Eskimo Personality and Society - Yesterday and Today

Abstract

… In modern society the process by which either individual or state interests impinge upon, and eventually dislodge, the family as the prime social unit has reached a very advanced stage. When, therefore, people such as the Eskimo, who have remained geared and accustomed to the protective pluralism of the extended family, are suddenly subjected to such a process, the individual is left insecure, lonely, directionless and meaningless. Eskimos retained in their traditional society in the hostile central Arctic a primordial social organization based on the extended family: e.g., two brothers with their wives and children and perhaps one or two of their parents. … [In this article an attempt is made] … to contrast social structure, prevailing values, attitudes and practices, and the personal roles and functions of family members, in traditional and modern Eskimo society. This form of tabulation is naturally far too generalized and simplified, compressing as it does a living continuum of great dynamic complexity, and with great local variations, into an exaggerated and polarized still-picture. It may nevertheless allow one to see more clearly some of the most important cultural and sociological trends which have had such an impact on the physical, mental and social health of today's Eskimo society. … The only social institution of major importance in Eskimo life - the family - is falling apart, and nothing has yet appeared to take its place. …