Political Organization and the Maintenance of Order anthropology’s interest in power and maintenance of order ► political organization refers to the way power is distributed and embedded in societies ► who has power ► how does power differ from authority ► how is power organized and administered distinction between power and authority ► power: ability to bring about results power may be informal and based on force coercive power versus persuasive power Symbolic power based on positive expectations of those who accede to it ► authority is the socially recognized right to exert power ► legitimacy - the socially recognized right to hold, use, and allocate power Band, Tribe, Chiefdom, State ► sequence can be replaced with contrast between uncentralized and centralized political systems ► Replace evolutionary perspective with: ethnographic present historical perspective Uncentralized political systems ► include: bands and tribes ► associated with: subsistence level economies such as foraging small, homogeneous populations little social stratification relatively autonomous groups often relatively mobile without strict territorial boundaries no formal leader or organization beyond kinship the band ► small group of politically independent, through related, households ► all social relationships based on kinship ► least complex form of political organization perhaps the oldest form as well ► associated with foraging forms of subsistence ► decisions made through consensus disgruntled leave ► no fixed leadership, only informal recognition of prowess typically male, but females have power as well most successful hunter and most senior woman The Tribe ► tribal system consists of separate bands or villages ► integrated through lineages, clans, age grades, or other associations cross-cutting kinship and territory less autonomy for greater security ► associated with farming or herding subsistence strategies greater food production ► greater population density The tribe ► consists of one or more autonomous communities which may then form alliances ► may range across a broad territory ► social stratification related to kinship and cross-cutting associations ► needs for alliance defense or raiding pooling of resources capitalize on a windfall often return to autonomous communities The tribe ► informal leadership ► no centralized leadership ► typically someone respected for wisdom or prowess – charisma & “big men” ► group decisions by consensus leaders may influence through oratory decisions enforced through ►withdrawal of cooperation ►gossip ►criticism ►beliefs that anti-social actions cause disease The tribe ► leaders of localized descent groups or a territorial group ► authority is personal not elected, no formal office status result of personal behavior ► status often achieved through giving away many wives extended kin networks ► Big Women in Vanatinai (Maria Lepowsky) give more mortuary feasts may gain power as sorcerers, healers, gardeners kinship organization in tribes ► clan may be the organizing unit and seat of political authority elders of clan may form council ► segmentary lineage system – The Ariaal of East Africa ► patrilineal clans maximal lineage, major, minor, minimal lingeage smallest group defined by one great grandfather all segments equal and no leadership above minimal or primary segments ► form alliances to face threats Us and Them ► Bedouin proverb: I against my brother; I and my brother against our cousin; I, my brother and our cousin against the neighbors; all of us against the foreigners ► based on complementary or balanced opposition ► a model for ethnicity? other examples of tribal organization ► age-grade & age sets organization ► association organization Cree military societies and warriors’ clubs AGE AS A FORM OF SOCIAL DIVISION ► AGE-SETS, AGE GRADES, AGE MATES ► differentiation of social role based on age, commonly found in small-scale societies of North America and tribal groups of East Africa ► Age sets are a type of sodality ► Age grades may be marked by changes in biological state, such as puberty ► Or by socially recognized status changes such as marriage and the birth of a child ► Persons of junior grade may defer to those of more senior grade who in turn teach, test, or lead their juniors Ariaal Age Sets (E. Africa pastoralists) ► rigid system of age-sets ► apply primarily to men; women automatically become members of the age-set of their husbands ► groups of the same age (give or take five years or so) are initiated into adult life during the same period ► The age-set is a permanent grouping lasts throughout the life of its members ►a hierarchy of grades junior warriors, senior warriors junior elders (sometimes classed as senior warriors), and senior elders ► the ones who make decisions affecting the whole tribe tribal organization ► term used differently than in popular usage ► not a catch-all for anyone not living in a state or those considered to be inferior tribalism = chaotic political situation ► also not equivalent to usage by some aboriginal groups today Centralized political systems ► include: chiefdoms and states ► associated with: intensive agricultural or industrialization ► technology becomes more complicated ► labour specialization increases large, diverse population less mobility opportunity for control of resources appears appearance of coercive force male leaders more frequent political authority is concentrated in a single individual (chiefdoms) or a body of individuals (the state) chiefdom ►a regional polity in which one or more local groups are organized under a single ruling individual – the chief – who is at the head of a ranked hierarchy of people The Chief ► Divine king – macrocosm and microcosm ► status determined by closeness to chief ► office of chief often hereditary passing to son or to sister’s son ►also based on talents ►often conceived as a semi-sacred position ► may amass personal wealth to add to power chiefdom ►a true authority figure with a formal office ► can distribute resources associated with redistributive economies chief controls surpluses and labour may collect taxes or tribute may recruit labour for community projects ► irrigation, a temple, a palace can conscript for military ► recognized hierarchy linked to chief ► tend to be unstable ► may form confederacies Iroquois League of Five Nation, Algonquin Confederacy chiefdom ► Rank society ► do not have unequal access to economic resources or to power, but they do contain social groups having unequal access to prestige ► unequal access to prestige often reflected in position of chief to which only some members of a specified group in the society can succeed ► Ascribed status Band & tribe vs. chiefdom ► in band and tribal societies competitive displays & conspicuous consumption by individuals disappears & anyone foolish enough to boast how great he is gets accused of witchcraft & is stoned to death ► reciprocity predominates, not redistribution the state ► the most formal of political organizations and is one of the hallmarks of civilization ► political power is centralized in a government which may LEGITIMATELY use force to regulate the affairs of its citizens ► Weber’s monopoly on the legitimate use of force The state: associated with -► increased food production (agriculture and industry) ► irrigation and transformation of landscape ► increased population ► fixed territory ► developed market system ► appearance of cities developed urban sector The state: associated with -► appearance of bureaucracy ► military ► usually an official religion ► delegation of authority to maintain order within and without its borders ► right to control information ► authority is formal and impersonal Holding office and the person The state: associated with -► differentiation in population appears – social stratification ► appearance of ethnicity ► permanent, heritable inequality slaves, castes and classes ► social conflict increases