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Anthropology 330
Political Systems
What is a Political System?
DEFINITION The rules and standards for obtaining
social control and delegating authority in a society.
KEY COMPONENTS
A political system is one portion of the set of cultural
rules/standards/patterns that a society uses.
A political system addresses ways to get people to
conform to cultural rules.
A political system tells the society how it will
delegate authority for individuals to make decisions or
take actions on behalf of the group.
What is Social Control?
DEFINITION Social control means getting people to
conform to cultural rules and norms within a
society.
KEY COMPONENTS
 Social control mechanisms can be conscious or
unconscious.
 Social control mechanisms can be formal or
informal.
 Social control can be enculturated or enforced.
What is Internal Social Control?
DEFINITION The mechanisms that cause individuals to monitor
and police themselves to follow the cultural rules and
standards. These are believed to be universal.
TYPES OF INTERNAL SOCIAL CONTROL
 GUILT is the feeling a person has when they believe they have
done something wrong, whether or not anyone else knows
about it.
 SHAME is the feeling a person has when something they have
done wrong is known to others
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The difference between guilt and shame is that one is a
psychological reaction, and the other is a social reaction.
What is External Social Control?
DEFINITION The imposition of rules and standards
from outside the individual. These are called
sanctions.
TYPES OF EXTERNAL SOCIAL CONTROL
 POSITIVE SANCTIONS are rewards for doing things
according to the cultural rules, and particularly for
doing them well.
 NEGATIVE SANCTIONS are punishments or
penalties for breaking the cultural rules. Penalties
are sanctions like fines. Punishments involve
incarceration or physical mistreatment.
Examples of External Social Controls
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Song duel
• A means of settling disputes over wife stealing among the Inuit involving the
use of song and lyrics to determine one’s guilt or innocence.
Intermediaries
• Mediators of disputes among individuals or families within a society.
Moots
• Informal hearings of disputes for the purpose of resolving conflicts, usually
found in small scale societies.
Council of elders
• A formal control mechanism composed of a group of elders who settle
disputes among individuals within a community.
Oath
• The practice of having God bear witness to the truth of what a person says.
Ordeal
• A painful and possibly life-threatening test inflicted on someone suspected
of wrongdoing.
Law
• A cultural rule that is enforced through coercive authority
What is Power?
DEFINITION: Power is the ability to get others to do
what you want them to do.
There are two types of power:
1. persuasive power
2. coercive power
KEY COMPONENTS
 Anyone can have power.
 Power can come from many sources including
personality, money, respect, social influence and
force.
 One does not need the permission of others to use
power.
What is Authority?
DEFINITION: Authority is the right given by society
to exercise power on others.
KEY COMPONENTS
 Authority is the use of power under special
circumstances
 Authority is delegated to certain individuals by
society
 Authority usually specifies what kind and under what
circumstances an individual may exercise power.
What Kinds of Authority Are There?
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Consensus
Situational Leadership
Mediate/Negotiate
Decide and Enforce
The first three authority types give the leader the
right to use persuasive power. Only the last
authority allows the leader to enforce with
negative sanctions.
What Is Consensus?
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Consensus is when a group comes to a
decision without the use of a leader. Each
individual reaches his/her own conclusion, and
the group only acts when these conclusions are
very similar. Consensus is usually found in
small groups, the members of which know
each other well.
What Is Situational Leadership?
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Situational leadership occurs when
people turn to different individuals to lead
depending on the problem at hand.
Again, situational leadership is usually
found in small groups, the members of
which know each other well.
What Is Mediation/Negotiation
Leadership?
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Mediation/Negotiation leadership
means that a leader has the authority
to make decisions and resolve conflict
using persuasive power. In this case,
there is a designated leader who leads
in all situations.
What Is Decide and Enforce
Leadership?
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This is the only form of leadership in which
the leader can force people to abide by
his/her decisions and/or to follow the
cultural rules. This type of leader has been
given the right to use formal negative
sanctions that punish or penalize.
When leaders can enforce cultural
rules we call them laws
How Do Leaders Acquire Authority?
There are five general ways that leaders can acquire
authority:
• No Leader
• Personal Qualifications
• Membership in a high ranking Lineage
• Hereditary succession
• Force
When Does a Society Have No
Leader?
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In very small groups made up of
mostly family members, a formal
leadership position is not needed.
People make decisions and enforce
rules using consensus.
What Is Leadership by Personal
Qualifications?
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Leadership by personal qualifications occurs in
societies that use situational, mediation/negotiation
and decide and enforce authority. In societies where
everyone knows everyone else, it is relatively easy to
choose a person who is respected and admired for
personal and social skills that fit the values of the
society. In large scale societies like ours, we use
elections to vote for leaders based on personal
qualification.
A leader of this type is called a
 “Headman” or “Bigman”
 Or, if elected, by a variety of terms like President,
Prime Minister, Senator, etc.
What Is Leadership by Membership in
a High Ranking Lineage?
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Some societies are what we call ranked. This means that they
do not have complex social stratification, but they do have two
or three different statuses depending on family/lineage
membership. People choose leaders from among the members
of one of the high ranking families/lineages. Membership in
such a family is a prerequisite for leadership. Personal
qualifications determine which of the high ranking individuals
will be leader. The person who is leader may change if he/she
is not doing a good job, but the leader will always be high
ranking.
This kind of leader is called a Chief
What Is Leadership by Hereditary
Succession?
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In some societies, leadership does not depend on
personal qualifications at all. The leadership position
is passed through a single family according to a set of
inheritance rules. Leaders can be babies, insane,
incompetent or evil. They still inherit the leadership
position. This type of leadership usually goes along
with a belief that the “royal” family is related to
god(s) or are, themselves, god(s).
This kind of leader is called a King or Queen
What Is Leadership by Force?
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This kind of leadership occurs after a
conquest, colonization or revolution,
where the leadership is taken and
maintained by force.
Levels of Sociocultural Integration
Anthropologists divide societies into five
different levels of sociocultural integration
based on political characteristics.
These are:
Bands
Tribes
Chiefdoms
States
Empires
What Is a Band?
A Band usually has the following characteristics:
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Consensus or situational leadership authority
Persuasive power is delegated
Small group (30 individuals)
Frequently mobile (nomadic or semi-nomadic)
Hunting and Gathering/Foraging Subsistence
Use reciprocity as primary distribution system
No surplus is produced
What Is a Tribe?
Tribes usually have the following characteristics:
• Mediation/Negotiation Leadership
(Persuasive power through a Headman)
• Leadership by Personal Qualifications
• Population in the 100’s
• May be mobile or sedentary
• Pastoralist, Horticulturalist or Hunting and
Gathering/Foraging Subsistence
• Use reciprocity as primary distribution system
• No surplus is produced
What Is a Chiefdom?
A Chiefdom usually has the following characteristics:
• Decide and Enforce (leader called Chief)
• Ranked society
• Leadership selected from members of a high ranking
lineage
• Population in the 1000’s
• May be mobile or sedentary
• Pastoralist or Horticulturalist Subsistence
• Use redistribution as primary distribution system
• Some surplus is produced, but all surplus is in the same
product or products)
What Is a State?
A State usually has the following characteristics:
• Authority to decide and enforce (coercive power)
• Leadership selected by personal qualification election,
hereditary succession or force.
• Population in the 10,000’s , Sedentary (cities)
• Agricultural Subsistence
• Use market system as primary distribution system
• Large surplus is produced in a wide variety of products)
• Full-time economic specialization including political
and military
• Monoply of force
• Control of society through ideology
The Modern Nation-State
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A nation is a group of people who share a
common symbolic identity, culture, history,
and often, religion.
A state is a particular type of political
structure distinct from a band, tribal
society, or chiefdom.
The term nation-state refers to a group of
people sharing a common cultural
background and unified by a political
structure that they all consider legitimate.
What Is an Empire?
An Empire is a state that has
conquered and rules by force
one or more other societies.
Study Guide
Political system
Internal social control
Guilt
Shame
External social control
Song duels
Intermediaries
Moots
Council of elders
Oaths
Ordeal
Law
Power
Persuasive power
Coercive power
Authority
Consensus
Mediation/suggestion
Decide and Enforce
Personal Qualifications
High ranking lineage
Hereditary succession
Force
Band
Tribe
Chiefdom
State
Nation state
Empire