In the anthropological literature on Jamaica, one can find scattered
references to thj2e incidence of begging in urban low-income communities.
However, few of these studies have sought to apprehend if begging among
the urban poor in Jamaica has a specific logic of its own. I suggest that
begging in Jamaican urban low-income communities should not be
confused with more conventional forms of begging, but is in fact a distinct
type of coping strategy of the poor. Begging in Jamaican urban low-income

A number of theories have been put forward to explain the existence of the

matrifocal family in Jamaica. One of the most widely accepted is that it is

the result of changes wrought by the plantation system. One searches in

vain, however, to uncover any similar attempt to explain the development

of the prestige system of working-class men. Rather than follow the

conventional anthropological approach, which has been to document how

pervasive male peer groups are in the English-speaking Caribbean, I