Political Anthropology and Organization Flashcards
Define authority.
The ability to bring results in a community based on ones position/influence.
Define power.
The ability to bring results due to the threat or use of violence. In this case no respect is needed for people with power.
What is the difference between authority and power?
Authority refers to the influence that an individual has over their community. Well respected.
Power is the influence that someone has over a community due to a threat of violence/punishment if they do not comply. Doesn’t have to be respected.
Define chiefdom.
A type of political organization where many tribes and villages are permanently allied under a chief.
They are ranked societies with substantial differences in status based on how close you are to the chief.
Chiefs are usually determined by heredity.
What are sumptuary rules?
Social norms used to divide ranked societies that dictate what an individual is allowed to wear/use based on their rank.
ex. lower rank cannot wear certain jewelry or use certain decorations.
What is a ranked society?
A society in which there is differentiation (largely based on sumptuary rules) between different individuals based on rank/status. However, all individuals are able to attain their basic needs.
How is policing utilized by state societies?
As police have both authority and power, they are often used to maintain order for whomever may be in charge (president, mayor, etc.)
What is a tribe?
A form of egalitarian political organization where two or more large groups are connected. Every individual has an equal opportunity to become a head man.
Describe the big man/woman system.
System in tribal societies where there is one “big man” who acquires followers by doing them favours they cannot possibly pay back, effectively making them in his debt.
However, the big man cannot force his followers to do anything (not obligated to pay back debt, cant prevent them from joining another big man), and rule by diplomacy and persuasion.
Define social justice.
Justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society.
Define proletarianization.
A process through which farmers are removed from the land and forced to take wage labor employment.
Define reverse dominance.
The process in a society in which people reject any individuals attempts at exercising power through ridicule.
What is legitimacy?
The concept that an individual has a valid right to leadership.
ex. “Donald Trump rigged the election, he’s not a legitimate president”
What is bilateral cross cousin marriage. Why might this marriage occur?
When a man will marry a woman who is both his mother’s brother’s daughter and his father’s sister’s daughter.
Occurs in order to keep positive relations and peace between both sides of family.
What is a band?
The smallest level of political organization, consisting of only a few families all tied by kinship, and no formal leadership. Communal decision making.
Egalitarian.
What is a stratified society?
A society in which there are large gaps in power, wealth and status separating different groups of people found in state societies.
These gaps are due to the unequal access to resources and power.
Ex. class, caste
What is codified law? In which societies is codified law present?
Formal, written law in which damages, crimes, remedies and punishments are specified.
Present in state societies.
Define political organization.
The methods with which different societies organize their political/power systems.
Define a state society.
A society occupying a clearly defined territory in which there is a central government which holds both authority and power.
Maintains this through the use of force, though these states are often very weak and unstable, with many states breaking apart after a few hundred years.
Characterized by the concepts of taxation and ideology.
Very ethnically diverse populations.
What is unilineal descent?
Descent that only recognizes one “sex based” side of the family.
Ex. matrilineal only recognizes moms side as kin.
What are ideologies?
Concepts and ideas designed to reinforce a rulers right to rule.
What is a social norm?
An unwritten behavioral rule that people follow that isnt necessarily formally (legally) enforced.
ex. holding the door open for old people
What are affinial relationships?
Relationships created through marriage.
Define law.
Rules that govern a society. Decide what is allowed and what is not, and what the punishments may be for breaking these rules.
Looks different in different systems of political organizations.
What is a nation?
As opposed to the institution that is a state, a nation is an ethnic population identified by language, territorial base, history and culture.
What is circumscription?
The enclosure of a region due to a geographical feature like a forest, mountain range or state borders.
What is trial by ordeal? What is an example?
An old method of determining innocence by subjecting person accused to a painful experience such as fire or water which would then determine their guilt or innocence.
ex. Salem with trials
What is an age grade?
An age grade is a group of individuals of a similar age who share similar responsibilities.
What is the difference between age grades and age sets?
Age sets are named categories to which men are assigned at birth, while age grades are groups of men of a similar age that share similar responsibilities.
Describe the age set system in Kenya. What is the purpose of this system?
From birth until they were 15, men got assigned to an age set, when the last boy was recruited, that age set would close and a new one would open.
The age sets move up the age grades as they get older in a 105 year long cycle.
This system fostered bonds between individuals of the same ages that could actually transcend familial obligations.
