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Chapter 7: Authority & Power
Objectives:
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Define political anthropology
Define authority and power and distinguish between
coercive, persuasive, and hegemonic power
Understand how anthropologists model systems of
political organization with the typology of bands,
tribes, chiefdoms and kingdoms, and states
Appreciate the variety of ways in which Christians
may engage in politics
Power and Culture
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Power: influence or
control over the
behavior of others
Authority: the right
granted to exercise
power
Three categories of
power: coercive,
hegemonic, and
persuasive
Coercive
Power
Hegemonic
Persuasive
Power and Culture
Coercive Power

The use of force—legitimate or illegitimate—by
individuals or groups
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What makes the use of coercive power legitimate or
illegitimate is whether the individual or group has the
authority to use that power.
Power and Culture
Persuasive Power

The use of words, relationships, and actions that
influence others
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Unlike coercive power, persuasive power can
strengthen relationships.
Power and Culture
Hegemonic Power
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The dominance of ideas or culture such that
imbalances of power or other inequalities are
maintained

Most powerful force for social control
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Requires support from widely shared cultural beliefs
Power and Culture
Power in Action
It is helpful to conceptualize power as three discrete
types, but in practice all three types act
simultaneously.
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Coercive and persuasive power can be enacted
formally or informally, through official
organizations or by any individual or group.
In practice, coercive and persuasive power
usually require the willing cooperation of others.
Power and Culture
Power in Action(continued)
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Social sanctions: the responses, positive and
negative, that people receive for their behavior
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Formal sanctions: social sanctions that are approved or
delivered by institutions holding official power
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Formal negative sanctions: fines or punishments meted
out for breaking of an official rule
Formal positive sanctions: official rewards for socially
desirable behavior
Informal sanctions: positive or negative actions or
words intended to shape behavior that are not
approved or delivered by an official organization
Political Organization
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Power and authority are configured in a variety of
ways as political systems that guide entire societies.
There are types of political organization: bands,
tribes, chiefdoms and kingdoms, and states.
Today no bands, tribes, chiefdoms, or kingdoms
exist apart from the influence of states.
Political Organization
Bands
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Up to a few hundred people; most members are
held together by kinship, but membership is flexible
Leadership is temporary and informal
Egalitarianism in division of labor, authority, and
decision making
Highly effective at avoiding and resolving conflict;
conflict resolution done mostly through informal
sanctions
Political Organization
Tribes
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A decentralized political system that may be
associated with any economic form
Leadership decided on the basis of unique personal
qualities
Different tribes may share cultural or linguistic
traditions and thus may sometimes create regional
associations
Organization in and between tribes is based on
kinship or age-set systems
Conflict resolution is informal but requires a third
party negotiator
Political Organization
Chiefdoms/Kingdoms
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Political power is centralized.
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Leadership is an inheritable office, often passed
through a family line.
Power adheres to the occupant of the office rather
than being a product of his or her individual gifts,
abilities, or qualities.
Community is organized hierarchically according to
social status; the power and status of families and
individuals depends on their relational distance from
the central leader.
Political Organization
Chiefdoms/Kingdoms (continued)
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Ability to consolidate control through coercive
measures
Interpersonal conflicts handled through informal
sanctions
Rules developed and delivered by chiefs or kings
who regulate interactions between groups of higher
and lower status, which serves to reinforce social
stratification
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Breach in rules brings punishment or reconciliation on
the basis of the sole decision of the ruler.
Conflicts escalate into war at a higher frequency than
in tribes or bands.
Political Organization
State
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Highly centralized form of political organization
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authority rests in institutions and offices
real locus of power is in the office rather than in the
individual
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The distinction of the state is in ideology and culture
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Developed the concept of bounded nations
Christians and Politics
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The Bible does not favor one political system over
another.
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Prevents the ethnocentrism regarding the superiority
of the state system
Christians should both engage and critique political
systems.
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Obey and follow political organizations in ways faithful
to God’s word
Challenge and reject parts of political organizations
that do not bring glory to God