Chapters 10-12

1
Chapters 10-12

• Social Stratification and
• Political Organization

2
Social Control

• Exists to ensure a certain degree of social
  conformity
• Some people may resist conformity

3
Most non-state societies have a comparatively
high degree of personal securitywhy?

• Small size of the bands and villages
• The central importance of domestic groups and
  kinship in their social organization
• The absence of marked inequalities in access to
  technology and resources

4
Descent Groups and Social Organization Beyond Kin

• Clans and other complex descent groups expand the
  basic family relationships of kin groups to
  provide a wider set of social structures welded
  together by obligations
• Sources of conflict between these larger groups
  are numerous
• Practices and institutions to mitigate these
  conflicts become necessary

5
Social Control in Small-scale Societies

• In foraging societies, formal laws are rare
• Punishment is often through naming and shaming
• Punishment is legitimized through belief in
  supernatural forces
• Capital punishment is rare

6
Social Control in States

• Increased specialization of tasks relating to law
  and order
• Process is more formal and based on law
• Use of capital punishment

7
Political Anthropology
Who has it who doesnt
Governments
Political Anthropologists address the area of
human behavior and thought related to power
Degrees of power
Social conflict and social control
Political and religious power
8
Social Inequality and the Law
9
Why Kin Groups Arent The Answer to All Our
Problems

• Optimal Size of Kin Groups is small, about 200
  people
• Kinship ethics dont always levy adequate
  sanctions (there are social reasons against it)
• Long-term and immediate problems in relationships
  between kin groups are difficult to solve
  Intermarriage is the only really permanent glue

10
Social Conflict

• Interpersonal conflict
• Banditry
• Feuding
• Ethnic conflict
• Revolution
• Warfare
• Nonviolent conflict

11
Interpersonal Conflict

• Covers verbal arguments to murder
• Between neighbors over resources or territory,
  e.g. Gwembe Valley
• Between neighbors over dogs, e.g. middle-class
  Americans

12
Feuding

• The most universal form of inter-group aggression
• Based on revenge
• Some cultures experience more feuding because of
  economic change

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Nonviolent Conflict

• Gandhi
• Non-violent resistance
• Public fasting
• Strikes
• Celibacy
• Weapons of the weak
• Foot dragging, desertion, false compliance, humor

15
Mobilizing Public Opinion

• Within Kin-Based systems disputes are settled on
  the basis of who has the most kin support (public
  opinion)
• The general principle of dispute settlement, and
  leadership, is mobilization of public opinion
• How far claims can be pressed depends on an
  individuals willingness to suffer social
  penalties and his/her social backing
• Example Inuit Song Contests

16
Social Control of Behavior

• Ways societies deal with abnormal behavior and
  conflict
• Gossip and ridicule
• Fear of witchcraft accusations
• Avoidance
• Supernatural sanctions

17
Law

• Law is found in every society.
• In complex societies, functions of law belong to
  legal institutions, such as courts.
• Law addresses conflicts that would otherwise
  disrupt community life.

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19
Politics and the Social Contract

• Social Contract - a public contract where people
  agree to band together for some purpose - often
  highly structured in the realm of what we call
  "politics
• Politics - the spatial aspect of social force
• Institutions control the use of force within a
  territorial framework (chiefdom or state)

20
Politics

• The power to bring about results through
  authority or influence
• through possession of forceful means
• A human universal?
• No, politics only emerged with increase in
  private property
• Yes, there is no boundary between how kinship and
  political organizations organize power

21
In Political Analysis You Must Understand

• the territorial extent and organization of the
  society
• how space and resources are divided
• the social system through which force is
  allocated to and by different individuals playing
  different roles
• how that system is viewed by those living in it
• the institutional control of force by warfare
  the maintenance of territory from outsiders
• the institutional control of force by law
  enforcement maintenance of territory from
  insiders

22
Egalitarian Societies

• No individual or group has more access to
  resources, power, or prestige than any other.
• No fixed number of social positions for which
  individuals must compete.
• Associated with bands and tribes.

23
Shamans and Public Opinion

• Shamans Part-time religious, healing, or magic
  specialists
• Shamans may attribute forces to enemies, both
  within and without
• Shamans may prescribe social solutions in the
  guise of magic
• Shamans may organize the group around perceptions
  and supernatural commands.

24
Headmanship

• Headmen are individuals whose opinion carries
  more weight than others. They lead by example
• A good headman can judge the prevailing opinions
  and gauge his statements to them
• Motivation by example is the chief tool of the
  headman

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The Leopard Skin Chief

• The Leopard Skin Chiefs are an institution among
  the Nuer (Sudan).
• Mediate the disputes arising out of homicide
• Can ritually cleanse
• the murderer
• Negotiates
• compensation
• Curses those
• who would break
• the settlement

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Non-kin Associations Sodalities

• Sodality A non-kin group or association within a
  society organized around kinship groups
• Age Grade Associations
• Provides convenient way to teach youth
• Allocates civic responsibilities
• Single Sex Associations (often combined with
  other factors, e.g. age)
• Agreement or Voluntary Groups
• Vary widely in form
• Organized for almost any purpose imaginable
• Slight differences in the structures of parallel
  organizations

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Rank Society

• Institutionalized differences in prestige but no
  restrictions on access to basic resources.
• Individuals obtain what they need to survive
  through their kinship group.
• Associated with horticulture or pastoral
  societies with a surplus of food.
• Associated with chiefdoms.

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Stratified Society

• Formal, permanent, social and economic
  inequality.
• Some people are denied access to basic resources.
• Characterized by differences in standard of
  living, security, prestige and political power.

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Stratified Society

• Economically organized by market systems
  (usually).
• Based on intensive cultivation (agriculture) and
  industrialism.
• Often associated with a form of political
  organization called the state.

30
Social Stratification
Societies place people in categories. Social
groups relate differently to each other depending
on their status.
Achieved Status
Ascribed Status
Class
Race
Ethnicity
Caste
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Dimensions of Stratification

• Powercontrol resources in ones own interest.
• Wealthaccumulation of material resources or
  access to the means of producing these resources.
• Prestigesocial honor or respect.

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Ascribed Vs. Achieved Status

• Ascribed StatusSocial position into which a
  person is born. (sex, race, kinship group)
• Achieved StatusSocial position that a person
  chooses or achieves. (professor, criminal, artist)

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Social Class in the United States

• Status depends on occupation, education, and
  lifestyle.
• The American Dream, is based on the democratic
  principle of equality and opportunity for all.
• Social class in the United States correlates with
  attitudinal, behavioral, and lifestyle
  differences.

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Caste System

• System of stratification based on birth.
• Movement from one caste to another is not
  possible.
• Castes are hereditary, endogamous, ranked in
  relation to one another and usually associated
  with a traditional occupation.

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Hindu Caste System

• Four caste categories
• Brahmins - priests and scholars
• Kshatriyas - ruling and warrior caste
• Vaisyas - the merchants
• Shudras - menial workers and artisans
• Harijans untouchables

36
U.S. Racial Stratification Systems

• Race is constructed on the basis of skin color
  and presumed ancestry.
• Divides people into blacks and whites
  ignoring the reality of the skin color spectrum.
• By the 20th century, the system of race in the
  American south was very similar to the caste
  system in India.

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Race Stratification in the U.S. and Brazil

• Two largest multiracial societies in the
  Americas.
• In both societies the legacy of slavery continues
  in the form of racial inequality.
• Brazil 45 of nonwhite families and 25 of
  white families live below the poverty line.
• U.S. 30 of nonwhite families and 8 of white
  families live below the poverty line.

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Types of Social Groups

• Friendship
• Clubs and fraternities
• Counterculture groups
• Work groups
• Cooperatives
• Activist groups

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Clubs and Fraternities

• Define membership on shared identity
• Can serve economic and political roles
• Mens clubs featuring male-male bonding
  activities are common
• often involve objectification and mistreatment of
  women
• some US college fraternities

41
Counterculture Groups

• Feature in industrialized societies
• Members desire to be identified with a special
  group
• youth gangs
• initialization rituals
• a leader
• special clothing
• body modification groups

42
Work Groups

• Organized to perform particular task
• Prominent in horticultural and agricultural
  communities
• Often made up of youth groups

43
Cooperatives

• Surpluses are shared among the members
• One person, one vote
• Farmer cooperatives
• e.g. in western India
• Craft cooperatives
• e.g. in Panama

44
Activist Groups

• Formed with the goal of protesting certain
  conditions such as political repression or human
  rights violations
• e.g. CO-MADRES
• Also formed because of concerns about personal
  problems
• e.g. AA

45
Civil Society

• Diverse interest groups that operate outside the
  government to organize aspects of life
• the Church
• Trade Unions
• Environmental groups

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Types of Political Organizations
Bands
Tribes
Chiefdoms
States
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Band Societies Summary

• Related by blood or marriage
• Live together and are loosely associated with a
  territory in which they forage
• Egalitarian

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Bands

• Foraging groups
• Comprises a small group of households
• Between 20 and a few hundred people
• Membership is flexible
• Leader is first among equals
• Leader has no power, only authority and influence

50
Band Societies Leadership

• Decision-making is by consensus.
• Leaders are older men and women.
• Leaders cannot enforce their decisions They can
  only persuade.
• Sharing and generosity are important sources of
  respect.

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Band Societies Social Order

• Maintained by gossip, ridicule, and avoidance.
• Violations of norms are sins.
• Offenders may be controlled through ritual means
  such as public confessions.
• Offender is defined as a patient rather than a
  criminal.

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Tribes Summary

• Members consider themselves descended from the
  same ancestor.
• Found primarily among pastoralists and
  horticulturalists.
• Egalitarian
• Leadership Bigman

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Big-Man Societies

• Big Man A local entrepreneur who successfully
  mobilizes and manipulates wealth on behalf of his
  group in order to hold feasts and enhance his
  status and rank relative to other leaders in the
  region.
• He has no formal authority or power, nor does he
  necessarily have more wealth.

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Tribal Societies

• Horticulture and pastoralism dominant, sometimes
  limited agriculture
• Comprises several bands, each with similar
  lifestyle, language and territory
• Leadership combines both achieved and ascribed
  statuses
• Leader resolves conflict
• Leader relies on authority and influence

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Chiefdoms Summary

• Allied tribes and villages under one leader
• More centralized and complex
• Heritable systems of rank
• Social stratification
• Chiefship is an office
• Achievement is a measure of success

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Chiefdom Societies

• Characteristics
• Monumental architecture
• Distinct ceremonial centers
• Elaborate grave goods reflect high social status
• Larger settlements by smaller villages
• Cultivators and pastoralists

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Definition of a State

• A formal organization of roles in which legal
  and military authority is vested and in which
  authority is considered by the members of the
  state to be its primary function
• A special group charged with allocating
  authority to use physical force to achieve peace
  and conformance with law and custom and to
  maintain territorial integrity against external
  threats

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State Societies

• Central government with monopoly over the use of
  force.
• More populous, heterogeneous, and powerful than
  other political organizations.
• Able to organize large populations for
  coordinated action.
• Defend against external threats.

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Characteristics of States

• Define citizenship and rights
• Maintain law and order
• Maintain standing armies
• Keep track of their citizens
• Have the power the tax
• Power to manipulate information
• Hierarchical and patriarchal

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Political Change in States Today
Globalization
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WAR

• Armed conflict between groups of people who
  constitute separate territorial teams or
  political communities
• Some groups seldom, if ever, war while with
  others it is endemic
• Interpersonal violence and armed conflict are a
  tendency of all societies when certain internal
  or external pressures arise

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WAR IS

• A significant factor in demographic and political
  change within the last 10,000 years
• Attested to by a great deal of archaeological
  evidence worldwide
• Not innate per se, but in historical terms it
  seems to be one of the universally recurring
  realities of human existence
• all Hell, as General W.T. Sherman once noted

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Warfare Among Hunter-gatherers

• Depending on the circumstances, low-level
  conflict can and does occur between foragers
• Yet hunter-gatherers seldom try to annihilate
  each other. Why?
• The loss of 2 male individuals per generation in
  a band of 30 represents more than 10 percent of
  all adult male deaths
• Small bands cannot sustain fatalities at these
  levels and survive.
• Protection of women from violent death is even
  more critical from the biological standpoint. Why?

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Warfare Among Hunter-gatherers

• Armed conflict between simple hunter-gatherers
  usually takes the form of personal feuds between
  individuals typically older men who have
  long-standing conflicts.
• Just as in other social animals, conflict between
  groups of hunter-gatherers is more frequent
  during periods of population pressure and
  environmental stress.

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Warfare Among Sedentary Village Societies

• Warfare is much more common among sedentary
  populations than with foragers
• The more people have invested in fixed elements
  in their environment the more likely they are to
  defend it.
• Sedentary groups cannot resolve disputes by
  moving off to another location.
• Example Among the Yanomami almost 33 of all
  male deaths and 7 of female deaths were due to
  armed conflict.

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Why War?

• War as instinct
• War is innate.
• Not all societies are warlike, and most societies
  only war occasionally.
• There are alternatives to war which are often
  chosen.
• If it were deeply instinctive, the complex means
  of conflict resolution and social organization
  would not evolve.

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Why War?

• War as sport and Entertainment
• Martial arts, war movies, war games, guns and
  military paraphernalia, are all very popular.
  People are fascinated with war
• In the United States the majority of people do
  not have any concept of what war is really about.
  And, in large part, some of modern warfare has
  been sterilized through the use of stand-off
  weaponry.
• No one who has been in direct combat views it as
  entertainment. As historian Stephen Ambrose puts
  it, it is the worst experience a human being can
  find themselves in.
• In the past people had to kill others with their
  bare hands. It was brutal, direct, and required
  an immense amount of courage.
• War is terrible destructive, especially to
  non-industrial societies. The cost in resources
  is very high in most cases.

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Why War?

• War as revenge
• This is frequently the stated motivation in many
  non-state conflicts.
• However, all societies have ways to circumvent
  war for revenge, and all societies have ways in
  which the aggrieved parties can choose not to
  retaliate indefinitely
• So revenge may be an emic explanation, but it is
  not an underlying and universal cause for
  warfare.

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Why War?

• War as a struggle for Reproductive Success
• The warriors get the girls, and the successful
  warriors (who live, and gain prestige as well as
  plunder) get more of the girls. Warriors have
  status and are intimidating to others.
• HOWEVER, those who live by the sword usually die
  by the sword. Men who are aggressive warriors
  typically die young, and are often pre-occupied
  with the conflicts to the detriment of their
  family life.

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Why War?

• War as a Struggle for material benefits
• In general warfare is expensive in terms of human
  costs, but the larger the society the more able
  they are to absorb these costs.
• The immediate material gains of war may be
  significant despite the casualties.
• less than 1 of male deaths in Europe and the
  U.S. have been battlefield deaths in the last
  century, and that includes WWI where almost ¼ of
  the Entire European male population died, and
  WWII where over half a billion people were
  killed.

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Why War Conclusions

• Band and village people go to war when they lack
  alternative solutions to conflicts related to
  procuring resources in response to population
  pressure and environmental depletion.
• Chiefdoms and States go to war because it is the
  primary means by which the ruling elite
  solidifies control, gains resources, and acquires
  territory.