Politics, Power, and Violence

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Chapter 23

• Politics, Power, and Violence

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Chapter Preview

• How Are Power and Political Organizations
  Different?
• How Are Social and Political Order Formed and
  Maintained?
• How Do Political Systems Obtain Popular Support?

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Power and Political Organization

• Power is known as the ability of individuals or
  groups to impose their will upon others and make
  them do things even against their own wants or
  wishes.
• Political organization is the way that power is
  distributed and embedded in society the means by
  which a society creates and maintains social
  order.

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Kinds of Political Systems

• Every society will have some form of political
  organization usually uncentralized or
  centralized.
• Uncentralized systems
• Bands
• Tribes
• Centralized systems
• Chiefdoms
• States

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Band Organization

• Band- small group of loosely organized
  kin-ordered group that inhabits a specific
  territory and that may split periodically into
  smaller extended family groups that are
  politically independent.
• The least complicated and oldest form of
  political organization.
• Found among nomadic societies.
• Small and egalitarian, numbering at most a few
  hundred people.

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Bands

• No need for formal political systems.
• Decisions are made with the participation of
  adult members, with an emphasis on achieving
  consensus.
• Those unable to get along with others of their
  group move to another group where kinship ties
  give them rights of entry.
• May have leaders if a person hold an ability to
  serve all in the group. They hold no real power.

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Tribal Organization

• Tribes- refer to a range of kin-ordered groups
  that are politically integrated by some unifying
  factor and whole members share a common ancestry,
  identity, culture, language, and territory.
• Economy based on crop cultivation or herding.

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Tribes

• Population densities generally exceed 1 person
  per square mile up to 250 people per square mile.
• Leadership among tribes is informal.
• Political authority may lie with the clan, here
  clan elders or headmen regulate affairs.

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Chiefdoms

• A chiefdom is a regional polity in which two or
  more local groups are organized under a single
  chief, who is at the head of a ranked hierarchy
  of people.
• The office of the chief is usually for life and
  often hereditary.
• Passing from man to son or sisters son depending
  on lineage descent pattern.

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Chiefdoms

• The chiefs authority serves to unite his people
  in all affairs and at all times.
• Usually the chief controls the economic
  activities including redistributive systems.
• May attain a large amount of material wealth
  which can be used to show and maintain status as
  chief.

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State System

• The state, in anthropology, is a centralized
  polity involving large numbers of people within a
  defined territory who are divided into social
  classes and organized and directed by a formal
  government that has the capacity and authority to
  make laws and use force to defend social order.
• The most formal of political organizations.
• Commonly referred to as a civilization.

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State

• Political power is centralized in a government.
• Since the first state appeared about 5,000 years
  ago, they have shown a tendency toward
  instability.
• Not to be confused with a nation which is a
  people who share a collective identity based on a
  common culture, language, territory, and history.

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Political Systems Legitimacy

• Legitimacy in the political sense is the idea
  that certain leaders have the right to govern, to
  hold, use, and allocate power based on the values
  of a particular society.
• Legitimacy will vary cross culturally but it is
  an established right that a person(s) must
  obtain.

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Political Leadership and Gender

• Women have enjoyed political equality with men in
  a number of societies
• There are many modern day countries which hold
  women as their highest political leaders.
• Iroquoian tribes of New York State women elect
  men to high positions in office and can also
  remove them if they chose.
• Igbo of Nigeria - women held positions that
  paralleled and balanced that of the men.

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Internalized Controls

• Many cultures have rules or laws that are not
  necessarily written rather, internal beliefs
• Beliefs that are self-imposed by individuals.
• Cultural controls or control through beliefs and
  values that are deeply ingrained in the minds of
  each member of the culture.
• These can act as control mechanisms for how
  member should act as opposed to social control or
  forced governmental control.

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Internalized Controls

• Punishments for actions against the culture might
  include the fear of shame, divine punishment, and
  magical retaliation.
• Although bands and tribes rely heavily upon them,
  they are typically insufficient by themselves.
  Therefore most societies will develop
  externalized controls.

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Externalized Controls

• In order to maintain order, externalized controls
  are generally sanctioned- externalized social
  control designed to encourage conformity to
  social norms.
• Mix of cultural and social control.
• Positive sanctions reward appropriate behavior
  whereas, negative sanctions punish behavior.

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Social Control by Witchcraft

• Among societies with or without centralized
  political systems the usage of witchcraft may
  often be employed to act as a social control
  mechanism.
• This may be either internally or externally.
• These types of groups will generally have a
  strong respect and fear of the misuse of
  witchcraft, thus making it a great tool for
  social control.

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Functions of Law

• The law is comprised of formal rules of conduct
  that, when violated, effectuate negative
  sanctions.
• There are three basic functions of law
• Defines relationships among a societys members
  and behavior under different circumstances.
• Allocates authority to employ coercion to enforce
  sanctions.
• Redefines social relations and aids its own
  efficient operation by ensuring it allows change.

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Crime

• In Western societies crime is viewed as either an
  act against the state or an individual.
• In non-state societies it is viewed as acts
  against kin-groups or individuals.
• Disputes or actions against crime can be settles
  in a few different ways.
• Negotiation, mediation, adjudication

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Settling Disputes

• Negotiation- The use of direct argument and
  compromise by the parties to a dispute to arrive
  voluntarily at a mutually satisfactory agreement.
  
• Mediation- Settlement of a dispute through
  negotiation assisted by an unbiased third party.
• Adjudication- Mediation with an unbiased third
  party making the ultimate decision.

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War

• Over the past 5,000 years it is estimated that
  humans have created and fought over 14,000 wars.
• Reasons for war vary entirely upon the society in
  which it is found. Each group will have its own
  objectives, motives, methods, and scale of
  warfare.

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Why War?

• Some anthropologists might argue that war is a
  reflection of the aggressive nature of the human
  male.
• Others will suggest it is situation specific as
  opposed to an unavoidable expression of
  biological determination towards aggression.
• Perhaps it is safer to assume warfare as a result
  of misunderstanding and culture clash.

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Suggested Activity

• Have the class attempt to compile a list of
  examples of internalized control in their
  society.
• Have them compare this to a general list of
  externalized control in their society (one they
  make or you).
• Organize students into small groups and then
  write their examples on the board for discussion.
• Make comparisons of our society to others they
  may have learned about so far in the class.
• Or have students discuss their reactions to
  control mechanisms they may not have realized
  occurred in their society.