Introduction to the theme

Abstract

Marshall Sahlins used to say that “every society is made up of houses”, playing with the concept of “society made up of houses”, by C. Lévi-Strauss, contrasting it with the common sense that every society has houses. The reference is (respectfully) playful. The joke indicates just the opposite of what the concept proposes: specifying a type of society in a large narrative. This type would be neither that of elementary structures of kinship nor that of complexes, but the concept of societies with houses would be close to that of semi-complex structures, in which matrimonial prohibitions are multiplied. This “being between” elementary and complex structures is from a logical and not a historical point of view. A great neo-evolutionary narrative can be seen here, although structuralism can be said to be the opposite of this1 and Lévi-Strauss took a stand against this position in an interview with P. Lamaison2. In any case, they are not here in the realm of evolutionary conjectures; on the contrary, the concept of a society of houses requires historical analysis.