Loizos, Peter
(1972)
Social organization and political change in a Cypriot village.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
This thesis is concerned with the way that modern political change affects social relationships in a prosperous predominantly Greek-Cypriot village. The first chapter traces the main social, political, demographic and economic
changes to have affected the village in this century. The
second chapter considers in detail the importance of landholdings, of supplementary occupations, and of status
distinctions derived from education and work in the villagers' system of social evaluation. Chapter 3, in considering kinship and affinity as institutional constraints on the conduct of individuals, also stresses one prize of success in the village arena - the desirability of one's children as marriage partners. The fourth chapter is concerned with other types of social relations which constrain men, in particular fictive kinship, friendship and membership in the village itself (which is defined in a number of ways); this leads directly to the description of the village as a solidary community.
Chapter 5 analyses the leadership opportunities provided by administrative office in the village, and considers how far power is achieved and diffused in other ways. Chapter 6 examined the scope of politics in the village, particularly
the meaning of the opposition between left and right wing
supporters, as well as the benefits of political alignment.
The seventh chapter is a brief survey of politics leading up
to Independence in 1959-60, and a slightly fuller discussion
of the events of the last decade. Chapters 8 to 11 are all concerned with the detailed description and analysis of the most important political processes to affect the village since Independence. A number of internal disputes are the subject of chapter 85 in chapter 9 the village, in alliance with neighbouring villages, struggles to get government to start building a dam; in chapter 10 the administration of an agricultural cooperative shows prominent villagers in action, while chapter 11 concerns the first important elections to have taken place in the island for ten years, as they were seen to affect the village. In the final chapter I assess the introduction of new political resources into village politics, and the various ways in which some measure of control over political conflict is maintained.
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