Plural Society Theory
PLURALISM AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
M. G. SMITH
Barrow, Christine. Reddock, Rhoda. Caribbean Sociology: Introductory
Readings. Ian Randle Publishers Ltd. Jamaica (2001)
Plural Society – A Definition
 “A
society in which people mix but do
not combine.” Each holds its own
culture and language, its own ideas
and ways. As individuals, they meet,
but only in the marketplace; in buying
and selling. Even in the economic
sphere, there is a division of labour.
(Smith, 1965)
Plural Society Theory Explained

J.S. Furnivall who first used the concept of Plural Society
in 1910 in an article in The Economic Journal and then in
his book Colonial Policy and Practices: A Comparative
Study of Burma and Netherlands India.

Furnivall argued that the free play of economic forces in
tropical countries colonised by Western Powers had
resulted in Peoples being thrown together only for
economic reasons. In these artificial multi-cultural
societies there was no common ethical standards, no
common values and no common culture. People met “only
at the marketplace.” The result was societies kept in
place only by the superior force of the colonial power.
Plural Society Theory Explained (ctd.)

M.G. Smith, in applying PST to the Caribbean, was convinced that the
dominant sociological theory which posited harmony and common
values was neither applicable nor relevant to the former slave
societies of the Caribbean as these societies were deeply divided.

Smith uses “culture” to mean social institutions, i.e. the family,
religion, education, language, law and regulations. These, he argued,
in a Plural Society differed between ethnic groups — Smith preferred
the term segments. Since it was through these social institutions that
“harmony” was constructed and maintained, their separation in Plural
societies was linked to continuing conflict.

Rather than “harmony” and “stability,” Plural societies were always
given to conflict and were always unstable.
Case Study

MG Smith tested his hypothesis in the study of the Hausa
of Northern Nigeria. The Hausas are Muslim. Smith had
therefore eliminated “Western” or “Christian” as the
primary explanation of any conflict. The Hausa society
was however a slave society where the slaves were also
Muslim. Smith discovered that there was the same sharp
divisions, the same differences in social institutions, and
the same struggle between groups for Political Power, that
he had seen in the Caribbean. He would afterwards
consider as Plural Societies, Cyprus, Northern Ireland,
South Africa, Zimbabwe, Algeria, India and feudal
Medieval Europe, to name only a few Plural Societies.
Modified Plural Society Theory

It was not differences in culture per se which was
the cause of the conflict and the instability in
Plural Societies. It was differences in the
integration of different groups — M.G. Smith used
the word incorporation — into the society. This
difference was in reality the allocation of unequal
and differing rights to particular groups. It was
this inequality which favoured separation and the
maintenance of differing cultural institutions.
A Way Forward?

M.G. Smith recognized that most of the laws
needed to dissolve the pluralism in a plural
society may be on the statute books. They are
simply never enforced. He has this warning for us,
“... unless these laws are scrupulously enforced,
they merely signalise that pluralism persists in the
public sphere under covert or overt pressure.”
Criticisms to Plural Society Theory

Braithwaite (1960) attempts to redefine a plural society as “one
composed of such varying groups, each with its own subculture, that
only a few cultural symbols are shared by all.”

He criticizes Smith’s theory in the following ways:
1.
That every society is ‘pluralistic’ and that there exists no
‘homogeneous’ society.
2.
That plural societies are not always unstable. They may possess a
‘rich cultural variation’ within a ‘highly unified national society’.
3.
That societies should not be defined in cultural terms. Rather, that
they should be defined according to shared values. Specifically,
universal achievement values as opposed to particularisticascriptive values. He argues that universal achievement values is
what holds society together.
Other Criticisms

Craig (1981) criticized Smith’s theory for its
inability to explain social change, especially
cultural change.

Stone (1973) conducted research in Jamaica,
concluded that the differences in society are not
as a result to cultural differences, but rather due
to the differences in income and resources. In the
research, respondents saw themselves as
belonging to ‘classes’ and not to ‘cultural
sections’.