Salisbury, 1962; Brookfield
effects of British conquest and rule. British and Brown, 1963; Meggitt, 1965), before they
rule abolished war and slavery and made life tried to detect radical changes. To some ex-
more secure. It brought in specialized traders tent, they have produced analyses of systems
in cloth and other goods formerly fetched subject to repetitive changes (i.e., in stable
from the coast by Yao caravans. New eco- equilibrium or stasis), but they have used this
nomic opportunities (such as cash cropping device to indicate processes of limited struc-
and migration to labor for Europeans) affected tural change (i.e., changes which do not go to
social relationships, as well as the emergence the roots of the system, but which alter its
of new types of land shortage in some areas. form), and processes of radical structural
But through these radical changes there was change (which alter the form of the system).
considerable continuity; people still lived in For example, Meggitt shows that Mae-Enga
villages and many men were ambitious to agnatic lineages, at various levels, have had to
become village headmen. New wealth was face a series of codicts of values. It is wrong
partly expended in traditional social relation- to disseise an agnatically related “brother
ships. Even when a man, in this normally uxo- lineage” of land, yet when numbers increase,
rilocal society, was allowed to take his wife to this is the most suitable land to seize (cf.
live with him where he worked on a European Peters 1967). Again, it is proper to allow kins-
plantation, their children did not form a group folk related through women to settle on one’s
regarded as dominantly descended from the land. If a n agnatic group is falling in numbers
husband, but rather, in terms of Yao dogma, it needs these other kinsfolk to help it defend
a group regarded as a matrilineage descended its land against more numerous and therefore
from his wife (Mitchell 1951b). more powerful “brother lineages.” Yet if you
Mitchell worked out his analysis from two invite in other kinsfolk they may, like the
different kinds of data. He used what historical cuckoo, seize your nest. Through these per-
data he could gather, both from published and sisting traditional dilemmas, he argues that
unpublished written records and from histories there runs a thread of limited structural
of villages and individual Yao. Secondly, in change, a tendency to emphasize, where land
the field he made a series of synchronic ob- is short, the primary principle of iliation-
servations of series of different villages. The agnation (or matriliny in other systems). H e
technique of analysis was to throw these syn- cites comparative evidence (which has been
chronic observations, with the help of his- criticized, Brookfield and Brown 19633 that
torical data, into different kinds of diachronic this tendency to enforce the dominant cultural
processes. The skill of the analyst is to assess rule appears in many tribes, and he specifically
when the differences he finds are repetitive quotes the “longitudinal” analyses made by
situational changes and when they are Firth in Tikopia twenty-four years apart as
changes in the structure of the system of insti- showing this shift (Firth 1936, 1959). This
tutions itself. change is here hypothesized not only from
Mitchell had some historical records, throwing synchronic observations among the
written by Europeans, to facilitate his dia- Mae-Enga into a diachronic process, but also
chronic study and to enable him to assess by seeing a general process occurring over
different kinds of change. Similar more or less several societies analyzed similarly in equilib-
valid historical data have not been available rium models by several anthropologists. In
to those anthropologists who have studied each of these studies, the process of structural
tribes in recently opened up areas, as in New change is seen significantly because of the
Guinea (and indeed this was largely Evans- equilibrium model of structural duration a t
Pritchard’s position among the Nuer). These the core of analysis.
anthropologists employed the method of col- The generalization here put forward by
lecting synchronic observations on the dis- Meggitt can be applied more widely. For in-
tribution of categories of groups and persons, stance (Gluckman 1943,1965b) in a somewhat
as well as oral traditions and life histories, and different situation of land shortage in South-
examined the situation in the light of cultural Central Africa, where land has become short
rules and customs. They have then thrown for tribesmen acquiring their main cash-in-
their observations into diachronic “structural come from labor migration, the basic rule
GLUCKMAN] The Utility of the Equilibrium Model 23 1
emphasized is the right of every subject to duration, either to show repetitive change of
some arable land. This leads eventually to the personnel only, or to exhibit processes of
chiefs restricting by legislation the amount sudden or gradual elimination and substitu-
of land each subject may cultivate. The sys- tion or of addition and multiplication of com-
tem breaks down completely where land ponents in the social field, or of several of
shortage is too acute for even this restriction these processes.
to allow sufficient land to each subject. This
demonstration was possible only in an analy- VI
sis of the relation between land-holding and Each of the above analyses does not depend
the structure of the politico-economic system entirely on itself: they are mutually supporting.
in an equilibrium model. The nature and Not only do they conform to a general pattern
setting of radical changes and development of orientation and theoretical statement, but
again could be assessed only in an analysis of they also produce substantial evidence of ex-
institutional duration. ternal facts to which the theoretical statement
These processes can be seen as part of a has to fit. It is for this reason that I cannot
more general proposition already stated, viz., agree with Leach (1954:4; 1964:Zntroduclion)
that an institutional system will tend to de- when he defines an anthropological model
velop and hypertrophy along the main lines thus:
of its organization until external conditions We first devise for ourselves a set of verbal cate-
make it quite impossible for the system to con- goria which are nicely arranged to form an
tinue to work.’ This proposition in itself ordered system, and we then fit the facts into the
emphasizes my main contention, that institu- verbal categories and hey presto the facts are
tional change is best understood in a setting “seen” to be systematically ordered1 But in that
of equilibrium analysis. It is theoretically case the systcm is a matter of relations between
possible that in the kind of situation in which concepts and not of relations “actually existing’’
Meggitt and his colleagues worked, without within the raw factual data, as Radcliffe-Brown
and some of his followers have maintained [1964:
any vouched-for historical data, they might XU-Xiii].
not have been able to separate from one
another what were repetitive (Gluckman I gladly enroll myself among these followers
1940b, Vogt 1960) situational (Mitchell of Radcliffe-Brown, even without being con-
1966) changes, what were limited structural scribed by Leach to serve thus, for he sees me
changes, and what were radical structural as his “most vigorous opponent in matters
changes. I n these circumstances, the Same theoretical” (1964 :ix). For here he and I part
methods of analysis might have to be adopted; company, and it is because this parting is of
but two or more possible analyses of struc- crucial importance for the whole of the ap-
tural durations and of types of change might proach I am outlining that I comment on
have to be advanced. No anthropologist has Leach’s undoubtedly influential book. I do
yet felt this to be necessary. not consider that our analyses are the ordering
Without the diachronic analysis of struc- only of “a set of verbal categories”; instead, I
tural duration and continuity in these studies, consider that the “ordered system” actually
it is impossible to assess the nature and extent exists within the institutional realities that
of change in the institutions under investiga- we study. The ordered systems are the struc-
tion. I emphasize that I am here discussing tural durations which are built into social
institutional change and not all types of institutions, and they are, in Durkheim’s
change. That is, I am arguing that even when phrasing within an out-of-date epistemology,
we are interested in radical changes, institu- “things”. That is, we cannot learn their char-
tional change is clearly one core of our subject. acteristic properties except by investigation,
T o study institutional change, we must there- and we cannot change them merely by an act
fore adopt a methodology that focuses on of will. Much of recent history also emphasizes
institutions, and this leads us back to as $ that it is not so easy to alter institutions by
structural durations, with their implicit con- legislative acts and major social pressures.
ception of equilibrium. When we feed in actual Institutions are resistant to radical changes,
historical changes as we move nearer to the and patterns of customs and customary beliefs
reality we observe, we assess changes in rela- persist and continue into new situations, even
tion to diversions of the processes of structural though in the end they may be altered. This is
232 American Anthropologist [70,1968
not the resistance of isolated customs or straining, not to be changed by an act of will
ideas, but a resistance born out of the hard or merely by altering a verbal category. The
reality of the interdependence of elements observations, as well as the analyses, of our
within institutional patterns, an interdepen- colleagues working in quite different social
dence that we labor to discover. To some ex- fields are also external, constraining, and hard
tent, i t is true, a body of persons working for us. For we take these into account in de-
within a discipline are likely at any period to veloping our own analyses. We cannot make
see similar problems, but the constraint of up institutions and get away with it. No one
evidence is always upon us, and not all of us has yet analyzed that Bantu tribe that
are easily deceived against the evidence. emerged from the fertile imagination of
Before I pursue this point, I must separate Schapera-the Baloni. And Miner’s (1956)
off the apparent similarity sometimes present delightful satire on the Nacirema is too near
in our subjects’ ideas and in our own analyses. the truth to be altogether fictitious. All of you
We do not merely analyze the set of ideas of have struggled to analyze your field data and
the people involved in an institution. These know how difficult i t is for a trained outside ob-
indigenous ideas, as formulations about what server, working with the support of what his
social reality is believed by its participants to predecessors and colleagues have done, to get
be, are some of the facts we take into account at the real interconnections within a social sys-
in our analyses. The actors’ ideas, like their tem, by taking account of all the evidence in
behavior, are part of, and influenced by, the order to erect a model. Most of you have
total reality in which they live. This reality, as changed your models in the light of new facts
I have said, is something external and con- about the real world, whether found by your-
straining. It is hard, and cannot be changed selves or appearing in the criticisms and works
merely by changing the set of ideas. I t is of your fellows.
sufficiently hard to shape the future in unex-
pected ways. The actors may have certain VII
ideas about the hard reality in which they live, 1 have spoken about us if e’quilibrium models
and in flashes these may be accurate percep- to demonstrate how useful they are in studying
tions of what exists and of what is happening social change. But particular sets of institu-
or emerging. But actors are often self-deceived tions may have been or still be in actual
about events and motives, and their ideas may equilibrium, persisting in continuity, for long
be rationalizations. Hence social and individual periods. I repeat, this is not a matter of a
ideas cannot be taken as accurate perceptions priori judgment but of historical record, of
of reality; and they are almost always incom- present assessment, or of future prediction. Or
plete (Peters 1967). Comparative study by institutional change theoretically could pro-
specialists may be necessary to put these ceed with a constant readjustment of each
ideas in perspective. Analysis after analysis part to changes in the other parts-in moving,
shows that often the actors do not fully under- actual equilibrium. This is more likely to occur
stand what they are doing and why they do it. in parts, rather than in the whole, of a social
I cite only anthropological analyses of how field. More often there will be a steady change
particular categories of persons are divined, in of magnitudes within and between institu-
various tribes, as the witches responsible for tions, until there is a sudden and radical trans-
misfortune,a and of genealogies as ideologies formation of form. All experience indicates
rather than as ancestral pedigrees. Anyone can this.
multiply examples. I will describe how I applied the methods
The reality we study is equally external to, I have outlined to radical change in the history
and constraining on, us, the anthropologists. It of Zululand.’o From the evidence of ship-
is hard, in that we cannot change it to suit wrecked mariners, and of oral traditions
ourselves. Hence our technical us ij models are collected from the Zulu and their offshoots,
not only an order between a set of verbal cate- who are now established many thousands and
gories. They have to be logically constructed, hundreds of miles apart, and from neighboring
and this construction may be fruitful or n0t.O tribes, the political field from a t least 1400 un-
In addition, they have to be more than that. til about 1800 can be analyzed as being in an
We constantly refer them to the evidence of actual state of stable equilibrium (in stasis). I t
our observations, and these are hard and con- was composed of many tribes, varying in size
GLUCKMAN] The Utility of the Equilibrium Model 233
but with a maximum so that if a tribe became rary equilibrium, with short-term durations,
too big, sections broke away either peacefully was established between the remnants of the
or after struggles between rivals for chieftain- kingdom; then the British set up rule and
ship. Through four centuries tribes split, new there was a new temporary equilibrium based
tribes appeared, others disappeared, and there almost entirely on force. One can disentangle
were raids but not conquests. This was replica- archival records to find how this temporary
tion in time and duplication in space of pattern equilibrium was extended into a complex set of
and structure, despite many disturbances in- interdependent ties between British and
volving wars and divisions. There was no Zulu in which political institutions involving
radical change, either in institutions or in struc- various white and Zulu officials, and people,
tural durations. It was stable equilibrium had their own structural durations. By
through a long period. making analyses of several periods of relative
Evidence indicates that human, and prob- stability, and of processes of change from one
ably more importantly, cattle, populations in- to the other, I could handle both the struc-
creased beyond the point of critical density. tural durations of institutions and also types of
The increase accumulated gradually, then sud- change. Barnes (1954) has handled in similar
denly led to change of structure. There was ap- frameworks the history of a group of Ngoni
parently a short period of moving actual equi- from the time they were driven out of Natal
librium in which some tribes emerged as up to their position in Nyasaland under
dominant, conquering their neighbors. Struc- British rule. I n terms of the equilibrium found
tural durations, short in period, show tribes try- a t different periods, changes showing both in
ing various means of conquest and defense, until continuity and innovation can be assessed.
the Zulu, through wars that solved the popula- Without the conception of equilibriums, one
tion problem, established hegemony that lasted is left with narrative. I n a period of rapid
sixty years, ending with their defeat by the radical change of structure it may be neces-
British. During this period, there was a pat- sary to resort almost entirely to narrative, so
tern of civil wars based on the same factors far as this is possible, and to seek here for
that determined the earlier equilibrium of different kinds of generalization and proposi-
small tribes: relatively poor tools, simple con- tions (see Gluckman 1969a).
sumption goods, slow communications, wide I consider that it is profitable to apply a
spread of population, simple weapons held by similar method of analysis to, for example, the
every warrior giving each leader a private history of the English kingship. In the Middle
army. The result was autonomy of local sec- Ages there was constant change and develop-
tions not linked to the center by utilitarian ment; some magnates accumulated more
organic interdependence and civil war around land and power, cities grew a t specific phases
the kingship. That is, here we have, within the and trade increased, and so forth. But through
equilibrium model, theoretical propositions several centuries it is possible to isolate the
arising from the relation between technology, institutional relationships between king and
dispersal of population, and authority sys- magnates in order to understand the pattern
tems continuing despite some increase in the of civil wars. These relationships can be as-
power and spread of authority. One cannot sessed in relation, first, to constant material
understand changes in each reign unless one elements such a s types of weapons, supply of
sees this equilibrium i n struggles for power; goods and money, and modes of communica-
and the analysis can he duplicated, and its tion, then also to patterns of law, such as rules
variations correlated, from other states in the about treason (Gluckman 1965b, Chap. 11).
history of Africa, Europe, and Asia. The change The result is an analysis of a polity that has
from small tribes to kingdom I would call many systematic regularities similar to those
limited structural change, rather than radical I have described in the middle period of Zulu
structural change, hecause relations between history. I would argue again that without
parts were still determined by similar basic some equilibrium model we cannot make sense
technological and other factors. Meanwhile. of either oscillations or of real changes in the
outside of the analytically isolated kingdom, relationships between king and magnates, or
relationships with whites developed slowly, in relationships between them and the bour-
until suddenly the pattern changed and Bri- geoisie in the cities, the artisans, and the rural
tain invaded Zululand. After delcat, a tempo- laborers. Moreover, without applying this
234 American Anthropologist [70, 1968
model to examine some institutional complex structure within it; if he emphasizes the struc-
or the other, the whole becomes again recita- ture, we lose much of the process of actual
tion of a narrative. social life on which he has gathered volumi-
nous data. The dilemma is aggravated when we
VIII come to consider changes of various kinds, for
I maintain that the above analysis of the the more we describe change of all kinds in de-
use of equilibrium models brings out the extent tail, the less we can analyze the structure of
to which it was a dynamic method, trying to what we are seeing; the more accurately and
deal with various types of disturbance and carefully we delineate the structural relations
different types of change. Moreover, its ex- within the data, the more we lose the move-
ponents were very much concerned to analyze ment and change.
social process, and very deeply aware of the I believe this dilemma will always be with
problem of time. Why then the tendency in re- us, as our subject swings between the pole of
cent years for younger anthropologists to structural analysis and the pole of narrative
dismiss the theories that emerged as static and (though as Mandelbaum, 1967, has shown,
not dynamic, concerned more with an idealized considering other work, no one can get to bare
structure than with process? There is now al- narrative itself).
most an element of abuse in the epithet “a I have here spoken of structural analysis of
structural-functional study.” The answer may interaction patterns, and this is somewhat out
in the widest terms be that each new genera- of accord with modern practice. I n that prac-
tion wishes to outdo its predecessors, and tice the term structural-functional analysis,
wholesale condemnation is an easy way of usually applied to allegedly static equilibrium
beginning. Specifically I suggest that as far as models, is seen as applying to what we call
tribal systems were concerned, the preceding macroscopic, morphological, anatomical stud-
generation brought sense into the variety of ies, name them as you will. Structural com-
cultural forms in which these systems are ponents are seen to be groups and other major
manifested. From my own experience in train- entities. I believe this is exacerbating our
ing a succession of research workers, I can dilemma and our disputation. I urge that we
vouch for the fact that analysis of the institu- get rid of the false reification that has crept
tional systems became easier, in the sense that into the conception of a “structure” and a
each new worker could more rapidly observe “social structure.” Whatever field we study, we
and work out the structure of his system, in assume that it has within it regularities since
the light of preceding analyses. This liberated observably i t is not altogether haphazard, and
them from months or even years of work, and once we assume there are regularities there
they were able to go on to observe in greater must be some kind of systematic interdepen-
detail the interaction between persons in- dence which in turn must have a structure as
volved in the institutional structures. Hence, defined in the dictionaries, something like “an
particularly as improved methods of field re- arrangement of parts within an organized
search brought in more and more complicated whole.” Hence on a major scale a society has a
data, they became involved in study of the structure in its institutions; each piece of inter-
structure of interaction patterns. As in the action between persons has a structure, as
other social sciences, there was a development Goffman has so vividly demonstrated; each
of extended case-studies, trying to handle individual personality has a structure. A con-
variations and deviations from institutional versation has a structure; an election campaign
norms. This led to greater interest in the com- has a structure; a nation has a structure
plexity of each unique period and parcel of (though of course not all events are systemat-
history; in the life-histories and lives of in- ically interconnected). Hence we are all of us
dividuals; in the choices that individuals have structuralists, and all of us are to some extent *

available to manipulate to their advantage functionalists, in the sense that we try to assess
(Leach 1954; Bailey 1957; Van Velsen 1964). the significance of each element within the par-
When these complexities are reduced in a ticular structure we are studying.
structural analysis, much of the uniqueness I caution therefore that he who abuses an-
and richness of the data disappears. So the other as a structuralist must, insofar as he is
anthropologist has to wrestle with a dilemma: essaying a scientific study, be flagellating
if he presents all the data, we cannot see the himself. The trouble is that this distracts at-
GLUCKMAN] The Utility of the Equilibrium Model 235
tention from a whole field of problems. I have structures in the “passage of events in space-
been talking above of institutional structures time,” which is reality in Whitehead’s phrase.’
since this is the field in which I work, and I I have suggested, too, that the interlinking of
have argued that institutions have a tendency our varied sets of structures poses new fields of
to continuity over time through the systematic worthwhile problems; these are immensely
interrelation of positions, roles, material ap- difficult, as I see it, since I reject any reduc-
paratus, values, beliefs, etc. M y analysis is tionist essay to explain the system in one set of
developed for this field. But I recognize that events out of explanations of the system in
within the apparent continuity of form of a n other sets of events, whether of larger or smal-
institution (e.g., House of Commons) there ler scale (see Devons and Gluckman 1964; and
can be a slow accumulation of change: in types for a fine exposition, Mandelbaum 1955). I
of personnel, through drifts of style, through urge that i t is wiser to examine the problems
the operation of choices by individuals, and so and methods and difficulties of all other work-
forth. Lack of continuity seems marked in ers, rather than to dismiss them summarily
many patterns of interaction. Nevertheless, with intellectual abuse. One may learn some-
many studies have shown that there is a high thing from examination; dismissal teaches one
degree of continuity in interaction patterns, nothing. If we call others “ass-head,” we may
which makes emphasis on structure equally es- be in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Act 111,
sential (see Goffman, various). B u t whether Sc. l), looking through bully Bottom’s mask.
interaction patterns are continuous or un-
stable or changing, it is important that we try NOTES
to see whether we can bring together these ap- I am grateful to Professors J. A. Barnes and M.
parently very diverse modes of analysis. I con- Fortes with whom I had stimulating preliminary dis-
sider this to be one of the challenges before us cussions on the roblems raised in this paper, and to
in the coming years, and hence I a m against my several colkgues at Manchester (P. Baxter,
K. Garbett, B. Kapferer, N. Long, J. C. Mitchell,
false disputation between persons dealing with E. L. Peters, M. Southwold, R. Werbner), who
different types of problems in which one person commented in seminar on an early draft and added
alleges, of ten enough, that the other’s analysis much that was valuable. Colleagues at the Center
for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences a t
is wrong in principle because it is not the kind Stanford gave me valuable help and the Center pro-
of analysis that he (the first) is interested in. vided many facilities. Professor Sally F. Moore
I would rather draw attention to the fact helped me with a final, constructive criticism.
that the separation of institutions from in- ‘For an dective similar argument see Smelser
teraction is to a large extent an analytical (1959) among many others.
ent elaborated in Gluckman (1964,
distinction. For it is partly from action and in- l&$ : n E m n and Gluckman (1965-66).
teraction that we build up our abstract struc- ‘1 have a summary discussion of this general
ture of institutions; and conversely, in studies problem in Gluckman 1965b: 101 f. Frankenberg
of interaction, we are concerned with in- (1958) a plied Evans-Pritchard’s general thesis
here to iiminate the role of “strangers” and “out-
capsulations from institutions. Somehow we siders” in the communal life of a Welsh village.
must try to bring these different types of 6 “Dendritic” means growing like a tree, with
analyses together. some branches continuing large. There are not
I believe firmly that anthropology is a cycles of development in these processes for large
villages, but there is a cycle for some smaller
science and therefore progressive and accumu- villagee.
lating in that, speaking for myself, I feel we a Note that though Meggitt’s book was published
pass the test that the fool of the later genera- in 1965, it went to press before Brookfield and
Brown’s book was published, so he could not con-
tion outdoes the genius of the previous genera- sider their criticisms of an early essayls statement of
tion. Clearly past theories and methods have the hypothesis.
t o be superseded: I have I hope sufficiently I have applied this proposition to developments
often in print (1965a and elsewhere; also with in quite different types of social relations between
Eggan, 1965-66) stated my welcoming aware- Whites and Blacks, and within White and Black
groups, in my Anulysis of a S o d Situation i n
ness of the new types of penetrating research Modern Zululand (first . published
. 1940 and 1942; re-
done by younger anthropologists. But I have printed 1958).
tried here to argue that they face the same Evans-Pritchard (1937); Wilson (1951); Nadel
I)

(194’1and 1954); Mitchell (1956); Bohannan (1957);


problems as the past generation, because these Turner (1957); Marwick (1965); Middleton and
problems persist within the very nature of our Winter (1963): Gluckman (1965b. 1969a. 1969b)
attempt to generalize in finding systems with analyze some of these findine.
236 American Anthropologist [70, 1968
9 See Smelser (1959:Chaps. I1 and 111) for a dis- 1959 Social change in Tikopia. London, Allen
cussion on this point and the argument below. and Unwin.
10 Three long essays give my main analysis. My FORTES,M.
draft book and notes from archives on the Zulu were 1945 The dynamics of clanship among the
burnt in a fire that destroyed my base camp in Tallensi. London, Oxford University Press.
Barotseland. I have since then been occupied with 1949a The web of kinship among the Tallensf.
the Barotse and general books, but I am sending to London, Oxford University Press.
press a full-length study of the period of early tribes 1949b Time and social structure. In Social struc-
and relations with whites in it, and of the rise and ture: Essays presented to A. R. Radcliffe-
establishment of the Zulu kingdom. Brown. M. Fortes, ed. Oxford, Clarendon
Press.
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