Political and Leadership Structures

• Household


  Refers to all persons living together in a housing unit
• Types of Household

  • One-Person Household
  • Multi-Person Household
• One-Person Household


  An arrangement in which one person makes provision for his or her own food or other essentials for living without combining with any other person
• Multi-Person Household


  A group of two or more persons living together who make common provision for food or other essentials for living
• Family


  Refers to the members of the household who are related, to a specified degree, through blood, adoption or marriage
• Types of Nucleus Family

  • Married couple without children
  • Married couple with one or more unmarried children
  • Father with one or more unmarried children
  • Mother with one or more unmarried children
• A household may consist of only one person but a family must contain at least two members
• Members of a multi-person household need not be related to each other, while the members of a family must be related
• A family cannot be composed of more than one household while a household can contain more than one family, or one or more families together with one or more non-related persons, or it can consist entirely of non-related persons
• Organization


  A social unit of people that is structured and managed to meet a need or to pursue collective goals
• Organization


  • Determines relationships between the different activities and the members, and subdivides and assigns roles, responsibilities, and authority to carry out different tasks
• Types of Organization

  • Open systems (Affects and is affected by their environment)
• Political Organization


  It is the system of political institutions in a society organized as a state. Also, it involves issues like allocation of political roles, levels of political integration, concentrations of power and authority, mechanisms of social control and resolving conflicts
• Types of Political Organization

  • Bands
  • Tribes
  • Chiefdoms
  • States
• Bands

  Most often found in foraging societies and are associated with low population densities, distribution systems based on reciprocity, and egalitarian social relations. There is freedom in the society that is based on egalitarian system
• Tribes


  Most commonly found among horticulturist and pastoralist society. It has larger and more sedentary populations than band societies. Also, it lack centralized political leadership and are egalitarian. Tribally based societies have certain pan-tribal mechanisms that integrate clan members to face external threats. Clan elders do not hold formal political offices but usually manage affairs of their clans. There is still freedom in the society however, its freedom is based on the rules and regulations followed in each tribal group
• Chiefdoms

  Involve a more formal and permanent political structure than tribal societies. Political authority in chiefdoms rests with individuals, who acts alone or with advice of a council. Most chiefdom tend to have quite distinct social ranks, rely on feasting and tribute as a major way of distributing goods. In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many societies had chiefdoms imposed on them by colonial powers for administrative convenience. A specific individual is appointed by the members of the group to be their leader who will have control over the group
• Today, state represents the political organization in the society
• Power

  The ability to carry out one's will, even over the resistance of others
• Types of Power

  • Legitimate Power through influence (the ability to control other's behavior through persuasion)
  • Legitimate Power through authority (the power grant by the people because they believe that those in power have the right to command and that they themselves have the duty to obey)
  • Illegitimate Power (coercion which is the use of physical force or threats to exert control)