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organization.15 He first distinguishes between "local lineage" and "higher-order lineage". "What defines the whole class of local lineages... is that they are corporate groups of agnates living in one settlement or a tight cluster of settlements." Larger aggregations are also possible: "a local lineage may be grouped with other local lineages of the same surname... the whole unit in turn being focused on an ancestral hall or other piece of property. For this larger scale group... I propose the term 'higher-order lineage'.
Freedman then considers Amyot's data on lineage organization in Fukien province. Amyot draws attention to the significance of the hsiang for lineage organization.16 A hsiang may be “either a complex of villages or hamlets forming some kind of unity, or again, the largest village of this complex from which the latter derives its name. It is usually a market center
20 Amyot argues that “lineage organization is constantly associated with a specific district or hsiang of relatively small dimensions. Members of lineage sub-branches "do not have the same kinds of interrelationship across spatially separated sub-branches as they have within the limits of one territory or between contiguous territories." In Freedman's view, what he has termed "higher-order lineages” are "likely to be confined to the small areas formed by hsiang.22
Freedman notes that Skinner has used Amyot's data to support his suggestion that the standard marketing area—the hsiang of Amyot's analysis---constitutes the "catchment area" of the higher-order lineage. He concludes: "it may well turn out... that in fact vicinage and standard marketing area are usually congruent and that they provide us with the key to understanding how local lineages are normally grouped together."23 The large, gentry-led, higher-order lineages of southern Hsin-an appear to be an exception. Their component local lineages were widely separated and were not encompassed within a single standard marketing area. Freedman suggests that, in these instances, the intermediate market town may have provided that linkage necessary for higher-order lineage organization.24
This summary, though it does less than justice to the work of Professors Freedman and Skinner, may suffice to indicate two convergent lines of analysis one concerned with lineage organi-
MILITIA, MARKET AND LINEAGE
35
organization.15 He first distinguishes between "local lineage" and "higher-order lineage". "What defines the whole class of local lineages... is that they are corporate groups of agnates living in one settlement or a tight cluster of settlements." Larger aggregations are also possible: "a local lineage may be grouped with other local lineages of the same surname... the whole unit in turn being focused on an ancestral hall or other piece of pro- perty. For this larger scale group . . . I propose the term 'higher- order lineage'.
דודי
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Freedman then considers Amyot's data on lineage organization in Fukien province. Amyot draws attention to the significance of the hsiang for lineage organization." A hsiang may be “either a complex of villages or hamlets forming some kind of unity, or again, the largest village of this complex from which the latter derives its name. It is usually a market center
**20 Amyot argues that “lineage organization is constantly associated with a specific district or hsiang of relatively small dimensions. Members of lineage sub-branches "do not have the same kinds of interrelationship across spatially separated sub-branches as they have within the limits of one territory or between contiguous territories." In Freedman's view, what he has termed "higher- order lineages” are "likely to be confined to the small areas formed by hsiang.
**22
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Freedman notes that Skinner has used Amyot's data to sup- port his suggestion that the standard marketing area— the hsiang of Amyot's analysis --- constitutes the "catchment area" of the higher-order lineage. He concludes: "it may well turn out ... that in fact vicinage and standard marketing area are usually congruent and that they provide us with the key to understanding how local lineages are normally grouped together."23 The large, gentry-led, higher-order lineages of southern Hsin-an appear to be an exception. Their component local lineages were widely separated and were not encompassed within a single standard marketing area. Freedman suggests that, in these instances, the intermediate market town may have provided that linkage neces- sary for higher-order lineage organization.24
This summary, though it does less than justice to the work of Professors Freedman and Skinner, may suffice to indicate two convergent lines of analysis one concerned with lineage organi-
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