KEEPING PEOPLE ON THE PERIPHERY - THE IDEOLOGY OF SOCIAL HIERARCHIES BETWEEN HUNTERS AND HERDERS

Social hierarchies comprise different levels of consciousness, each of which is mediated by the other. The social condition of low status, w hile ideologically ''fixed,'' exists only with reference to those abov e, so neither is independent from the other. Between ethnic groups, es pecially across the mode of production divide, such as hunters and her ders, hunters are often on the periphery of herding society. if they a ccept the ''coin'' of pastoralism, i.e. become clients, not only do th ey serve important functions necessary for the success of pastoral lif e, but they ideologically accept their position as dependent. Taking e xamples from Africa and Arabia, this paper attempts to show the almost universal condition of the marginalization of non-stock holders on th e periphery of herding society and suggests that the same conditions w ould have been manifest in the prehistoric period, (C) 1998 Academic P ress.