Hunter Gatherers – Urueu Wau-Wau Tribe of Brazil

Hunter Gatherer Society – direct acquisition of edible plants, animals from the wild, and 2)
foraging and hunting without significant recourse to the domestication of either.

Social Exchange Theory – Men and women and Urueu Wau-Wau tribe have
negotiated roles according to what is necessary for survival.

Male Role is to hunt for live food, sometimes for days at a time; Female Role is to
gather food in surrounding forest, prepare food, maintain home and care for children

Family Life Cycle Theory - non-traditional “family”. Strict monogamy is not enforced among
couples. Couples procreate for survival of community (more members = more
hunters/gatherers). As a family unit, they pass through similar developmental stages with
marriage, child birth; but child is not likely to leave village when he/she leaves family to form
their own.

Systems – sociological

The “Family system” in this tribe is complex. In a sense, the whole community might be
considered extended family, because children are raised and socialized by all members of
community.

The System: elders are agents of socialization because they define and teach
community members the roles of men, women and children.

Values – they value cooperative living and roles within community (men hunt and
women gather as a WHOLE community for subsistence); they value/have respect for
nature and rainforest environment; they value community rituals; value social status
(marked by haircuts, tattoos, makeup); they value separation from industrialized society.

Structural Functionalism

The hunter – gatherer society has simplistic structure that relies heavily on the “family”
as an institution for survival.

Norms – men and women tend to form couples, but it would be abnormal for a man in
this society to choose not to reproduce. It would also be abnormal for man to stay in
village (unless elder) during hunting expeditions. If a woman were to hunt instead of
gather this would also be considered abnormal.

The children experience a rite of passage when they are old enough to perform
traditional roles according to their gender. Their gender specific function within society
is taught at an early age. Adolescence as North Americans understand it, does not
exist in the tribe because the community cannot afford to have its members lazing about
on their cell phones and playing Farmville on Facebook.