Abstract
This chapter is offered as a contribution of social anthropology to grasping certain matters about peace and war which preoccupy members of my own (middle-class urban) society. Since what follows addresses the interests of ordinary people, it is their definition of war which is present as background to the discussion. War is understood as ‘the authorised employment of physical force against other persons, as a means by which groups competing for control of public resources and benefits attempt to influence the outcome of the competition in their favour’. This definition evidently leaves as unspecified the identity and boundaries of the groups concerned, but implies that their structure is corporate.1
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© 1987 British Sociological Association
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Riches, D. (1987). Violence, Peace and War in ‘Early’ Human Society: The Case of the Eskimo. In: Creighton, C., Shaw, M. (eds) The Sociology of War and Peace. Explorations in Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18640-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18640-2_2
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