What are tribal age sets?
age set, a formally organized group consisting of every male (or female) of comparable age. Among five of the Plains Indians tribes of North America (Blackfoot, Atsina [Gros Ventre], Arapaho, Mandan, Hidatsa), there were ceremonial societies organized on the age-grading principle.
What are the functions of age sets?
Age sets are a type of sodality (nonresidential groups that cut across kinship ties and thus promote broader social solidarity) of young men who usually cooperate in secret ritual or craft performances together; individuals generally remain closely associated with their age set throughout their life.
What is age-set system in history?
age-set system to be present in a society if groups of men born within a specified. period of time, or groups of men who are otherwise defined as being of the same. age, are instituted by collective, not individual ceremonies.
What is an age grade anthropology?
In sociology and anthropology, an age grade or age class is a form of social organization based on age, within a series of such categories, through which individuals pass over the course of their lives. Closely related age-grade systems are common among East African Cushitic communities.
What do you mean by age grade in anthropology?
Social and cultural anthropology. In sociology and anthropology, an age grade or age class is a form of social organization based on age, within a series of such categories, through which individuals pass over the course of their lives.
What is the definition of an age set?
In anthropology, an age set is a social category or corporate social group, consisting of people of similar age, who have a common identity, maintain close ties over a prolonged period, and together pass through a series of age-related statuses. This is in contrast to an age grade, through which people pass individually…
What does an age grade mean in sociology?
In sociology and anthropology, an age grade or age class is a form of social organization based on age, within a series of such categories, through which individuals pass over the course of their lives. This is in contrast to an age set, to which individuals remain permanently attached as the set itself becomes progressively more senior.
Where are age sets most common in Africa?
Age set. The phenomenon is most prevalent in East Africa, central Brazil and parts of New Guinea, where in many societies the importance of social groupings based on age eclipses that of social groupings based on kinship and descent. Age sets in these societies are formed by the periodic grouping together of young people—usually men—into…
