Chapter 12

1. Chapter 12 Political Organization

2. Chapter Questions • What roles do politics, law and religion play in regulating human behavior? • What are the major forms of political organization and how are they related to other features of culture and society?

3. Chapter Questions • How do anthropologists explain warfare in tribal societies? • How have anthropologists contributed to alternative forms of conflict management in the united sates? • What does the prehistoric Asante state tell us about the connections between political power and social stratification?

4. Egalitarian Societies • No individual or group has more access to resources, power, or prestige than any other. • No fixed number of social positions for which individuals must compete. • Associated with bands and tribes.

5. Rank Society • Institutionalized differences in prestige but no restrictions on access to basic resources. • Individuals obtain what they need to survive through their kinship group. • Associated with horticulture or pastoral societies with a surplus of food. • Associated with chiefdoms.

6. Stratified Society • Formal, permanent, social and economic inequality. • Some people are denied access to basic resources. • Characterized by differences in standard of living, security, prestige and political power.

7. Stratified Society • Economically organized by market systems. • Based on intensive cultivation (agriculture) and industrialism. • Associated with form of political organization called the state.

8. Women and Political Offices • Yoruba of Nigeria - certain offices were reserved to represent women’s interests. • Nigeria - some Igbo groups had a female ruler and council concerned with women’s affairs. • Mende - women were paramount chiefs, who derived their power from their roles as mothers.

9. Social Control of Behavior Ways societies deal with abnormal behavior and conflict: • Gossip and ridicule • Fear of witchcraft accusations • Avoidance • Supernatural sanctions

10. Law • Law is found in every society. • In complex societies, functions of law belong to legal institutions, such as courts. • Law addresses conflicts that would otherwise disrupt community life.

11. Band Societies • Small group of people (20 to 50) • Related by blood or marriage • Live together and are loosely associated with a territory in which they forage • Egalitarian

12. Band Societies: Leadership • Decision-making is by consensus. • Leaders are older men and women. • Leaders cannot enforce their decisions; They can only persuade. • Sharing and generosity are important sources of respect.

13. Band Societies: Social Order • Maintained by gossip, ridicule, and avoidance. • Violations of norms are sins. • Offenders may be controlled through ritual means such as public confessions. • Offender is defined as a patient rather than a criminal.

14. Tribal Societies • Members consider themselves descended from the same ancestor. • Found primarily among pastoralists and horticulturalists. • Egalitarian • Leadership: Bigman

15. Chiefdom Societies Characteristics: • Monumental architecture • Distinct ceremonial centers • Elaborate grave goods reflect high social status • Larger settlements by smaller villages • Cultivators and pastoralists

16. State Societies • Central government with monopoly over the use of force. • More populous, heterogeneous, and powerful than other political organizations. • Able to organize large populations for coordinated action. • Defend against external threats.