ABSTRACT
The lack of tangible data makes it impossible to formulate any theory about the extent to which economic mobility, movement between the strata, was a reality in pre-European days. The transformation in the group substratum of economic relations is thus determined by the same concepts which also determine the transformation of the largest group unit, from community to state. A large cooperative group is capable of utilizing fully the highly diversified agricultural technique of the country, and of spreading cultivation, both locally and with regard to the crops grown, so as to eliminate the risk of a total failure. Every productive organization include in its calculations the factor of risk and insurance against risk. The sharp distinctions of social and economic stratification are visible also in the organization of the dashi. Although the benefits of the dashi embrace every variety of risk and expense, its practice is limited to the professions which depend on regular money earnings and money investments.
