This dissertation research project will allow a cultural anthropology graduate student to study the changing social status of settled Bedouin families through evaluating the importance of networks of gossip and women's personal networks. The methods used will be participant observation and life history analysis. The specific hypothesis to be examined is that the settlement of this previously nomadic society has limited the opportunities for informal information exchange through gossip, and that this has affected the social stratification of the community by hardening previously fluid social categories. This research is important because informal networks of information and gossip are important vehicles of social control and social interaction in small-scale, non-mechanized societies. The insights generated from this study in this sort of society can be generalized to other face-to-face groups, and can help explain patterns of social stratification.
