Political Organization
Political Organization
Community - common identity
geography, language, culture
really big - USA
unit of organization
power - make people do something
authority - legitimate power
“right” to make rules
band, tribe, chiefdom, state
-Figure 10.1 on pg 219
Band - small group, usually of kin
egalitarian
little formal structure/specialization
seperate political people/structures/tasks
decision making - consensus
influence to older members
foragers
culture may have more than one band
fluid membership to bands
Tribe - more people, usually kinship based
someone more or less “in charge”
organization of kinship groups
more stable membership/location
pastoralists, horticulturalists
network, some consensus not individuals
“in charge” - headman, big men
based on persuasion, gifts/feasts
Chiefdom - more people, less kinship
“chief” - heriditary role
small group of people eligible to become everybody else
redistribution
more distinct roles/division of labor
horticulture/early agriculture
social stratification
centralized authority
matrilineal not necessarily matriarchal
State - lots of people, agriculture/industrial
complicated political organization
government - only job is to run things
specialists - work for government
operates by authority (power)
e.g. police force
centralized system
division of labor/specialization
Nation - group of people that share comman culture, territory, political structure
may no longer occupy territory
Nation-State - state system of only one nation
decreasing relevance - widespread immigration
Social Stratification
Egalitarian - all groups in society have equal access to wealth, prestige, power
anthropoligists - talk about groups
sociologists - individuals
foragers, bands
Rank - limited number of “prestige” positions some groups have more access to them
often, “chief” - particular kinship group
often - only prestige
tribe, pastorists, horticulturalists
Stratified - unequal access to all resources
prestige/power/wealth
some groups of people without any access including to basic needs
Class - people can change their position
change group of people you’re in
e.g. having nothing to rich (lottery)
Caste - people can’t change position
cannot change group of people
achieved status - what you do
ascribed status - what you’re born with
We want to believe we’re class society
you can change your social group/access
“rags to riches”
cultural marker - car, house, neighborhood
social or economic class
Caste - classic e.g. Indian society
officially - caste system is illegal
ascribed status - lifelong
virtually no way to change status
Class societies - change individual’s status
Caste societies - change whole groups’s status
Foraging Band Egalitarian
Pastoralism Tribe Rank
Horticulture Tribe/Chiefdom Rank
Agriculture State Stratified
Social Control
some way to enforce behavior
get people to conform to society’s rules
deviance - don’t conform to the rules
crime
crime against a person - murder
crime against property - theft, parking ticket
usually handled differently by society
Judicial systems -
emphasis on reconciliation
emphasis on punishments
with official people for doing this
(state systems)
Formal social control - official methods
law - formal/official rules, definate sanctions
(sanction - consequence for breaking rules)
people to enforce them, judgements
authority in centralized system
Informal social control - individual methods
everyone is involved in
gossip
accusations of witchcraft
not centralized
no clear sanction for particular violations
not necessarily same for everyone
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