Week 10

Question 1

Authority

Answer 1

-Authority is the use of legitimate power.
-Complex societies elect officials & authoritarian
societies have dictators
In large, complex societies with a centralized government, citizens grant the power of rulemaking or punishment to an individual or set of individuals, such as a ruler, congress, or police force

Question 2

Power

Answer 2

Power is the ability to compel another person to do something that they would not do otherwise.

• Coercive
• Physical threats
• Persuasive
• Rewards for complying

Question 3

Prestige

Answer 3

Prestige is a type of social reward that can only be given to a person by others.
It refers to the positive reputation or high regard of a person or other entity merited by actions, wealth, authority, or status.

It may be by virtue of birth into a particular family, personal achievement, or membership in a highly regarded social group.

Ex: The “Big Man,” found throughout Melanesia, uses his prestige as an informal leader in his community.

Question 4

Bands

Answer 4

-Bands are groups of approximately 50 to 100 individuals who rely on hunting and gathering as their main means of subsistence.
-Majority makes decisions
-There is no centralized government or other coercive authority.
-Egalitarian
* Nomadic; they move seasonally to exploit wild food resources
* Example: Ju/’hoansi of the Kalahari desert (aka San people)

Question 5

Tribes

Answer 5

Generally larger than mobile hunter-gatherer groups but population rarelynumbers more than a few thousand
* Live in villages
* Subsistence is based largely on agriculture and domesticated animals
* Uncentralized power but can be ranked society

• Example: Many Indigenous communities in the U.S. before colonialism

Question 6

Chiefdoms

Answer 6

Common in large populations
* Characterized by ranking
* Different lineages are graded on a
scale of prestige, and the senior
lineage, and hence the society as a
whole, is governed by a chief who
inherits leadership status (hereditary)
* Example: Samoa and Hawai’i before
colonialism

Question 7

States

Answer 7

Early states shared many of the features of chiefdoms, but the ruler has explicit authority to establish laws and also to
enforce them by the use of a standing army
* Stratified society
-Strong centrilized government
* Bureaucracies and taxes exist

Question 8

Ranked societies

Answer 8

a society in which prestige and authority are inherited through families

Question 9

stratified societies

Answer 9

Based on a hierarchy in which certain groups have access to resources and power while others do not.

Question 10

types of warfare

Question 11

Guilt cultures

Answer 11

which refers to a society where people are primarily motivated by guilt for not meeting certain standards or expectations.

Question 12

shame cultures

Answer 12

A culture in which conformity to social expectations stems from wanting to live up to other’s expectations

Question 13

Sodalities & provide examples

Answer 13

Group that brings people together through common concerns, age, or interests
Ex: Boys and girls of the Dinka (Jieng) tribe of South Sudan may undergo an initiation ceremony together, a painful facial scarification of forehead lines marks their passage from childhood to adulthood.

Question 14

Explain how the Ju/’hoansi maintain an egalitarian society

Question 15

Explain risk-reduction reciprocity theory & whether or not it applies to the Hadza

Answer 15

To mutually work together to reduce risk (sharing food)