Chapter 12

Political Organization

Chapter Questions

• What roles do politics, law and religion play in regulating human behavior?

• What are the major forms of political organization and how are they related to other features of culture and society?

Egalitarian Societies

• Access to resources, power, or prestige.

• Number of social positions.• Bands and tribes.

Rank Society

• Institutionalized differences in prestige.

• Kinship group- source for survival.• Horticulture or pastoral societies.

– Chiefdoms– The Bigman

Stratified Society• Social and economic inequality.• Denied access to basic resources.• Characterized by differences.• Organized by market systems.• Agriculture and industrialism.

– State system

Power vs. Authority

• Political Ideology- reasons to conform:– Deep belief– Expected benefit– Fear– No alternative

Women and Political Offices

Multicultural differences in gender political power.

• Yoruba of Nigeria• Nigeria - Igbo • Mende - women power in roles

as mothers

Law Social Control & Conflict ManagementWays societies deal with abnormal

behavior and conflict:• Internalization of norms & values

– Stratified & chiefdoms• Informal mechanisms

– Gossip and ridicule– Witchcraft accusations– Avoidance– Supernatural sanctions

4 Types of political structures:Band Societies• Small group of people (20 to 50)• Related by blood or marriage• Live together- territory they forage• Egalitarian• Decision-making is by consensus.• Leaders- elderly.• Leaders- persuasion.• Sharing and generosity.

Band Societies: Social Order

• Maintained by gossip, ridicule, and avoidance.

• Violations of norms= sins.• Offenders controlled- ritual

means (like public confessions). • Offender- a patient not a

criminal.

Tribal Societies

• Members-same ancestor.• Pastoralists and horticulturalists.• Egalitarian • Leadership: Bigman

Chiefdom Societies

Characteristics:• Monumental architecture• Distinct ceremonial centers• Elaborate grave goods- social

status• Larger settlements by smaller

villages• Cultivators and pastoralists

State Societies

• Central government with monopoly over the use of force.

• More populous, heterogeneous, and powerful.

• Able to organize large populations for coordinated action.

• Defend against external threats.

Rise of State System

• Nation & State• Childe’s voluntaristic theory• Carneiro’s coercive theory