Social Indicators in Native Village Alaska1

• Published in: Human Organization
• Main Authors: Jorgensen, Joseph, Mccleary, Richard, Mcnabb, Steven
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Informa UK Limited 1985
• Subjects: General Social Sciences; Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); Anthropology; Arctic; Subarctic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.17730/humo.44.1.61r44v7782262307; http://meridian.allenpress.com/human-organization/article-pdf/44/1/2/1724011/humo_44_1_61r44v7782262307.pdf

Social indicators-constructs to assess, and to measure changes to socio-economic conditions of life for contemporary societies-are analyzed for eight Aleutian and northwestern Alaskan villages whose native residents derive their sustenance from hunting, gathering, and fishing. Because of federal, state, and oil corporation actions, these villages and others like them are changing rapidly and dramatically. The analysis proposes a structure for the changes that are occurring, and measurable factors that will "indicate" future changes. Two competing models to explain social change are evaluated-"Western Industrial" and "Underdevelopment"-although both are modified to account for the Alaskan arctic and subarctic and the importance of subsistence economies in those areas. The method employed, commonly referred to as "triangulation," comprises several methodologies, several research designs, and several data sets: autoregressive time series analysis of archival data, multivariate analysis of protocol (interview) data, and contextual and anecdotal analysis of ethnographic observations. Each method has strengths and weaknesses with the strengths of one helping to compensate for the weaknesses of another. Conclusions drawn from the analyses of these several data sets allow us to posit a set of indicators while offering several concluding hypotheses throughout our exposition. Among our conclusions is that if naturally-occurring species on which village life depends are so disrupted by man-made or man-influenced events that they cannot sustain native subsistence and commercial pursuits, the underdevelopment model, shaped to accommodate the uniqueness of the arctic, will be fulfilled. The concluding hypotheses can be tested for validity in restudies, a monitoring system is implied, and a forecasting methodology to assess impacts is suggested. Thus, the study represents a new methodology for social impact assessments (SIA).