publicly according to a more or less generally accepted scale (Stirling, 1953).
I have avoided the terms `stratification' and `social class'. In Sakaltutan people occupying similar positions on the prestige scale do not associate more with each other than with people below or above them, nor do they develop common interests or common customs to set them apart. Thus it is incorrect to speak of classes or strata In Elbashï one or two of the village leaders did tend to set themselves apart from and above the rest of the village and adopt elements of urban middle-class culture which their neighbours totally lacked. But this development had not gone far enough to justify speaking of a separate social class or stratum.
The grounds on which people rank each other are numerous and varied, and the order varies with the context. It is theoretically possible to construct a series of different scales in different contexts: one for religious observance, one for neighbourly cooperation, one for honour, one for landholding, one for agricultural skill, one for overall income, one for generosity, and so on. I have grouped these different scales more or less arbitrarily into three sets.
To put the same idea in different words: a man's position in the overall ranking system is determined by an indefinite number of factors, which I have for descriptive convenience divided into three main groups. One group comprises age and the position of a man in his own household, lineage, and kinship network; the second comprises landholding, occupation, income and patterns of spending; and the third, piety, religious learning, and moral respectability.
This list omits two factors commonly important in ranking in other societies - nobility of birth, and the holding of formal office. Let me explain. I am always tempted to describe village society as egalitarian; this is perhaps misleading, but at least people are not respected for their ancestry. Young members of respectable households obviously inherit village respect. But there is no notion that belonging to one line rather than another confers inherent superiority. This is rather what I would call a
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