Doctoral Dissertation Research: Cooperation and Segementary Descent Groups in the Beq'aa Valley of Lebanon

在黎巴嫩内战(1975-1990年)造成的政府空白期间，贝卡的部分后裔群体通过向其成员提供人身安全、财政援助、医疗服务和就业机会等福利而获得权力。这创造了群体团结，使群体变得更强大。内战14年后，政府正在重新掌权，但贝卡的后裔群体仍然几乎和战前一样强大，仍然为其成员提供类似的服务，从而为个人带来互惠互利，并对群体保持忠诚。尽管社区成员的反对越来越多，部族成员的成本可能也很高，但成员们还是表达了对他们群体的忠诚。本论文由一位文化人类学家进行的研究项目将研究支持企业后裔群体持续存在的因素，并将它们与促进替代制度的因素进行比较，例如当地社区。该项目采用定量和定性相结合的方法，探索当代中东部分后裔群体中合作行为、忠诚和团结的动态。该项目将阐明这些团体如何通过提供通常由国家提供的公共产品(例如安全)来替代国家，以及这种行动如何产生忠诚度并促进团体成员之间的合作。该项目具有更广泛的影响，涉及社会改革的尝试，这些改革往往主要是由武力推动的，而缺乏相关的当地信息。这项研究将扩大西方对具有强大支系血统群体的社会的了解，以及这些群体为获得权力，有时甚至抵制社会变革而产生的忠诚度。了解世系在组织社会结构和促进合作方面的作用，将有助于规划者和有关非政府组织了解这些农村地区的当地经济进程和经济发展。该项目还促进了一位年轻社会科学家的教育。

During the governmental void created by the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), the segmentary descent groups of the Beq'aa gained power by providing their members with benefits such as physical security, financial assistance, medical services and job opportunities. This created group solidarity which made the groups stronger. Fourteen years after the civil war, the government is reclaiming power, but the descent groups of the Beq'aa continue to be almost as strong as before the war and still provide similar services to their members thus generating mutual benefit to individuals and loyalty to the group. Members express loyalty to their groups despite increasing opposition from community members and the possibly high costs involved in clan membership. This dissertation research project by a cultural anthropologist will study factors supporting the persistence of corporate descent groups, and compare them to factors promoting alternative institutions such as the local community. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, this project explores the dynamics of cooperative behavior, loyalty and solidarity in segmentary descent groups in the contemporary Middle East. The project will shed light on how such groups provide an alternative to the state by providing public goods usually provided by states (e.g., security) and on how such actions engender loyalty and motivate cooperation among group members.This project has broader impacts involving attempts at social reform, which are often driven mostly by force while lacking relevant local information. The research will expand Western knowledge of societies with strong segmentary descent groups and the loyalties these groups engender to gain power and sometimes to resist social change. Understanding the role descent plays in organizing the social structure and promoting cooperation will be helpful to planners and NGOs concerned with understanding local economic processes and economic development in these rural areas. The project also advances the education of a young social scientist.