著者

小池 誠 Makoto Koike

出版者

桃山学院大学総合研究所

雑誌

国際文化論集 (ISSN:09170219)

巻号頁・発行日

no.29, pp.237-264, 2003-12

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The aim of this paper is to examine the concept of 'house' and 'house societies' whose definition and description was introduced by Claude Levi-Strauss. The concept of the house as a social group was elaborated by him while anthropologists were concerned with the material and symbolic aspects of houses. Levi-Strauss defined the house as 'a moral person' which perpetuates itself through the transmission of its name, its goods, and its titles down a real or imaginary line. I try to review the writings inspired by his ideas on the house, which are problematic and left nagging questions unresolved. He concluded that the house is not a social group delimited by rules of descent or residence. The less rulebound aspect of the house requires the concept of 'strategy' proposed by Bourdieu. The members of a house employ strategies aimed at its perpetuation against the backdrop of collective constraints.