Unit 7 Definitions

Question 1

the study of power, political structure, political organization, and political action in human society

Answer 1

political anthropology (!)

Question 2

egalitarian

Answer 2

societies in which individuals enjoy equal status and decisions are made through consensus

Question 3

stratified society

Answer 3

societies in which there is a permanent hierarchy that accords some members privileged access to wealth, power, and prestige

Question 4

what are the two types of uncentralized political systems? (!)

Answer 4

band
tribe

Question 5

a small social group whose members neither farm nor herd but depend on wild food sources

Answer 5

band

Question 6

a group that lies somewhere between a band and a centralized political system (usually bigger than a band, has domesticated plants and animals, but its political organization remains largely egalitarian)

Answer 6

tribe

Question 7

how many subtypes are there of tribes?

Answer 7

five subtypes

Question 8

how many subtypes are there of bands?

Answer 8

three subtypes

Question 9

what are the two centralized systems? (!)

Answer 9

chiefdom
state

Question 10

usually only the chief and the chief’s family are set above the rest of society, which remains fairly egalitarian

Answer 10

chiefdom (!)

Question 11

different groups suffer permanent inequality of access to wealth, power, and prestige; this signals the presence of social stratification

Answer 11

state (!)

Question 12

coercion

Answer 12

power and control exercised by force or threat of force

Question 13

ideology (!)

Answer 13

a worldview that justifies the social arrangements under which people live

Question 14

“________”: coercive rule

Answer 14

domination

Question 15

persuading subordinates to accept the ideology of the dominant group by mutual accommodations that nevertheless preserve the rulers’ privileged position

Answer 15

hegemony (!)

Question 16

___: the act of knowing and managing the territory and population of a state

Answer 16

governmentality

Question 17

a type of power and political strategy that targets (by knowing and managing) the biology of individual citizens and the population as a whole

Answer 17

biopower

Question 18

a complex concept associated with many cultures in Oceania that is both a noun (a spiritual force or power found in all things) and a stative verb (to be true, successful, prestigious, respectful, and potent)

Answer 18

mana

Question 19

____: an agreement to which all parties collectively give their assent

Answer 19

consensus

Question 20

____: using influence to convince others to take a specific course of action

Answer 20

persuasion

Question 21

_____: the power to refuse being forced against one’s will to conform to someone else’s wishes, can be overt and subtle

Answer 21

resistance (!)

Question 22

the patterning of human interdependence in a given society through the actions and decisions of its members

Answer 22

social organization

Question 23

_____: transformative capacity, the ability to transform a given situation, impact and influence it

Answer 23

power (!)

Question 24

the social forms, actions, and institutions that produce, reflect, and change relations of power, decision making, and authority

Answer 24

politics