ABSTRACT
This chapter describes as a contribution to the analysis of public opinion as a force of social control. A more dramatic case of the same general type indicates still more clearly the emollient and restraining influence of public opinion. The relevant principles of the Tikopia social organization may be briefly recapitulated. The major forces of social control are provided by the kinship organization - with which the religious organization is largely coincident - reinforcing authority to a considerable extent with ritual sanctions. The set of data concerns the structure of authority. In the ordinary everyday affairs of the Tikopia clan the ultimate decisive role is played by the chief. In ordinary quarrels of individuals about property or in family affairs the chief exercises no authority. Each of the mara is subject to the authority of a chief, who names the day when it shall be broken up for cultivation.
