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C H A P T E R
POLITICAL SYSTEMS
17-2

3. POLITICAL SYSTEMS What Is “The Political”? Types and Trends
Bands and Tribes
Chiefdoms
State Systems
Social Control 3

4. POLITICAL SYSTEMS
What kinds of political systems have existed worldwide, and what are their social and economic correlates?
How does the state differ from other forms of political organization?
What is social control, and how is it established and maintained in various societies?

5. WHAT IS “THE POLITICAL”?
Substantial variation in power, authority, and legal systems
Power: ability to exercise one’s will over others; authority is formal, socially approved use of power
Prefer “sociopolitical organization” in discussing regulation or management of interrelations among groups and their representatives

6. TYPES AND TRENDS
Service: four types, or levels, of political organization
Band: small kin-based group among foragers
Tribe: economy based on nonintensive food production

7. TYPES AND TRENDS Service (continued)
Chiefdom: intermediate form between tribe and state
Differential access: favored access to resources by superordinates over subordinates
State: formal governmental structure and socioeconomic stratification

8. BANDS AND TRIBES A common set of questions:
What kinds of social groups does society have?
How do social groups represent themselves to each other?
How are internal and external relations regulated?

9. FORAGING BANDS
Modern foragers live in nation-states and an interlinked world
All foragers now trade with food producers
Most contemporary hunter-gatherers rely on governments and missionaries
The San
Kent: tendency exists to stereotype foragers; stresses variation among foragers

10. FORAGING BANDS The Inuit
Good example of conflict resolution (settling disputes) in stateless societies
Foragers lacked formal law (the legal code of a state society, with trial and enforcement provisions) but had methods of social control for dispute settlement
Lived in Arctic, so hunting and fishing by men primary subsistence activities

11. FORAGING BANDS The Inuit (continued) Adult women outnumbered men
Most disputes originated over women
Wronged man had options
Murder brings retaliation
Song battle, but wife might not return

12. Figure 17.1: Location of the Inuit12

13. TRIBAL CULTIVATORS
Tribes: typically have horticultural or pastoral economy and organized by village life and/or descent-group membership
Lack socioeconomic stratification and formal government
Regulatory officials are village heads, “big men,” descent-group leaders, village councils, and pantribal associations

14. TRIBAL CULTIVATORS
Horticultural villages are usually small, with low population density and open access to strategic resources
Age, gender, and personal traits determine how much respect people receive
Egalitarianism diminishes as village size and population density increase

15. THE VILLAGE HEAD
The Yanomami believe that the position of village head (local tribal leader with limited authority) is achieved; it comes with very limited authority
Must lead by example
Acts as mediator in disputes
Must lead in generosity

16. THE “BIG MAN”
Big man: like a village head, except his authority is regional and may have influence over more than one village
Common to South Pacific
Must be generous
Serves as temporary regional regulator who can mobilize supporters

17. THE “BIG MAN” The “Big Man” among the Kapauku
Tonowi is only political figure; achieved through hard work and amassing wealth in form of pigs and native riches
Distinguished by generosity, eloquence, bravery, physical fitness, and supernatural powers
Decisions accepted as binding

18. Figure 17.2: Location of the Kapauku18

19. PANTRIBAL SODALITIES
Pantribal sodalities: groups that extend across whole tribe, spanning several villages
Best examples: Central Plains of North America and tropical Africa
Plains: leadership needed to raid enemy camps and manage summer bison hunt

20. PANTRIBAL SODALITIES Secret societies are sodalities
Sodalities create non-kin linkages between people based on age, gender, and ritual

21. PANTRIBAL SODALITIES
Tend to be found in areas where two or more different cultures come into regular contact
Pantribal sodalities draw members from several villages and can mobilize large numbers of men for raids
Masai of Kenya and Tanzania
Masai of Kenya: men born during four-year period circumcised together and belong to same named group, an age set, throughout their lives
Sets moved through age grades; warrior grade most important

22. NOMADIC POLITICS
Nomads must interact with a variety of groups, unlike most sedentary societies
Powerful chiefs commonly found in nomadic groups that have large populations
Example: Basseri and Qashqai

23. NOMADIC POLITICS The Basseri have smaller population
Chief, khan, similar to village head
Position achieved; allegiances are with person
Larger Qashqai have multiple levels of authority and more powerful chiefs
Authority can be more coercive
Allegiances are with office

24. Figure 17.3: Locations of the Basseri and Qashqai24

25. CHIEFDOMS
Transitional form of sociopolitical organization, between tribes and states
Carneiro: state is “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”
Ideal type

26. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEMS
Social relations based on kinship, marriage, descent, age, generation, and gender
Chiefdoms and states are permanent
Office: permanent position that must be refilled when it is vacated by death or retirement
Offices outlast individuals
Offices ensure that sociopolitical organization endures across generations

27. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEMS
Chiefs play important role in production, distribution, and consumption of resources
Collect foodstuffs as tribute
Later redistribute collected foodstuffs at feasts (chiefly redistribution)

28. STATUS SYSTEMS Based on seniority of descent
People in a chiefdom believed to have descended from common ancestors
The chief must demonstrate seniority of descent
Lack of sharp gaps between elites and commoners

29. STATUS SYSTEMS Differential access to resources
Allocation of rights and duties
States characterized by much clearer class divisions than chiefdoms
Stratification (differential access by social classes or strata) is a key feature

30. THE EMERGENCE OF STRATIFICATION
Weber: three dimensions of social stratification:
Economic status or wealth: all a person’s material assets; the basis of his or her economic status
Power: the ability to control others; the basis of political status
Prestige: esteem, respect, or approval; the basis of social status

31. THE EMERGENCE OF STRATIFICATION
Archaic states had contrasts in wealth, power, and prestige between groups
Superordinate: upper, elite group in stratified society; privileged access to wealth, power, and valued resources
Subordinate: lower, underprivileged group in stratified society; limited by privileged group

32. Table 17.1: Max Weber’s Three Dimensions of Stratification32

33. RECAP 17.1: Economic Basis of and Political Regulation in Bands, Tribes, Chiefdoms, and States33

34. STATE SYSTEMS State specializations Population control Judiciary
Law enforcement
Fiscal systems

35. POPULATION CONTROL
States control population through administrative subdivision: provinces, districts, “states,” counties, subcounties, and parishes
Aim is to foster geographic mobility and resettlement
Differential rights are assigned to different status distinctions

36. JUDICIARY
States have laws based on precedent and legislative proclamations
All states have courts and judges
The law is unique in that it governs family affairs
States attempt to curb internal conflict
Presence of laws has not reduced violence

37. ENFORCEMENT Agents of the state mete out punishment and collect fines
Although states impose hardships, they offer advantages
Formal mechanisms designed to protect against external threats and to preserve internal order

38. FISCAL SYSTEMS Fiscal system: pertains to finances and taxation
States redistribute (through taxation), but generosity and sharing played down
The state does not bring more freedom or leisure to the common people
Elites of archaic states have reveled in the consumption of sumptuary goods

39. SOCIAL CONTROL
Social control: “those fields of the social system (beliefs, practices, and institutions) that are most actively involved in the maintenance of any norms and regulation of any conflict” (Kottak)

40. SOCIAL CONTROL
Norms enable individuals to distinguish appropriate and inappropriate behavior
Political systems have informal, social, and subtle aspects along with formal governmental and public dimensions

41. HEGEMONY AND RESISTANCE
Hegemony: subordinates comply by internalizing rulers’ values and accepting the “naturalness” of domination (Gramsci, 1971)
Make subordinates believe they will eventually gain power
Separate or isolate people while supervising them closely
Popular resistance most likely when people are allowed to assemble

42. WEAPONS OF THE WEAK
The oppressed may seem to accept their own domination, even as they question it offstage in private
Public transcript: open public interaction between superordinates and subordinates
Hidden transcript: critique of power that goes on offstage, where the power holders can’t see it

43. WEAPONS OF THE WEAK
Discontent may be expressed in public rituals and language
Resistance is most likely expressed openly when people are allowed to assemble
Hidden transcripts tend to be expressed publicly at certain times and in specific places

44. SHAME AND GOSSIP
“Informal” control through fear, stigma, shame, and gossip key in small-scale societies
Makua: three sanctions for social control:
Cadeia (jail): the last phase of an extended political and legal process
Enretthe (sorcery attack): was believed such a punitive sorcery attack would kill the thief or make him extremely ill
Ehaya (shame): thief would experience extended feeling of disgrace

45. Figure 17.4: Location of the Makua and the Village of Nicane in Northern Mozambique45

46. SHAME AND GOSSIP Shame can be powerful social sanction
The “informal” processes of social control include gossip, stigma, and shame
The efficacy of social control depends on how clearly people envision the sanctions that an antisocial act might trigger