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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

Kingdom of Tonga, unwritten order, informal laws, social class, Tongan communities

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Anthropology

Abstract

In this paper I will address the unwritten order that exists in the highly stratified society of the Kingdom of Tonga. The relationship between power and rank in Tonga has created informal laws that govern the people. These informal laws, as well as a struggle for power, have created a division between the elite class and the powerless class, and this division is generating an uprising of the powerless class. I argue that the powerless class may win independent battles against the informal laws, however they will not defeat it completely, as this system has proven to be a testing ground that has held Tongan communities together for several generations.

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