Three organising principles

Social stratification in the Akhdar region today is compounded of a ‘traditional’ system in which membership of social groups is by ascription; and a system of social relations organised by the market, in which birth status has little relevance, and social mobility is feasible. The extent to which market forces affect different sectors of the population and pervade different areas of social life tends to determine whether the ascriptive or market principle of social alignment predominates. The fact that women, and their sphere of activity, are only marginally related to the market has important implications for this thesis.

To attempt to describe stratification in the region in terms of a single series of hierarchically arranged strata would be a gross misrepresentation. I treat stratification as having several dimensions corresponding to different principles of social organisation. Here I discuss those which operate in the absence of a market economy and to which individuals are aligned by ascription. I will consider what changes have been brought about, since pre-Protectorate times, in the system of estates of shurfa, Berbers, Arabs, and haratn; and the tribal system of segmentary groups, strictly speaking vertical sections, within which peasants exercise economic rights by virtue of their membership of a (putative) agnatic community.

Finally, I will attempt to assess how French penetration and modern developments have affected the relative importance of estate, segmentary and market principles of social organisation.

The estate system today

Shurfa. They are the putative descendants of the Prophet.