ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the sociological correlates of pastoralism and of the many varieties of pastoralism, perhaps less well established. Corsican and Sardinian shepherds, because of their violent resistance to state control, should perhaps be considered encapsulated rather than incorporated or assimilated. A peasantry is a number of local groups of primary producers that have been incorporated into an agrarian regime controlled by a ruling class with political, military, and ritual power. The conceptualizing of pastoralism only makes sense and is only useful if there are certain elements shared by all pastoralists and if the common elements shape pastoralists' lives in a particular fashion. Pastoralists in preindustrial settings might thus be considered tribal or peasant, depending upon then" political independence or dependence. The Sarakatsani are a population of some 4,000 shepherds living in the mountainous Zagori region of northern Greece, Although Greek-speaking, they are ethnically distinct from the Greek villagers of the region and form an endogamous community.
