ANTH 100A Lecture Notes - Lecture 29: Lesley Sharp, Gamete, Organ Transplantation
Document Summary
Property and social status are transmitted through descent/inheritance systems. Individual claim ties to a broad network of kin. Establishes a kinship with clearly define boundaries. Advantageous in societies where property is held in common by an extended family. Cross- cultural studies show that societies differ markedly in how they group or distinguish relatives. Kinship terms are very resistant to change. Study of increasingly widespread use of biomedical and surgical techniques that see the transplantation. Transplant medicine puts sever demand on modern conception of the body, the person and the meaning of kin, of life, and death. Organ sharing that envisions the body as a gift. Spread of new medical technologies ad the subsequent demand for new commodities means a new form of social exchange has risen which breaches the traditional dichotomy between gifts and commodities and between kin and strangers.
