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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008
Rumour and gossip have been noted in a wide range of sociological studies as performing significant functions: for the informant and the recipient, and for the relationship between them, as well as for the society in which they live.1 Although many items often appear to be insignificant, they may be part of a complex web of information and speculation which is a vital element in a particular community. Social scientists might be described as ‘scandal mongers’ par excellence since they live professionally off the minutiae of gossip which they manage to gather: they read political memoirs or listen to uninformed discussion and random recollection, because this material may contain important information about social behaviour.
page 329 note 1 See, for example, Gluckman, Max, ‘Gossip and Scandal’, in Current Anthropology (Chicago), 06 1963, pp. 307–15,Google Scholar and Shibutani, T., Improved News – A Sociological Study of Rumour (Indianapolis, 1966).Google Scholar
page 329 note 2 Bettison, D. G., ‘Rumour under Conditions of Charismatic Leadership and Racial Political Tension’, in African Social Research (Manchester), 12 1968, PP. 413–62.Google Scholar