Does Complementary Opposition Exist?

Abstract

Uncritical application of lineage theory can obscure the complex reality of political organization and process in segmentary societies. However, the argument that lineage theory is a folk ideology with no basis in behavioral reality seems unsupportable in the light of comparative and historical evidence which indicates that short‐term and long‐term territorial stability or instability are operative factors in the symbolic and behavioral significance of lineage organization . [segmentary lineage systems, complementary opposition, ideology, political alliance, ecology]