ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, a distinction was made between different types of social relations on
the basis of the ways in which they institutionalise co-operative human action. For example,
domestic relations institutionalise co-operation through a labour process which has characteristic
forms of exploitation and assignations of moral obligation. Similarly, neighbourly relations
institutionalise co-operation through reciprocity of a specific type, and since these relations
are non-exploitative they could be regarded as a model to be followed and promoted. Both
domestic and neighbourly or informal group relations, however, can and do develop into more
formal arrangements where reciprocal interaction is direct and/or guaranteed. Arrangements
of this kind are called contractual arrangements. For example, within domestic relations, the
marriage contract has developed historically, originally as a way of securing a man’s ‘ownership’
of his wife (or wives) (Pateman 1988). Within community relations, contractual arrangements
develop typically in order to secure the effective delivery of community services, and to
establish a degree of community ‘ownership’ over communal facilities and assets. The whole
point of contracts is that they are legally binding on the contracting parties: entry into the
contractual relationship is voluntary, but once entered into the parties accept certain obligations
to each other. It is this ‘rule of law’ which makes possible substantive and non-ritualistic social
relations that go beyond the purely personal relations of home and community.
