The
manners and customs of the Inuit, like their language,
are remarkably uniform despite the widespread diffusion
of the people.
The
family-including the nuclear family, nearby relatives,
and relations by marriage-is the most significant social
unit. In traditional culture, marriages, although sometimes
arranged, are generally open to individual choice.
Monogamy
is the usual pattern, but both polygyny and polyandry
also occur. Marriage, a virtual necessity for physical
survival, is based on strict division of labor.
Husband
and wife retain their own tools, household goods, and
other personal possessions; men build houses, hunt, and
fish, and women cook, dress animal skins, and make clothing.
Food sources such as game and fish are considered community
property. The underlying social law is the obligation
to help one's kin.
Community
ridicule is the most common means of social control; in
extreme cases, after lengthy deliberation, an offender
may be socially ostracized or put to death. With the absence
of any communal legal structure, harming someone from
another group jeopardizes one's own kinship group (which
is held responsible for the offense) and raises the possibility
of a blood feud. Provocative displays of emotion are strongly
disapproved.
Some
groups control conflict by means of wrestling matches
or song duels, in which the angry parties extemporize
insulting songs; the loser might be driven from the community.
Alliances
between non-relatives are formed and maintained through
gift giving and the showing of respect. The highest such
form of gift giving occurs when a head of household offers
the opportunity of a temporary sexual liaison with the
most valued adult woman of his household. The woman maintains
the power to refuse the liaison, in which case respect
will be symbolized through the presentation of a different
gift.
