Ambiguities in Lévi-Strauss’s distinction between mechanical and statistical models

[...]the distinction between mechanical and statistical models can be used to clarify the role of the comparative method in structural studies (Lvi-Strauss 1963a: 287). [...]Wiener's comparison between the natural and social sciences is the source of Lvi-Strauss's distinction between mechanical and statistical models (Ardener 1971a: [...]contrary to the preceding interpretation of Barnes, in which statistical model was defined as referring to a mere representation of distributional patterns, on the basis of this statement it is also possible to conclude that statistical model refers to the uncovering of underlying structural factors, which can account for the empirical distribution of phenomena. [...]according to Lvi-Strauss conscious models are the means by which the anthropologist uncovers the more fundamental unconscious model. [...]Lvi-Strauss talks about unconscious model where the informants themselves do not have a clear picture of or a system of rules about a certain category of phenomena and where the anthropologist himself discovers or constructs these rules through locating them in the unconscious of the people he is studying.9 136 Arie de Ruijter The association of mechanical model with ideal behavior, in other words with (jural) norms and ideas, indirectly also links mechanical model with conscious model.