Description: A continuation of conversation between Alan Lomax, Stanley Udy, and Conrad Arensberg on classification of work organization.
Note: T2027: Alan Lomax, Conrad Arensberg and Stanley Udy continue their conversation about Stanley's work organization classifications. In contradistinction to Murdock's classification, Lomax and Arensberg subdivide tillers as: horticulturalists, incipient producers (people who are doing just a little agriculture), plough agriculturalists, and irrigationists. African hunters live together. Among South American ones, groups break up and reform, do some agriculture. Lomax and Arensberg define polyphonic singing as any independence of parts. Two kinds: pygmoid type (free wheeling)| all other kinds (in which there is some kind of routine). Organized anarchy. Collectors tend to have more permanent groups, may have complex kinship organization, and have most complex singing style. Hunters and fisher groups tend to be more complex and rational. Lomax: Collecting profile summarily contrastive to hunting: 50 percent similar. Hunting and fishing: 90% similar. Udy: Bureaucratic necessity for rationalized organization on large scale. Agriculture has varying workload. Emphasis is on specificity and performance. Basic auxiliary organization has a core that adds and subtracts as needed. Community reciprocity determines who would join. Arensberg: Music organization may be a replica at a faster tempo. Musical profile is statement summary of something very important in human interaction that has to be continually re-iterated, mirroring an experience which is not only adaptive but most frequent. Udy: This resembles play and game theory. Arensberg: We are looking at social norms expressed in musical performance, not at musical forms.