| Chapter 1: | Myth and Theory |
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Neostructuralism is a powerful tool for comparative analysis, which I believe can ultimately be of great significance for our understanding of the organisational principles that lie behind medieval Welsh social systems, for medieval Wales was not a bounded entity but existed within a widespread, sophisticated political and economic overarching system. However, although I am always aware of the wider system and often make reference to such relations, I have decided to follow Hugh-Jones (1979) and Mosko (1985) in restricting my analysis to one linguistically definable group. It is my belief that a steady procedure of detailed analysis, one group (or subgroup) at a time, is the only way to extrapolate the kind of reliable data that will eventually inform a true comparative understanding.