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Chapter Two. The Social Structure and its Units |
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nature of cooperation within morungs ; age groups |
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Members of a morung cooperated in numerous social, economic, and ritual activities. The intimacy prevailing between all the inmates of a men's house facilitated the smooth operation of joint activities and made it possible to dispense with an organization which would have given individuals the power to exercise authority over their fellow members. Even the morung officials were not so much administrators of morung affairs as representatives of the community in its dealings with supernatural powers. Boys who entered the morung at the same time formed an age group whose members worked, danced, and played together until the time when the obligations of family life loosened the close links between members. |
