Chapter 12: Political Organization

Question 1

political organization

Answer 1

the way a society maintains order internally and manages affairs externally

Question 2

political relationships are managed by what 3 things?*

Answer 2

power, authority and prestige

Question 3

power*

Answer 3

ability to compel another person to do something that they would not do otherwise

Question 4

coercive power

Answer 4

uses physical force or threat of it (ex- school yard bullying, rape, war)

Question 5

persuasive power

Answer 5

relies on changing someone’s belief through argumentation using religious or cultural beliefs, offers a reward for compliance

Question 6

authority*

Answer 6

the use of legitimate power, have the authority to exercise power with the consent of their members (ex- ruler, congress, police force)

Question 7

prestige*

Answer 7

type of social reward given to a person by others, positive reputation or high regard of a person or other entity merited by actions, wealth, authority or status

Question 8

“big man”

Answer 8

found throughout Melanesia uses prestige as an informal leader in his community

Question 9

internalized controls*

Answer 9

maintaining order within groups and in their relations with other groups using a series of controls
controls come from within as part of the society’s cultural values of what is right and wrong
guide a person toward the right behaviour based on a moral system

Question 10

shame cultures

Answer 10

conformity to social norms stems from wanting to live up to others expectations

Question 11

guilt cultures

Answer 11

focuses on one’s own sense of right and wrong and the punishment that can result from breaking the rules

Question 12

externalized controls*

Answer 12

Imposed from the outside
Rules regulate behaviour by encouraging conformity to social norms
Vary in degree from community gossip to the death sentence

Question 13

sanctions

Answer 13

punishments that result from breaking the rules
may be informally meted out by community members (preventative: grounding teenagers, retributive: spanking a child) or formally enforced by authority figures (fines, prison, exile, death)

Question 14

uncentralized systems*

Answer 14

have no central governing body, community members impose sanctions on those who break the rules, found in smaller homogeneous societies, informal sanctions operate widely in uncentralized societies

Question 15

centralized systems*

Answer 15

a ruling body of one or more people is given the authority to govern, occurs in larger heterogeneous societies, governing body creates a formal code of oral or written laws by which the population must abide

Question 16

cultural materialism

Answer 16

developed by Elman Service, a society’s organization is directly related to whatever adaptations are necessary to survive in its environment,
four types of classification:

Question 17

tribe

Answer 17

groups with higher population density than bands, horticulturalists or pastoralists living in separate villages spread over a wide area

Question 18

ranked system

Answer 18

where hereditary positions of status and prestige are passed down within families

Question 19

sodalities

Answer 19

groups that bring people together through common concerns, age or interests

Question 20

band

Answer 20

groups of approx. 50 to 100 individuals who rely on hunting and gathering as their main means of subsistence

Question 21

chiefdom

Answer 21

found in more populous societies where intensive agriculture is practiced, villages linked together by districts, formalized leadership with a chief who is most likely a male and most commonly passed down to his son (patrilineal) or to his sisters son (matrilineal)

Question 22

state

Answer 22

industrial and heterogeneous, with a strong centralized government, largest populations, formalized central government, written code of laws with punishments, official court system

Question 23

stratified society

Answer 23

certain members have access to power, authority and prestige while usually the larger group is excluded

Question 24

social stratification*

Answer 24

the ranking of members of a society into a hierarchy is not a natural feature of social organization
High-ranking members own or have access to more possessions and opportunities than low-ranking members and gain status in the form of power and prestige
May result from colonization

Question 25

class*

Answer 25

based upon differences in wealth and status

Question 26

caste*

Answer 26

hierarchical system based on birth, does not allow movement from one group to another (their status is ascribed

Question 27

ascribed status *

Answer 27

fixed at birth

Question 28

achieved status*

Answer 28

through work and opportunity people can move up or down classes, based on personal actions

Question 29

social mobility*

Answer 29

the ability to move upward or downward in social classes

Question 30

gender stratification

Answer 30

the dominance of men and subordinate status of women in society

Question 31

gender discrimination*

Answer 31

usually perpretrated as a result from gender stratification

Question 32

privatization

Answer 32

of water makes it difficult for marginalized and rural people to access clean water

Question 33

raid

Answer 33

members of one group aim to steal or recover items, animals or people from another group in the same society, usually happens in small horticultural or pastoral societies

Question 34

feud

Answer 34

ongoing violent relations between two groups in the same society, often begins when one group kills a member of the other group

Question 35

warfare

Answer 35

larger scale than feud or raid, weapons and transport is more technologically advanced, civil wars may begin

Question 36

ethnic sectarian violence

Answer 36

occurs when societies divided by ethnicity and religious beliefs explode with tension that has built over time.

Question 37

reasons for war

Answer 37

Population growth and surpluses of wealth that arise in a stratified society
Competition among state societies for access to resources is high
Diplomacy
Economic sanctions

Question 38

anthropophagy

Answer 38

(cannibalism) person eating

Question 39

exo-cannibalism

Answer 39

eating the flesh of those outside one’s own society