Social historians and historians of jurisprudence have, on occasion, drawn attention to the close resemblances between Anglo-Saxon society at the time when it is said to have been dominated by kinship relationships and the large kingdom states in Africa. The truth of the matter is not so easily come by, however, since the content of pre-medieval social relationships linking persons of different station was inadequately recorded by early writers. The faulty character of early records becomes evident in the area of jurisprudence, especially whenever attempts are made to assess the extent to which kinbased social relationships invaded the legal principles in Anglo-Saxon society in matters of dispute and settlement. This notwithstanding, it seems an instructive sociological task to reconsider comparatively with African state societies, wherever possible, certain of those legal ideas that allegedly formed the basis for judicial decision-making in early English courts before the introduction of trial by jury. The interpretation of these early ideas, set against the background of rights, duties, and obligations that obtained between persons of set status, should define more clearly than before whatever general agreement exists between these legal principles and those that obtain in African state societies. A more ambitious treatment of the subject than is attempted in this essay would extend beyond Anglo-Saxon society. But, because of the faulty character of early records, I limit this literary exercise to the period before William the Conqueror crossed the Channel.

Rappelons trés brièvement les faits. Le 18 novembre 1978, au moment de quitter dans deux avions la piste de Port Kaituma en Guyana, un Representant americain, Leo Ryan, est tue par balles, avec quatre personnes qui l'accompagnaient; six autres sont blessees. Les meurtriers sont des membres d'une commune agricole installee en 1973 á quelque distance, en pleine jungle, par un Révérend James Jones et appelée Jonéstown. Ryan y etait venu pour se faire uné idee personnelle sur les rumeurs qui couraient aux États-Unis, tendant á présenter la commune comme un camp de concentration, oú les membres étaient retenus de force pour y subir les pires traitements. Des parents avaient eu recours a lui, certains l'accompagnaient en Guyana, pour essayer de ramener les leurs au foyer. La visite-inspection s'était passée correctement, sauf au moment du départ, ou Ryan avait failli être égorgé par un disciple! II remmenait une quinzaine de personnes décidées á rentrer aux fitats-Unis. L'attentat se produisit vers 16 h. Le même jour á 17 h, á Jonestown meme, Jones réunit toute la communauté et lui déclara que le moment etait venu de mourir tous ensemble dans un «suicide revolutionnaire». II fit préparer, par le médecin du camp, un breuvageoú se mêlaient une sorte de limonade, du cyanure, des tranquillisants et des analgésiques. On fait la queue pour en boire, les mamans en administrent a leurs bebes, on met environ cinq minutes pour mourir.

Anthropologists typically adopt the assumption of psychic unity: man universally exhibits the same fundamental cognitive processes. Hence, any apparent heterogeneity in collective representations may not be explained by psychological postulates. On the basis of recent cross-cultural studies of cognitive processes, we move beyond this standard anthropological assumption, arguing that there is cultural variability in the mode of thinking which is elaborated in specific conceptual domains. We shall also reject, however, the traditional alternatives to the assumption of psychic unity: the hypothesis that there is a pervasive mode of primitive thought or that in the course of history the intellect has marched through general stages of thinking.

In every stratified society there are groups of people, mainly from the lower strata, who aspire to rise in social status. In order to realize their aspirations they adopt various means: some change their occupation for one carrying more prestige; some give their children a good education and try to place them in positions superior to their own; some emulate the behaviour and style of life of those whose higher status they aspire to reach; some try to gain admittance to the social circles mostly frequented by high-status people; some change their residence and some surround themselves with status symbols hoping that they will influence the ‘raters’ appraising them. For this process which goes on among various low-caste groups in India, Srinivas, an Indian sociologist, coined a separate term, ‘sanskritization’. With the opening of the doors by many under-developed societies for the introduction of modern technology and industrialization, status seeking has become one of the preoccupations of millions of people.

Die wissenschaftstheoretische Interpretation von Wissenschaft war lange dadurch charakterisiert, daß wissenschaftliche Entwicklung sich zwar in der Zeit, aber nicht in der Geschichte abspielte. Wissenschaftliche Objekterkenntnis ist — diesem Bild gemäß — auf die langwierige Forschungsarbeit verwiesen, die sich dem Wissenschaftsziel, wahre und umfassende Erkenntnis, muhsam annahert; der Zeithorizont wird in dem Bekenntnis, «that we stand on the shouldeis of giants» gewürdigt. Auch der forschungslogische und methodologische Apparat der Wissenschaft ist im Verlaufe wissenschaftlicher Entwicklung nicht der gleiche geblieben. Aber dennoch wurde die Frage, ob Wissenschaft eine Geschichte hat, nicht zum Thema der Wissenschaftstheorie gemacht.

Class structure in Italian society presents some important specific characteristics in relation to other ‘advanced’ capitalist countries. I shall deal with these specific characteristics especially, using statistical and descriptive material which has only recently become available, following on new research and studies in this field. Then, as a conclusion to this paper, I shall deal with the problem of interpreting these specific characteristics, asking particularly whether they should be put down to the ‘backwardness’ (or insufficient development) of Italian capitalism, or, whether we should rather see them as the expression of the Italian economy's ‘peripheral’ position inside the Western capitalist system.

The power and prestige of the Persian religious élite, the ‘ulamā’, during the Qājār period (1795–1926), and their political importance, in contrast to the relative political feebleness of the ‘ulamā’ of Sunni Islam in modern times, has attracted the attention of students of Persian history and politics.