Lecture 9: Political Anthropology

Question 1

What is the political

Answer 1

Substantial variation in power, authority, and legal systems

Question 2

power =

Answer 2

ability to exercise one’s will over others; authority is formal, socially approved use of power

Question 3

four types of political organization in relation to economy

Answer 3

band

tribe

chiefdom

state

Question 4

band

Answer 4

small kin-based group among foragers

Question 5

tribe

Answer 5

economy based on non-intensive food production

Question 6

chiefdom

Answer 6

intermediate form between tribe and state. Differential access: favoured access to resources by superordinate’s over subordinates.

Question 7

state

Answer 7

formal governmental structure and socioeconomic stratification

Question 8

foraging bands

Answer 8

Modern foragers live in nation-states and an interlinked world. All foragers now trade with food producers and most contemporary hunter-gatherers rely on governments and missionaries

Question 9

what do tribes typically have

Answer 9

horticultural or pastoral economy , organized by village life and or descent-group membeship

Question 10

horticultural villages

Answer 10

usually small, with low population density, open access to strategic resources

Question 11

position / role of village head

Answer 11

• Must lead by example
• Acts as mediator in disputes
• Must lead in generosity

Question 12

what is the village head

Answer 12

local tribe leader with limited authority

Question 13

Big Man

Answer 13

like a village head, except his authority is regional and may have influence over more than one village

Question 14

what must the Big Man be

Answer 14

He must be generous and he serves as temporary regional regulator who can mobilize supporters

Question 15

pantribal societies

Answer 15

groups that extend across several tribes, spanning several villages

Question 16

examples pantribal societies

Answer 16

Central Plains of North America and tropical Africa

Question 17

Plains

Answer 17

leadership needed to raid enemy camps and manage summer bison hunt

Question 18

Pantribal sodalities

Answer 18

Tend to be found in areas where two or more different cultures come into regular contact. Pantribal sodalities draw members from several villages and can mobilize large numbers of men for raids

Question 19

Nomad Politics

Answer 19

Nomads must interact with a variety of groups, unlike most sedentary societies. Powerful chiefs commonly found in nomadic groups that have large populations.

Question 20

office

Answer 20

permanent position that must be refilled when it is vacated by death or retirement. Offices outlast individuals and offices ensure that sociopolitical organization endures across generations

Question 21

chief role

Answer 21

Chiefs play important role in production, distribution, and consumption of resources. They collect foodstuffs as tribute (form of ‘tax’) and later redistribute collected foodstuffs at feasts (chiefly redistribution)

Question 22

status systems

Answer 22

based on seniority of descent

Question 23

status system chiefdoms

Answer 23

• People in a chiefdom believe to have descended from common ancestors
• The chief must demonstrate seniority of descent
• Lack of sharp gaps between elites and commoners

Question 24

Stratification

Answer 24

differential access by social classes or strata

Question 25

three dimensions of social stratification

Answer 25

1. Economic status or wealth 2. Power 3. Prestige

Question 26

economic status or wealth

Answer 26

all a person’s material assets; the basis of his or her economic status

Question 27

prestige

Answer 27

esteem, respect, or approval; the basis of social status

Question 28

power

Answer 28

the ability to control others; the basis of political status

Question 29

state specialization

Answer 29

population control, judiciary, law enforcement and fiscal systems

Question 30

population control

Answer 30

States control population through administrative subdivision: provinces, districts, ‘states’, counties, sub counties, and parishes

Question 31

judiciary

Answer 31

States have laws based on precedent and legislative proclamations. All states have courts and judges. The law is unique in that it governs family affairs. States attempt to curb internal conflict. Presence of laws has not reduced violence

Question 32

enforcement

Answer 32

Agents of the state mete out punishment and collect fines. Although states impose hardships, they offer advantages. Formal mechanisms designed to protect against external threats and to preserve internal order

Question 33

fiscal systems

Answer 33

pertains to finances and taxation. States redistribute (through taxation), but generosity and sharing played down

Question 34

social control

Answer 34

those fields of the social system (beliefs, practices, and institutions) that are most actively involved in the maintenance of any norms and regulation of any conflict

Question 35

hegemony

Answer 35

subordinates comply by internalizing rulers’ values and accepting the ‘naturalness’ of domination

Question 36

weapons of the weak

Answer 36

The oppressed may seem to accept their own domination, even as they question it offstage in private.

Question 37

public transcript

Answer 37

open public interaction between superordinate’s and subordinates

Question 38

hidden transcript

Answer 38

critique of power that goes on offstage, where the power holders can’t see it

Question 39

shame and gossip

Answer 39

In small-scale societies, ‘informal’ control through fear, stigma, shame, and gossip. Shame can be a powerful social sanction.

Question 40

efficacy of social control

Answer 40

depends on how clearly people envision the sanctions that an antisocial act might trigger.

Question 41

Resistance is most likely expressed openly when...

Answer 41

people are allowed to assemble