Talk by Max Gluckman
Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Manchester
An analysis of the function of gossip and scandal, from sources including Jane Austen and Dr. Colson's study of the Makah Indians, enables the speaker to assert ' with,' he says, ' more assurance than I gain from my personal experience ' that gossip is always far from idle. He suggests that it is a crucial part of social living and offers a guide to its elaborate techniques for the better regulation of society.