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POLITICAL SYSTEMS
ANTHROPOLOGY: CHAPTER 17
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: CHAPTER 9
PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND ARCHAEOLOGY: NOT PRESENT
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
1.
Know the four basic types of political systems and the social and cultural features that
are correlated with each type.
2.
Be familiar with the defining features of foraging bands, in particular how conflicts are
resolved and the roles that the nuclear family and the band play.
3.
Understand the defining features of tribes. In particular, you must be able to distinguish
between the different kinds of tribal leaders.
4.
Know the kinds of integrating forces that are found in tribes. Specifically, you must be
familiar with pantribal sodalities and age grades.
5.
Be able to identify the defining features of chiefdoms. In particular, you should be
familiar with the political and economic systems that are found in chiefdoms. You must
also know what social status in chiefdoms is based on and how this is different from
social status in states.
6.
You need to know the defining features of states.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Introduction
A. Politics
1. Power is the ability to exercise one’s will over others.
2. Authority is the socially approved use of power.
3. In 1962, Elman Service developed a typology of political organizations.
a. Bands are small kin-based groups found among foragers.
b. Tribes are associated with nonintensive food production and have villages and/or
descent groups, but lack formal government and social classes.
c. The chiefdom is a form of sociopolitical organization that is intermediate between
the tribe and the state, still kin-based, but characterized by a permanent political
structure with some degree of differential access to resources and a political
structure.
d. The state is characterized by formal government and social classes.
4. In bands and tribes, the political order (polity) is not a distinct institution, but is
embedded in the overall social order.
5. Because of this embeddedness, Kottak prefers to speak of sociopolitical (rather than
simply political) organization in discussing cross-cultural similarities and differences
in the regulation or management of interrelations among groups and their
representatives.
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B. Types and Trends
1. There are many correlations between economy and sociopolitical organization (see
figure 17.2).
a. Foragers tend to have band organization.
b. Horticulturalists and pastoralists tend to have tribal organization.
c. Agriculturalists tend to have either chiefdom-level or state-level organization.
2. In general, as the economy becomes more productive, population size increases
leading to greater regulatory problems, which give rise to more complex social
relations and linkages (greater social and political complexity).
II. Bands and Tribes
A. The Forager Debate
1. In anthropology there is a debate between traditionalists and revisionists over the
nature and state of foragers in the modern world.
a. Traditionalists, including Richard Lee, argue that foragers like the San of the
Kalahari are autonomous foragers with a unique cultural identity.
b. Revisionists, including Edwin Wilmsen, argue that the San are not isolated
foragers but are deeply integrated into the food-producing communities in the area
and as a result tell us very little about the foraging societies before the emergence
of agriculture.
2. Both sides are correct in that modern foragers are not living relics of the Stone Age,
but to the extent that they base their subsistence strategies on foraging, they do
provide important data regarding that way of life.
B. Foraging Bands
1. In foraging societies the only two social groups that are significant are the nuclear
family and the band.
a. Membership in these groups is fluid and can change from year to year.
b. Kin networks, both real and fictive, are created and maintained through marriage,
trade, and visiting.
2. Foraging bands are egalitarian, in that all differences in status are achieved.
3. Foragers lack formal law as conflict resolution is embedded in kinship and social ties
(e.g., blood feuds).
4. Prestige refers to esteem, respect, or approval for culturally valued acts or qualities.
C. Tribal Cultivators
1. Tribes usually have a horticultural or pastoral economy and are organized by village
life and/or descent-group membership.
2. Social classes and formal government are not found in tribes.
3. Small-scale warfare or intervillage raiding is commonly found in tribes.
4. The main regulatory officials are village heads, "big men," descent-group leaders,
village councils, and leaders of pantribal associations.
a. The officials have limited authority.
b. They lead through persuasion and by example, not through coercion.
5. Like foragers, tribes are egalitarian.
a. Tribes often have marked gender stratification.
b. Status in tribes is based on age, gender, and personal traits and abilities.
6. Horticulturalists are egalitarian and tend to live in small villages with low population
density.
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D. The Village Head
1. The Yanomami are used as an example of a society with a village head.
2. The position of village head is achieved and comes with very limited authority.
a. He cannot force or coerce people to do things.
b. He can only persuade, harangue, and try to influence people to do things.
3. The village head acts as a mediator in disputes, but he has no authority to back his
decision or impose punishments.
4. The village head must lead in generosity.
a. He must be more generous, which means he must cultivate more land.
b. He hosts feasts for other villages.
5. In the last decade, particularly, the Yanomami have suffered greatly from violence
and disease, both of which have come from the encroaching mining and ranching
industries of Brazil.
E. The “Big Man”
1. A big man is like a village head, except that his authority is regional in that he may
have influence over more than one village.
2. The big man is common to the South Pacific.
3. Among the Kapauku, the big man is the only political figure beyond the household.
a. The position is achieved through generosity, eloquence, bravery, physical fitness,
and supernatural powers.
b. His decisions are binding among his followers.
c. He is an important regulator of regional events (e.g., feasts and markets).
4. In order to be a tribal leader, a big man, or village head, a person must be generous.
a. They must work hard to create a surplus to give away.
b. This surplus is converted into prestige.
5. The big man is a temporary regional regulator who can mobilize supporters from
several villages for produce and labor on specific occasions.
F. Pantribal Sodalities and Age Grades
1. Sodalities are non-kin-based organizations that may generate cross-societal linkages.
a. They are often based on common age or gender.
b. Some sodalities are confined to a single village.
c. Some sodalities span several villages; these are called pantribal sodalities.
2. Pantribal sodalities tend to be found in areas where two or more different cultures
come into regular contact.
a. Especially in situations where warfare is frequent.
b. Since pantribal sodalities draw their members from several villages, they can
mobilize a large number of men for raids.
3. Pressure from European contact created conditions which promoted pantribal
sodalities (age sets are one example) among the groups of the North American Great
Plains of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
4. Age sets are sodalities that include all of the men born during a certain time span.
a. Similar to a cohort of class of students, like the class of 2004.
b. Members of an age set progress through a series of age grades together (e.g.,
initiated youth, warrior, adult, elder, or in American universities: freshmen,
sophomore, junior, senior, graduate).
5. Secret societies are sodalities with secret initiation ceremonies.
6. Sodalities create nonkin linkages between people based on age, gender, and ritual and
create a sense of ethnic identity and belonging to the same cultural tradition.
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G. Beyond the Classroom: Perspectives on Group Membership
1. Abigail Dreibelbis researched the needs and desires for belonging and affiliation on
her college campus.
2. Using survey information collected from sorority and nonsorority members,
Dreibelbis found that certain behaviors correlated with membership and
nonmembership in sororities.
a. Individuals who belonged to sororities tended to have a history of belonging to
formal organizations (student government) and generally placed a higher value on
social involvement and acceptance for security and identity.
b. Nonmembers or independents tended to emphasize more aesthetic, personal
activities.
H. Nomadic Politics
1. Nomads must interact with a variety of groups, unlike most sedentary societies.
2. Powerful chiefs are commonly found in nomadic groups that have large populations
(e.g., the Basseri and the Qashqai of southern Iran).
3. The Basseri have a smaller population and their chief, khan, is similar to a village
head or big man.
a. The position is achieved.
b. Allegiances are with the person, not the office.
4. The larger Qashqai have multiple levels of authority and more powerful chiefs.
a. Their authority can be more coercive.
b. Allegiances are with the office, not the person.
III. Chiefdoms
A. Chiefdoms and States
1. Chiefdoms are a transitional form of sociopolitical organization between tribes and
states.
2. Carneiro (1970) defines the state as “an autonomous political unit encompassing
many communities within its territory, having a centralized government with the
power to collect taxes, draft men for work or war, and decree and enforce laws."
a. Archaic or nonindustrial states
b. Industrial or modern states
B. Political and Economic Systems in Chiefdoms
1. Unlike band and tribal political systems, chiefdoms and states are permanent: their
offices outlast the individuals who occupy them.
2. An office is a permanent position of authority that exists independently of the person
who occupies it.
a. It must be refilled when it is vacated.
b. Offices ensure that the sociopolitical organization endures across generations.
3. Chiefs play an important role in the production, distribution, and consumption of
resources.
a. Chiefs collect foodstuffs as tribute (upward movement).
b. Chiefs later redistribute these collected foodstuffs at feasts (downward movement).
C. Social Status in Chiefdoms
1. In chiefdoms, social status is based on seniority of descent.
2. All of the people in a chiefdom are believed to have descended from a group of
common ancestors.
a. The closer you and your lineage are related to those founding ancestors, the greater
your prestige.
b. In chiefdoms, there is a continuum of prestige with the chief at one end and the
lowest ranking individuals at the other.
c. The chief must demonstrate his seniority of descent.
3. Chiefdoms lack social classes.
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D. Status Systems in Chiefdoms and States
1. Unlike tribal and band organizations, there are systemic status distinctions in chiefly
and state societies.
2. State and chiefdom status systems are based upon differential access to wealth and
resources, and differential allocation of rights and duties.
a. States are characterized by much clearer class divisions than chiefdoms, typically
associated with stratum endogamy.
b. The result of stratum endogamy is social stratification, the hierarchical
arrangement of unrelated classes.
c. Social stratification, social classes, is one of the key distinguishing features of
states.
3. Weber’s Dimensions of Social Stratification
a. Wealth or economic status.
b. Political status is based upon power.
c. Social status is based upon prestige.
d. In chiefdoms, all three dimensions are tied to kinship and descent.
e. In the early states, distinctions in all three dimensions appeared between
endogamous groups for the first time.
4. In archaic states there were two basic class distinctions.
a. The superordinate stratum was the elite or higher class that had privileged access
to wealth, power, and other valued resources.
b. The subordinate stratum was the lower or underprivileged class.
IV. States
A. States have specialized units that perform specific tasks.
1. Population control: fixing boundaries, establishing citizenship, and the taking of a
census.
2. Judiciary: laws, legal procedure, and judges.
3. Enforcement: permanent military and police forces.
4. Fiscal: taxation.
5. These subsystems were more or less embedded into the overall ruling systems of
archaic states.
B. Population Control
1. States use administrative divisions to control their populations.
a. Provinces, districts, counties, townships.
b. Each administrative divisions is managed by state officials.
2. States displace the role and importance that kinship has in bands, tribes, and
chiefdoms.
3. States foster geographic mobility and resettlement.
4. States assign differential rights to different status distinctions.
a. citizens vs. noncitizens
b. elites vs. commoners vs. slaves
c. soldiers vs. civilians
C. Judiciary
1. Laws are explicit codes for behavior, issued by the state, and are distinct from the
consensual mores and expectations that exist in nonstate societies.
2. The state is unique as a political system in that it governs family affairs.
3. The presence of laws has not reduced violence--indeed, states are responsible for
some of the most violent episodes in human history.
D. Enforcement
1. A judiciary obligates the existence of a system of enforcement.
2. The judiciary and enforcement typically work not only to control internal and external
conflict, but also to preserve the existing state hierarchy.
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E. Fiscal Systems
1. State rulers typically perform no subsistence activities.
2. The fiscal system serves to support the rulers and ruling structure by collecting a
portion of that produced by other members of the state.
3. Fiscal systems of archaic states also worked to maintain and elaborate class
distinctions, as in the support of sumptuary goods for the elites.
LECTURE TOPICS
1.
Discuss band-level notions of personality and privacy in contrast to American notions.
The adaptive and cultural roots of the differences should be made explicit.
2.
The romanticization of band and tribal life in Western culture, in media, and in the social
sciences should be made clear and discussed, with examples from recent movies or
television programs. The roots of that attitude in the social sciences, and its persistence,
should also be made clear.
3.
The centrality of kinship relations in tribal life cannot be overemphasized. The key role
of kinship can be illustrated by cataloging cases in which kinship determines political
office, religious specialization, access to resources, and so on.
4.
It is important to note that “egalitarian” does not mean that everybody is of equal status.
Rather, egalitarian means that everybody is born equal, but that there are differences in
status based on age, gender, personal attitudes, and abilities.
5.
A stereotyped notion of nonindustrial groups is that they all have a chief. Explain why
not all such groups have a chief as a prelude to discussing the characteristic of chiefs.
6.
A comparison of big men and chiefs with televangelists, movie stars, politicians, rock
stars, and other powerful and morally charged figures helps to sort out the differences
and similarities, and to prepare the way for a discussion of class relations.
7.
The notions of embeddedness and social roles are critical to understanding the
differences between the different levels of social organization. Find ways to get the
students to think about the various roles they fill, and how they are connected to other
people (for example, what sort of activities do they do with their siblings: play,
subsistence, warfare, anything?). Then compare their suggestions to a concrete example
from a tribal society. This should help provide a basis for understanding the multiplex
relationships between leaders and the led in nonindustrialized societies.
SUGGESTED FILMS
Series: Netsilik Eskimos
A series of 9 films in 21 half-hour segments.
This series follow a group of Netsilik Eskimos during their seasonal movements and shifting
subsistence strategies. Titles in the series: At the Caribou Crossing Place (2 segments); At the
Autumn River Camp (2 segments); At the Winter Sea-Ice Camp (4 segments); Jigging for Lake
Trout (1 segment); At the Spring Sea-Ice Camp (3 segments); Group Hunting on the Spring Ice
(3 segments); Stalking Seal on the Spring Ice (2 segments); Building a Kayak (2 segments);
Fishing at the Stone Weir (2 segments). Documentary Educational Resources, Watertown, MA.
Nenetsi Samoyeds: Nomads of the Siberian Tundra
1997 52 minutes
This film depicts the life of the nomadic Nenetsi reindeer herdsmen of the Yamal Peninsula. The
film follows the Nenetsi on their spring journey to southern grazing lands. From Films for the
Humanities and Sciences.
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Dead Birds
1964 85 minutes
This is Robert Gardner’s ethnographic film of the Dani people of the Baliem, high in the
mountains of western New Guinea,. Produced by the Film Study Center of the Peabody Museum
at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
The Nuer
1971 73 minutes
This film depicts the Nuer and their close connections to cattle. Film Study Center of the
Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Ancient Rome
1996 49 minutes
This film explores Rome’s unification of Europe, culture and institutions, and the family
structure. Part of the series Ancient Civilizations by Films for the Humanities and Sciences.
USING THE ATLAS
Use the Chapter 17 map, Organized States and Chiefdoms, AD1500, in conjunction with
the maps for Chapter 1, World Topography, and Chapter 16, World Land Use: AD 1500, to
illustrate the relationship between the environment and sociopolitical complexity. It is important
to discuss the history of environmental determinism in anthropology and why it has been
discredited. However, it is equally important to explain how the environment provides the
ecological parameters for the humans living in it. For example, chiefdoms did not develop or
exist in the Arctic or extremely arid parts of the world.
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