ABSTRACT
One requirement for a classificatory approach to the analysis of symbolic behavior is the elimination of 'societies' as the units of comparison in favor of the social environments of individuals. This follows from two rather obvious, yet frequently ignored, facts concerning the social and symbolic orders. First, societies do not symbolize - people do. Whenever we treat a society as a single analytic unit, we are quick to ascribe to it a unified, disembodied symbolic order which describes it, justifies it, and prescribes behavioral norms to keep it running smoothly. But the symbolic order exists and articulates with the social order only through the minds and actions of individuals operating for their own purposes within the confines of their own social environments.
