Learning Objectives

-       how societies maintain order and stability within their own borders and with other societies

-       why and how societies use power and controls differently

-       the differences between societies with uncentralized governments and those with centralized governments

-       the characteristics of bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states

-       how power is used to create inequality based on gender and access to resources

-       about the different types of violent conflict within and between societies

Review Questions

1.     What are the differences between power, prestige, and authority?

2.     How do sanctions and rewards work to control people’s behavior within a society?

3.     What are the characteristics of the four types of political systems?

4.     What are the differences between caste- and class-based societies?

5.     How does political inequality affect the ability of people to access clean water?

6.     What are the different types of violence within or between groups?

Discussion Questions

1.     What are some of the factors that limit the ability of tribal nations to achieve actual political sovereignty in the US?

2.     Do you think formal or informal sanctions are more effective at managing people’s behavior?

3.     Who influences your behavior most? In your experience is this influence based on power, prestige, or authority?

4.     How do people come to accept power inequality or differential access to resources as normal?

Chapter Outline and Key Points

Introduction: Politics and Power

Political organization refers to the way a society guides the behavior of its members and manages affairs with other societies. All societies have some form of social control.

Power, Authority, and Prestige

Individuals and groups may control others through power, prestige, authority, or some combination of the three.

Social Controls and Conflict Resolution

The behavior of individuals or groups in society may be guided by internalized or externalized controls (sanctions).

Types of Political Organization

Although reality is complex, we use the four types of political organization as a starting point to discuss politics in society: bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states. Bands and tribes are uncentralized systems, in which the community governs itself through informal sanctions. Chiefdoms and states are centralized systems, in which official leadership has the power and authority to control the actions of others. Bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states have different structures and ways of using power.

Social Inequality

Social stratification arises when some individuals have more access to resources than others. The individuals’ status may be achieved, such as in a class system, or ascribed, such as in a caste system. There are many forms of social inequality, including environmental inequality, in which certain members of society lack access to unpolluted natural resources such as water. Water privatization is one of the leading contributors to the major gap between those with and without access to clean drinking water.

Violence and War

There are many forms of inter- and intra-group violence across cultures; however, full-scale war comes into existence only with the rise of cities and surpluses of wealth. Although humans can be a violent species and choose to go to war for political, religious, and economic reasons, anthropologists do not believe that violence resides in our genes.

Glossary

achieved status: a social role a person achieves due to work and opportunity

age set: group that brings people together via rites of passage through the stage of life they are in; social group of the same age with common concerns and interests

ascribed status: the social role of a person that is fixed at birth

authority: having legitimate power

band: small egalitarian society of food foragers who live and travel together

Big Man: an informal leader who possesses authority based on prestige and persuasive power, found in Melanesian societies

caste: a hierarchical system based on birth; most commonly associated with Hindu India

centralized system: a political system with a centralized governing body that has the power and authority to govern

chiefdom: a type of political organization with centralized power, complex social structure, and large population; often seen among intensive agriculturalists

class: a form of social stratification based on differences in wealth and status

cultural materialism: an anthropological theory guided by the idea that the external pressures of the environment dictate cultural practices

diplomacy: the relations and negotiations between nations

euphemisms: a polite or socially acceptable word or phrase that is used in place of one that is unpleasant or offensive

externalized control: rules that regulate behavior by encouraging conformity to social norms; may be negative (punishments) or positive (rewards)

feud: ongoing violent relations between two groups in the same society

internalized control: impulses that guide a person toward right behavior based on a moral system

nation-state: territory in which a nation of homogeneous ethnicity is governed by its own state; the idea of a state without multicultural diversity

political organization): the way a society maintains order internally and manages affairs externally

power: the ability to compel another person to do something that he or she would not do otherwise

prestige: the positive reputation or high regard of a person or other entity merited by actions, wealth, authority, or status

privatization: selling ownership of public resources to private companies

raid: violence in which members of one group aim to steal or recover items, animals, or people from another group in the same society

ranked system: a social system in which status is based on one’s genealogical closeness to the chief; also called ranked society

reserves: areas of land under tribal jurisdiction (Canada); in the United States, known as reservations

rites of passage: rituals marking life’s important transitions from one social or biological role to another

sanction: punishment that results from breaking rules

sectarian violence: fighting between groups divided by religion or ethnicity

social mobility: the ability of members of society to rise in social class

social stratification: the ranking of members of society into a hierarchy

sovereign nation: a state with the authority to govern its own territory

state: a type of political organization in a highly populated, industrial society with a strong, centralized government

stratified society: a social system in which one’s position in the social hierarchy equals their status; results in an unequal distribution of power and resources

tribe: a type of political organization that has decentralized power, often seen among horticulturalists or pastoralists

uncentralized system: a political system with no centralized governing body and in which decisions are made by the community; also called a decentralized system

warfare: an extended violent conflict in which one side attempts to kill as many people or destroy as much property as possible until the other side surrenders

Weblinks

Oxford Bibliographies—Political Anthropology

http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199766567/obo-9780199766567-0018.xml

Open Anthropology: A Public Journal of the AAA—“Anthropology in an Election Year” (2016) https://openanthroresearch.org/index.php/oarr/preprint/view/347/449

PoLAR Journal from the Association for Political and Legal Anthropology (APLA)

http://politicalandlegalanthro.org

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ 

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf

Death Penalty Information Center, a national non-profit organization focusing on capital punishment in the United States

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org

Further Reading

Black, J.K. (1999). Inequity in the global village. Bloomfield: Kumarian Press.

Bodley, J. (2008). Victims of progress (5th ed.). Lanham: Altamira Press.

Briggs, J.L. (2000). Conflict management in a modern Inuit community. Hunters and gatherers in the modern world: Conflict, resistance, and self-determination. New York: Berghahn Books.

Gibbs, J.L. (1963). The Kpelle moot: A therapeutic model for the informal settlement of disputes. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 33(1), 1–11. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/kpelle-moot-a-therapeutic-model-for-the-informal-settlement-of-disputes1/C118AD66C743CE66CD20EA4C1E4D742F

Hass, J. (1990). The anthropology of war. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Howell, S., & Willis, R. (1989). Societies at peace: An anthropological perspective. New York: Routledge.

Hurst, C.E. (1992). Social inequality: Forms, causes, and consequences. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Scott, J.T. (2017). Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Tsing, A.L. (2015). The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Vincent, J. (2002). The anthropology of politics: A reader in ethnography, theory, and critique. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

Ethnographies of Power and Politics

Bourgois, P. (1995). Selling crack in El Barrio. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Brandes, S. (1988). Power and persuasion: Fiestas and social control in rural Mexico. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Meggett, M. (1977). Blood is their argument. Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield Publishing.