| caption: |
Chapter Two. The Social Structure and its Units |
| caption: |
relations between old clan members and those incorporated |
| text: |
Such immigrants added to the numerical strength and, hence, the power of the clans which accepted them as affiliated members, and the consideration of these practical advantages must have outweighed the principle that only people of common descent should enjoy the status of fully privileged clan members. In moments of tension, sparked, perhaps, by a purely private quarrel, the latent feeling of superiority of the genuine clan members by descent might have found expression in offensive remarks aimed at the newcomers, but normally original clan members and new recruits lived together in amicable fashion. The heterogeneous composition of many clans certainly did not affect their function as highly important units in the social structure of the village. |
