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Introduction To SociologyNorthern perspectives, Northern ResourcesProjectProposal Sociology
53.100 In the
Macionistext for sociology, class society is defined as being, "a capitalist society with
pronounced social stratification." For our project we will compare and contrast the different
ideology of class through a North American perspective as well as through an Inuit perspective.
In
North America, being upper class is defined as being successful both financially and political.
There are the three P's of social stratification in the North American world, power, prestige, and
property. These three guidelines are common in a person who plays the role of someone who is upper
class. Power could be achieved politically or financially. Prestige would be granted
through background, monarchy, or politically. Having numerous or large property would give a person
the title of upper class. Where as in the inuit culture, the status of
upper class is defined as being a good hunter and provider, a good family person, or even a good
seamstress. In the traditional inuit society, a male who was an asset to the camp was viewed as
upper class, if they were not as skilled as the other males they were viewed as social deviant.
Which means they did not follow the guidelines set for the predominate males needed in a thriving
camp. If a female was not a skilled seamstress and could not be taught by others to be, she would
be viewed as a social deviant. The questions that will be answered
throughout the analysis of these different perspectives are: Does social class exist in the town of
Iqaluit? What differences does a southerner as
apposed to a northerner see in a class society in Iqaluit? Has the social stratification in Iqaluit
changed since the 50's? These question swill be answered through
literary references, interviews, and personal experiences. We have compiled an audio recording of eight
extensive interviews from people in Iqaluit. Iqaluit has such a diverse society, and by
interviewing people from the town we are able to get a more accurate idea of what social classes,
if any, exist in Iqaluit. In order to widen our perspective, we handed
out a questionnaire to a local grade nine class. This will also help us to discover if social
stratification is apparent to people of all ages and how if it affects young
people. The Inuit PerspectiveThe family life and culture of the
Inuit has been described by some observers as unjust and different, such as the thoughts of Jean
Briggs, in Never Again. ihuma, which is the capacity for rationality and
therefore, for adulthood. She felt that the Inuit children had very little room for this quality,
and therefore, when a child would express an act of childish behaviour, it would be acceptable to
the parents. Also, the Inuit belief that the showing of public anger or disapproval of a decision
was frowned upon. Which, according to Briggs, still applies tithe Inuit
today. Another focus of
Briggs' studies was the parent child relationships displayed by the inuit. She discovered that
there was social class, which, I feel is better described as a "pecking order" in the family. Male
dominance played a large role in the Inuit family. The husband would be the first served at any
dinner and would get to choose what particular part of the meat he wanted. Also, even some young
boys had this privilege, based on favouritism as well as if a family were to have only one son out
of numerous daughters. Sexism existed in the inuit society to the extent that female infants were
readily adopted out of The family while males were kept. And, if a child had to be disband from
the family for reasons such as scarcity of food or a family was merely too large, the inuit would
"dispose" of a child of there was no alternative. In my personal experiences, I have
learned that respect for elders is very important in the Inuit culture. A friend of the families
went on a hunting trip three years ago, he videotaped the whole trip and he told us how they
divided up the meat, first for the elders, then for the man who shot the seal, them for everyone
else involved in the hunt. I feel that the Inuit culture, social class cannot merely be based on
personal belongings or social status in the business world. I feel that traditional values also
have to be brought into the division of the classes. When the Whites first started coming to
the north as whalers and explorers they felt that they represented a powerful southern institution
into the north. They felt by coming to the north that one of their main objectives was to
radically change the Inuit ways of life. Many of them felt they were inferior and that because of
the Inuit culture; it was inevitable to loose their culture. In the early exploration of the north,
there was social stratification between the inuit and the Whites. Based on the information
gathered, I believe that Whites felt the Inuit were inferior and should he conformed to the North
American ways of life. To properly express the thoughts of the Whites about the Inuit, I
have chosen a quote from the book The Peoples Land, by Hugh Brody."Missionaries, policemen,
and traders all expressed strongly negative attitudes towards the Inuit in general and discovered
in individuals or in families manifestations of deviance form or ignorance of the principals or
practices they had come to teach." In all actuality, the Inuit were hospitable to them while. In
return, they're attitudes and roles in the Inuit society became hostile too much of the Inuit
life. Few explorers,
missionaries, police, or fur traders chose to stay in the north antlike among the Inuit. Perhaps
it was the harsh weather, or perhaps it was their inability to adapt to the Inuit lifestyle and
abandon their southern ideals. Some "visitors" took wives and children with the Inuit, but most
did not. Some because their main objective was to assimilate the Inuit and make them conform to the
North American ways of life. In the earliest fur trading s with the
Hudson's Bay Company, they viewed the social stratification between the Inuit and the Whites in
the way that in the animal world, it is survival of the fittest, the strongest prey upon the
weak, the Inuit being the weak and the Whites being the strong. Historians and old-timers alike. Time
and time again proved to be almost totally unaware of the lifestyle of the Inuit. The success they
had with survival for so long. |
