Chapter 12, Political Organization and Social Control

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Chapter 12, Political Organizationand Social
Control

• Key Terms

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• acephalous societies Societies without a
  political head such as a president, chief, or
  king.
• age grade Permanent age categories in a society
  through which people pass during the course of a
  lifetime.

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• age organization A type of social organization,
  found in East Africa and among certain Native
  American groups, where people of roughly the same
  age pass through different levels of society
  together. Each ascending level, based on age,
  carries with it increased social status and
  rigidly defined roles.

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• age set A group of people roughly the same age
  who pass through various age grades together.
• ancestor worship The worshiping of deceased
  relatives. These souls are considered
  supernatural beings and fully functioning members
  of a descent group.

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• authority Legitimate power exercised with the
  consent of the members of a society.
• autocracy A form of government, controlled by a
  leader with absolute power that denies popular
  participation in decision making.

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• band societies Bands are the basic social unit
  found in many hunting-and- gathering societies
  these societies are characterized by being
  kinship based and having no permanent political
  structure.
• chiefdoms An intermediate form of political
  organization in which integration is achieved
  through the office of chiefs.

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• corporate lineagesKinship groups whose members
  engage in daily activities together.
• council of eldersA formal control mechanism
  composed of a group of elders who settle disputes
  among individuals within a community.

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• degradation ceremonies Deliberate and formal
  societal mechanisms designed to publicly
  humiliate someone who has broken a social norm.
• deviance The violation of a social norm.

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• ghost invocation The practice of a living person
  (typically an elder) calling forth the wrath of
  ancestor gods against an alleged sinner.
• ghostly vengeance The belief that ancestor gods
  (ghosts) will punish sinners.

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• hydraulic theory of state formation The notion
  that early state systems of government arose
  because small-scale farmers were willing to
  surrender a portion of their autonomy to a large
  government entity in exchange for the benefits of
  large-scale irrigation systems.

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• intermediaries Mediators of disputes among
  individuals or families within a society.
• law Cultural rules that regulate human behavior
  and maintain order.

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• Leopard-skin Chief An example of an intermediary
  found among the Nuer of the African Sudan.
• moots Informal hearings of disputes for the
  purpose of resolving conflicts, usually found in
  small-scale societies.

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• nation A group of people who share a common
  identity, history, and culture.
• negative sanctions Punishment for violating the
  norms of a society.

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• oath The practice of having God bear witness to
  the truth of what a person says.
• ordeal A painful and possibly life-threatening
  test inflicted on someone suspected of wrongdoing.

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• pan-tribal mechanismsMechanisms such as clans,
  age grades, and secret societies found in tribal
  societies that cut across kinship lines and
  integrate the local segments of the tribe into a
  larger whole.
• political coerciveness The capacity of a
  political system to enforce its will on the
  general population.

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• political integration The process that brings
  disparate people under the control of a single
  political system.
• positive sanctions A mechanism of social control
  for enforcing a societys norms through rewards.

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• public opinionWhat the general public thinks
  about some issue. When public opinion is brought
  to bear on an individual, it can influence his or
  her behavior.
• rebellion An attempt within a society to disrupt
  the status quo and redistribute the power and
  resources.

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• revolution An attempt to overthrow the existing
  form of political organization, the principles of
  economic production and distribution, and the
  allocation of social status.
• sanctions Any means used to enforce compliance
  with the rules and norms of a society.

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• social control Mechanisms found in all societies
  that function to encourage people not to violate
  the social norms.
• socialization Teaching the young the norms in a
  society.

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• social normsExpected forms of behavior.
• song duelA means of settling disputes over wife
  stealing among the Inuit involving the use of
  song and lyrics to determine ones guilt or
  innocence.

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• specialized political roles When large numbers
  of people are required to carry out specific
  tasks such as law enforcement, tax collection,
  dispute settlement, recruitment of labor, and
  protection from outside invasion.
• state A particular type of political structure
  that is hierarchical, bureaucratic, and
  centralized and has a monopoly on the legitimate
  use of force to implement its policies.

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• state system of governmentA bureaucratic,
  hierarchical form of government composed of
  various echelons of political specialists.
• supernatural belief systems A set of beliefs
  found in all societies that transcend the
  natural, observable world.

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• tribal societies Small-scale societies composed
  of a number of autonomous political units sharing
  common linguistic and cultural features.
• voluntaristic theory of state formationThe
  theory that suggests that stable systems of state
  government arose because people voluntarily
  surrendered some of their autonomy to the state
  in exchange for certain benefits.

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• warfareArmed conflict between nation-states or
  other politically distinct groups.
• witchcraft An inborn, involuntary, and often
  unconscious capacity to cause harm to other
  people.