lu 9

• The Political

  Anthropologists & political scientists share an interest in political systems & organization, but the anthropological approach is global & comparative
• Power


  • The ability to exercise one's will over others
  • Authority is the socially approved use of power
• Political Organization (PO)


  The means by which a society maintains order internally & manages affairs with other societies externally
• Definition of Political Organization

  Those portions of social organization that specifically relate to the individuals or groups that manage the affairs of public policy or seek to control the appointment or activities of those individuals or groups
• Types of Political Organization

  • Band
  • Tribe
  • Chiefdom
  • State
• Band


  • Small kin-based group (all members are related to each other by kinship or marriage ties) found among foragers
• Tribe

  • Economies based on non-intensive food production (horticulture & pastoralism)
  • Living in villages and organized into kin groups based on common descents (clans & linages)
  • Lack formal government & have no reliable means of enforcing political decisions
• The Big Man

  Also known as 'tonowi' or "rich one"
• Chiefdom

  • Sociopolitical organization intermediate between the tribe & the state
  • Social relations based mainly on kinship, marriage, descent, age, generation, and gender
  • Feature different access to resources (some people have more wealth, prestige, and power than other) & a permanent political structures
• Max Weber's Three Dimensions of Stratification

  • Wealth = economic status
  • Power = political status
  • Prestige = social status
• Chiefdoms in Europe

  • Megalithic cultures such as the one that built Stonehenge over 5,000 years ago
  • Much of Europe was organized at the chiefdom level between the emergence and spread of food production and the expansion of the Roman empire
• State

  • Formal government structure & socioeconomic stratification
  • Autonomous political units with social classes & a formal government, based on law
  • Larger & more populous, compared to bands, tribes & chiefdoms
  • Have population control, judiciary, enforcement, and fiscal systems
• Service's typology may be too simple to account for the full range of political diversity and complexity known to archaeology and ethnography
• Sociopolitical type

  • Economic type
  • Examples
  • Types of regulation
• Social controls

  Internalized (cultural values 'built into' individuals) or externalized (sanctions)<|>Positive sanctions encourage approved behavior, while negative sanctions discourage unacceptable behavior
• Shirin Ebadi of Iran

  • Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for efforts for democracy and human rights
• 6,568 compounds issued by PDRM from 18 March 2020 – 18 May 2021 in Sarawak during the COVID-19 pandemic
• The compound is an example of a social control