SOCIAL/CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Exchange in Oceania: A Graph Theoretic Analysis. Per Hage and Frank Harary

Abstract

SOCJAL/CUI.TURAI, ANTHROPOLOGY she knows quantitatively, her richly detailed qualitative analysis has thoroughly convinced this reader, at least, of her arguments linking maternal behavior and child death. Elders Living Alone: Frailty and the Percep- tion of Choice. Robert L. Rubinstein, Janet C. Kdbride, and Sharon Nagy. Modern Applica- tions of Social Work. New York Aldine de Gruyter, 1992.184 pp. ANDREA SANKAR Wayne State University Eldm LivingAloneis a study of elderly peo- ple, mainly debilitated, living alone in Phila- delphia. The study explores the relationship between the “personal surround” of the el- derly person and the “home environment” It contends that the ability to continue living on one’s own fulfills key cultural values of inde- pendence as actualized in freedom of choice. “I can do what I want when I want,” was a frequent rationale given by informants for living in substandard conditions. Through the use of case studies, the book illustrates in considerable detail how these elders adapt to and find daily satisfaction in living conditions and life choices that are radically circum- scribed compared with those taken for granted by healthy middle-aged, middle-class adults. The study testifies to the adaptability of the human spirit. In a concluding chapter, the authors raise questions about how the unequal distribution of resources in our society and the cultural belief in individual, as opposed to commu- nity, responsibility adversely affect these el- derly people. This is an important point, especially if we are to use these data in devel- oping a crosscultural analysis of marginal- ized elderly; unfortunately, by relegating it to the closing chapter, the analytic power of the argument is less than an earlier integration would have provided. This is also a problem with the authors’ otherwise perceptive cri- tique of the use of narratives. The book is an example of an emerging type of research in qualitative gerontology. In a rough analogy to women’s studies, qualita- tive research in gerontology can be divided into three stages. In the first, ethnographers sought to correct the “geriatric blindness” of earlier studies, and examined the lives of the elderly in other cultures. In the next phase the focus was primarily comparative, as re- searchers examined other cultures to under- stand the sources and dynamics of the supposedly ”better” or “worse” situation of the elderly as compared with the United States. In American culture, researchers sought to understand the sources of satisfac- tion or dissatisfaction in old age-the point of comparison being the middle-aged and middle class, which was the social context of most of the researchers. In the emerging third phase, researchers are trying to better understand old age from the diverse perspec- tives of the heterogeneous elderly popula- tion. This book can be seen as part of the third phase, in that it demonstrates the logic, com- plexity, and coherence of lives lived in “small social spaces.” However, its frequent compari- sons to the values and norms of the middle- aged and middle class sometimes detract from the goal. In a strong and convincing way, E l a h Liu- ingAlonsprovides a caveat against using one’s own value screen to judge the personal satis- faction provided by apparently marginal liv- ing conditions. It vividly demonstrates the pathological intensification of the American value of independence in the case of the frail elderly. In so doing, the book serves as an indictment against key values in bourgeois culture. Exchange in Oceania: A Graph Theoretic Analysii. Per Huge and Frank Harav. Oxford Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology. New York (Jarendon Press (Oxford), 1991. 334 pp. D O U G M R WHITE University of Calijbnia, Imine Mathematics, like structuralism, deals with the variable content of culture by under- standing the relations among cultural ele- ments. Network and graph theory are ideally suited for this task In a virtual handbook of formal concepts and techniques for analysis of structure and for conceptualizing the full variety of uses of the concept of structure, anthropologist Hage and graph-theorist Harary provide foundations for the compre- hensive study of structure and dispel some conceptual confusions haunting ethne graphic literature. They focus on analyzing the diversity of exchange relations (trade, marriage, and kinship; ceremonial and social relations; global social structures) in Oceania. Chapter 2, “Paths, Cycles and Partitions,” gives an exemplary definition of dual T a n k