Center and Periphery (1975) Edward Shils

SUMMARY

Society’s structure

has a center

Membership in the society is constituted by the relationship with the this central zone

relationship  

The central zone is not spatially located.

It has nothing to do with geometry

and little with geography.

Symbols Values Beliefs Actions

The central zone is a phenomenon of the realm of:

The society appears to consist on a number of different

subsystems

economic

status system

polity

kinship system

ecclesiastical system

Each of these subsystems comprise a network of

organizations

Each of these elites make decisions to maintain the organization, control its members and fulfill its goals

(goals seldom equally or fully shared by those affected by the decision)

Each of organizations has an authority, an elite – single individual or group.

DECISIONS

Central Value System of Society

(judgments and values)

hold sacred by society

espoused by authority

The value system of any society is distributed

along a range

denial

affirmation

intermittent or partial affirmation

Elites have authority to attribute affinity to the sacred to themselves.

custodian of the sacred

One of the major elements of any Central

Value System is appreciation for authority

economic

status system

polity

kinship system

ecclesiastical system

Appreciation for authority

Appreciation for Institutions

ORDER

Qualities Authority Secondary Values •  Ethic •  Educational •  Familial •  Economic •  Professional

CVS legitimates the distribution of roles and rewards

Central Institutional System

Authority and Coercion

Control of allocation of rewards

Human beings need to be incorporated to something which transcends their

individual existence

Human beings need to be incorporated to something which transcends their

individual existence

Authority has an expansive tendency

towards the saturation of territory

Authority has an expansive tendency

towards the saturation of territory

The more disperse the institutional system, the less the likelihood of an intense affirmation of the Central

Value System

The more inegalitarian the society, the less the

likelihood of an intense affirmation of the Central

Value System

•  lose coordination •  lack of control •  economic outside the market • local market

Attenuated Central Value

System

•  growth of the market •  administrative and technological strengthening of authority

Contact with Central Value

System increased

Modern Society

•  Unified economic system •  Political Democracy •  Urbanization •  Education Contact:

Acceptance & Rejection

The power of the ruling class derive of its incumbency of certain key positions in the central institutional system

Centralized control of appointment Personal ties

Sense of affinity