Social formations analysis: Modes, class, gender, and the multiple contexts for agency

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2017

Department/School

Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology

Publication Title

Modes of production and archaeology

Abstract

Gender relations and human agency are central to today’s dominant archaeological thought on social change. This chapter argues that Marxist analyses are appropriate for characterizing both class and gender relationships: the structural contexts for agency. However, the routine interpretation of a single mode of production for a group or population suggests only one type of social relation of production with only one social contradiction, which glosses over what are arguably more complex class and/or gender dynamics. Therefore, a social formations perspective is advocated whereby archaeologists can interpret multiple articulating modes or forms of production that create multiple contradictions and contexts structuring the possibilities for agency. In a case study on the prehispanic Chontal Maya, the framework identifies diverse contradictions within and among classes and genders in a tributary social formation having articulating forms of tributary and kinship modes. In another case study on the early Hohokam, the analysis leads to inferences on multiple age and gender contradictions within a social formation comprising articulating forms of the kinship mode, which suggests gendered agency altered relationships over time. The interpretations illustrate the framework’s capacity to identify multiple contexts for negotiating contradictions that better characterize the dynamic, complex lives of past peoples.

Comments

B. E. Ensor is a faculty member in EMU's Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology.

Link to Full Text

EMU Library Accessibility Request

Share

COinS