Political Systems

Political Organization Political organization is about prestige, influence, and power. It refers to the ways in which influence, prestige, and/or power are used in all societies so they can maintain themselves collectively over time. This includes group decision-making, leadership, and conflict resolution.

Power and Authority Power is the ability to exercise one’s will over others and cause individuals or groups to take actions that they might not take otherwise. Authority may be defined as the socially approved use of power. It is based on culturally valued personal characteristics such as honor, status, knowledge, ability, respect, and/or the holding of formal public office.

Political Ideology Shared values and beliefs that legitimate power and authority in a particular society. A political ideology may be widely shared throughout a society, though it may not be held by everyone. One difference among types of political organization is the degree to which they rely on coercion or consensus to achieve social order.

Political Process Refers to how groups and individuals use power and authority to achieve goals. Decisions and activities by groups and individuals may be motivated by material profit, prestige, altruism, and/or survival, usually justified by reference to the public good.

Social Complexity Refers to the degree to which political roles, institutions, and processes are centralized and differentiated from or embedded within other social institutions. In non-industrial societies, power and authority, decision-making, and the coordination of human behavior are more integrated than in industrialized societies.

Social Differentiation The relative access individuals and groups have to basic material resources, wealth, power, and prestige.

Egalitarian Society 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.

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 horticultural or pastoral societies with a surplus of food; some agricultural societies. Associated with chiefdoms.

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

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

Types of Societies Bands are small, kin-based foraging groups, usually egalitarian, who exchange goods through generalized reciprocity. Tribes are horticulturalists or pastoralists and generally egalitarian but with gender and age differentiation. Balanced reciprocity is their main form of exchange. They are village or descent-based and lack formal governments or classes.

Types of Societies Chiefdoms are typically but not exclusively medium-sized agricultural, rank societies, characterized by the political office of the chief. They are kin-based, but have permanent political structures with limited, differential access.

Types of Societies State societies are large, highly stratified societies based on agriculture, industry, or in the contemporary world, a post-industrial service economy. They have formal governments and classes and/or castes.

Types and Trends In general, as the economy becomes more productive, population size increases leading to greater regulatory problems, which give rise to greater social and political complexity. These are only ideal types, as there is a continuum from tribe to state.

Social Control and Conflict Management In order for societies to maintain themselves, there must also be ways of managing conflict and persuading individuals to conform to society’s norms. A major basis for conformity in most societies is the internalization of norms and values. Deviants are handled differently in different types of societies.

Social Control Ways societies deal with deviant behavior and conflict: Gossip and ridicule Fear of witchcraft accusations Avoidance Supernatural sanctions Law (in state-level societies)

Law Norms and taboos (not laws as in the text) are found in every society. In state-level societies, norms become laws which are handled by legal institutions and redefined by political institutions. Law addresses conflicts and deviant behaviors that would otherwise disrupt community life.

Band Societies: Leadership Decision-making is by consensus. Leaders are older men and women with achieved prestige. Leaders cannot enforce their decisions; They can only influence by persuasion. Sharing and generosity are important sources of respect.

Band Societies: Leadership Leaders contribute equally or more than others and are rewarded only with prestige. Poor leadership leads to the selection of another leader or members change bands. Families alone have authority and it is weak.

Band Societies: Social Order Embedded in kinship and social ties. 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.

Tribal Age Sets Analogies in the U.S.? An age set is a named group of people of similar age and sex who go through life stages together. They form create fictive kin alliances that may serve political or military functions. Analogies in the U.S.?

Tribal Societies: Leadership Largely embedded in kinship and social ties. The main regulatory officials are Village Heads, Big Men, descent-group leaders, village councils, and leaders of pantribal associations. The officials have limited authority. They lead through persuasion and by example, not through coercion.

Tribal Societies: Leadership A Village Head has local authority and a Big Man has regional authority. These positions are achieved and come with limited authority. They cannot coerce, but only persuade, harangue, and try to influence. They act as mediators, but have no power to back decisions or impose punishments.

Tribal Societies: Leadership A Big Man (usually a male) must lead in generosity. He must be more generous, which means he and his kin must cultivate more land (surplus is converted into prestige). He hosts feasts for other villages.

Tribal & Pantribal Associations/Sodalities These are based on shared interests, skills, age and gender. Allow people to form alliances not based on kinship. Tend to be found where two or more cultures come into regular contact. Pantribal sodalities draw from several villages and can mobilize a large number of men for inter-village raids.

Tribal Societies: Conflict Resolution Tribes have a variety of mechanisms for controlling behavior and settling conflicts. Individuals pay compensation for damage. Big Men mediate to resolve disputes so that the prior social relationship between the disputants is maintained and harmony is restored.

Social Stratification: Chiefdom and State Societies Wealth or economic status. Political status is based upon prestige and/or power. Social status is based upon prestige. Prestige can often be converted into economic and political advantage.

Social Stratification: Chiefdom and State Societies In chiefdoms, all three- wealth, political status, and social status- exist but are primarily tied to kinship and descent. In early states and complex chiefdoms, distinctions in all three appeared between endogamous groups for the first time, leading to class or caste systems.

Chiefdom Societies Stratified societies organized by kinship. Structured, centralized systems with leaders chosen from within kin groups Complex chiefdoms have attributes of archaic states. Chiefdoms have permanent offices and the permanent political regulation of territory. Chiefs and their assistants (warrior élites, priests) carry out regulation.

Chiefdom Societies: Offices A chiefdom office is a position of prestige (not power) that exists independently of the person who occupies it. It must be refilled when vacated. It ensures sociopolitical organization endures across generations. Chiefdoms and states are based on craft and task specialization.

Chiefdom Societies: Status Social status is based on seniority of descent (ascribed status). The closer one is related to the apical ancestor(s), the greater the prestige. Lakota Sioux Chief Sitting Bull, 1885

Chiefdom Societies: Status Status may be increased (achieved) by: supporting the chief and his allies. fostering one’s children to higher-ranked kin or allies or convincing higher-ranked people to marry into the family. The chief must demonstrate seniority of descent (ascribed), but also show superior leadership skills (achieved).

Chiefdom Societies: Classes Some argue that chiefdoms lack social classes. While clear distinctions between élites and commoners are usually unclear, they may be identifiable: Iron Age Celts had complex chiefdoms that included tribal, chiefdom, and archaic state elements. Elite (chief and kin), warrior, farmer, and priestly (Druid) classes. Romantic drawing of a Druid Gallic warrior chief Vercingetorix submits to Caesar

Celtic Élites (800 BCE-200 CE) 1.64 m. krater from “Princess” of Vix burial, c. 500 BCE Chieftain burial, Hochdorf, c. 530 BCE

State Societies Carneiro (1970) defines the state as 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.”

State Societies Central government with monopoly over the use of force. More populous, heterogeneous, and powerful than other political organizations. Defend against external threats.

State Societies: Social Stratification Based on differential access to wealth and resources and differential allocation of rights and duties. States are characterized by much clearer class divisions than chiefdoms, typically associated with stratum endogamy (e.g., castes). This results in intensive social stratification.

State Societies: Government Citizenship regulates social relations and defines one’s rights and duties. Government: a set of status roles that become separate from other aspects of social organization. Governments function through bureaucracy: an administrative hierarchy characterized by fixed rules.

State Features

States… Displace the important role of kinship in other political organizations. Foster geographic mobility and resettlement, which further weakens kinship ties. Assign differential rights based on status. The state is unique as a political system in that it governs marriage and family affairs and that it is able to organize large populations for coordinated action.

Few notes on states… The presence of laws has not reduced violence. The judiciary and enforcement typically work not only to control conflicts and threats but also to preserve the existing state hierarchy. The fiscal system serves to support the rulers and ruling structure by collecting wealth from other members of the state.