Chapter 12: Political Anthropology

Question 1

political anthropology

Answer 1

the study of the ways that communities plan and act as a collective, elect leaders and resolve intra and extra conflicts.

Question 2

influence

Answer 2

the ability to have an effect on the actions and decisions of others

Question 3

authority

Answer 3

combination of personal characteristics and social status. Entails having influence as well.

Question 4

bands

Answer 4

small and loosely organized groups that stick together through informal means, usually territorial units ex: Tiwi people of Northern Australia

Question 5

tribes

Answer 5

societies with some degree of formalization of structure and leadership, including village and inter village councils whose members regularly meet to settle disputes and plan community activities.

Question 6

associations

Answer 6

sociopolitical groups that tie people together due to same intersests and skills

Question 7

age grade (age set)

Answer 7

sociopolitical association of peers with similar interests/skills/social functions

Question 8

confederacies

Answer 8

organization of united tribes and bands to face a common external threat

Question 9

age- linked association example

Answer 9

The Hidatsa and the Maasai

Question 10

chiefdoms

Answer 10

stratified societies organized by kinship/

Question 11

kingdom

Answer 11

a centralized political organization with the king as the paramount leader

Question 12

republics

Answer 12

state societies with elected rather than inherited leadership

Question 13

primogeniture

Answer 13

successor or to th king or queen is usually the first born and even more usually the first born son

Question 14

empires

Answer 14

states expanded into larger units through conquest and the occupation or annexation of new territories

Question 15

social control

Answer 15

informal and formal mechanisms in society through which people’s actions are controlled and social norms or laws are enforced

Question 16

terrorism

Answer 16

acts of violence perpetrated by private citizens against groups within their own country or against a foreign country without the cover and sanction of state-declared war.

Question 17

theocracies

Answer 17

societies ruled by religious leaders

Question 18

factionalism

Answer 18

tendency for groups to split into opposing parties over political issues , often a cause of violence and a threat to political unity