Introducing Cultural
Anthropology
Roberta Edwards Lenkeit
©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Political Order, Disorder, and
Social Control: Who Decides?
©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Political Order, Disorder, and
Social Control: Who Decides?

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Politics
Power and Authority
Forms of Political Organization and Leadership
Rank and Stratification
Disorder and Social Control
External Relations: War and Peace
Summary
©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Politics
What Exactly is Politics?
 The Anthropological View

©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Power and Authority

Power—The ability to influence people or
cause them to do things they would not do
otherwise
– Coercive Power
– Persuasive Power

Authority—The exercise of legitimate
power
©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Forms of Political Organization
and Leadership
Band Societies
 Tribal Societies
 Chiefdom Societies
 State Societies

©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Band Societies
Egalitarian
 Informal leaders

– Persuasive Power, but no Authority

Leadership Based on Individual Skills and
Earned Respect
©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tribal Societies
Egalitarian
 Informal leaders

– Persuasive Power, but No Authority
– Headmen and Big Men
©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Chiefdom Societies
Non-egalitarian
 Formal Leaders

– Hereditary Chief with Authority
©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
State Societies
Non-egalitarian
 Formal Leaders with Authority and Power
 Stratified

©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Rank and Stratification
Egalitarian Societies
 Ranked Societies
 Stratified Societies
 Stratified State Societies

©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Disorder and Social Control
Informal Means of Social Control
 Formal Means of Social Control

©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
External Relations: War and Peace
War is one form of conflict resolution that
has been used by humans throughout
history, and it likely occurred in
prehistorical times as well.
 Internal Warfare
 External Warfare

©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Summary
Leadership in bands and tribes is informal
and is based on personal qualities of the
leaders.
 In chiefdoms, authority is vested in the
office of chief.
 Authority is the exercise of legitimate
power.

©2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.