Elite Groups in Peasant Communities: A Comparison of Three Middle Eastern Villages

This paper explores various factors that influence the rigidity of stratification in three Middle Eastern village communities. Analyses of a Lebanese community and a Turkish community have suggested eight factors that influence, both positively and negatively, the rigidity of stratification. These factors concern (1) symbol systems of elite unity, (2) religious legitimation, (3) norms of recruitment to elite status, (4) education and literacy, (5) elite endogamy, (6) inheritance patterns, (7) effects of prestige on participation in agricultural labor, and (8) control of administrative positions. A community of Tripolitanian immigrants in Israel is examined in the light of these factors. This comparison suggests yet another factor, viz., the degree of elite orientation to the outside world as compared to the nonelite. This factor is crucial in understanding the intergenerational perpetuation of elite status in the Israeli community.