Chapter 12

1. Chapter 12 Political Organization and Social Control

2. What We Will Learn • What are the different types of political organization? • What are the various theories concerning the origins of the state? • In the absence of kings, presidents, legislatures, and bureaucracies, how is social order maintained in stateless societies? • What are the causes of war?

3. Three Dimensions of Political Organization • Extent to which political institutions are distinct from other aspects of the social structure. • Extent to which authority is concentrated into specific political roles. • Level of political integration (the size of the territorial group that comes under the control of the political structure).

4. Four Types of Political Structures • Band societies • Tribal societies • Chiefdoms • State societies

5. Band Societies • Least complex form of political arrangement. • Characterized by small, nomadic populations of food collectors. • Most bands number between 30 and 50 people.

6. Band Societies • Little concept of individual property ownership with a high value on sharing, cooperation, and reciprocity. • Little role specialization and highly egalitarian. • Thought to be the oldest form of political organization.

7. Characteristics of Band Societies • There is a high value placed on “getting along” with one another. • Bands are independent of one another and are not part of a larger political structure. • Political decisions are often embedded in the wider social structure. • Leadership roles in band societies tend to be informal.

8. Tribal Societies • Found most often among food producers. • Tend to have populations that are larger, denser, and somewhat more sedentary. • Leadership is informal and not vested in a centralized authority. • Have certain pan-tribal mechanisms that cut across and integrate all of the local segments of the tribe into a larger whole.

9. Chiefdoms • Political authority is likely to reside with a single individual, acting alone or in conjunction with an advisory council. • Integrate a number of local communities in a formal and permanent way. • Made up of local communities that differ from one another in terms of rank and status. • Chiefships are hereditary, and the chief and immediate kin are a social and political elite.

10. State Systems • Most formal and complex form of political organization. • Authority of the state rests on two important foundations. • The state holds exclusive right to use force and physical coercion. • The state maintains authority by means of ideology.

11. Voluntaristic Theory of State Formation: Childe • Development of intensive agriculture during the neolithic period created food surpluses. • Food surpluses allowed a segment of the population to engage in new occupations such as weavers, traders, potters, and metalworkers. • This required political integration to mediate between special interest groups and provide an economic superstructure.

12. Hydraulic theory of state formation: Wittfogel • Small-scale irrigation farmers in arid or semiarid areas saw economic advantages in merging their small communities into a larger political entity capable of large-scale irrigation. • Though archaeological evidence indicates that certain states developed before the introduction of large-scale irrigation, centralized political governments appear to be functional for agricultural systems dependent on irrigation.

13. Coercive Theory of State Formation: Carneiro • Suggests that the existence of the state is the direct result of warfare. • Although warfare is the mechanism of state formation, it operates only in areas that have limited agricultural land for expanding populations.

14. The Modern Nation-State • A nation is a group of people who share a common symbolic identity, culture, history, and often, religion. • A state is a particular type of political structure distinct from a band, tribal society, or chiefdom. • The term nation-state refers to a group of people sharing a common cultural background and unified by a political structure that they all consider legitimate.

15. Changing State Systems of Government • According to Freedom House, an organization that tracks political trends throughout the world: • Over the last two decades the world’s population living in “free” societies increased from 36 to 41%. • Those living in “partly free” societies increased from 22 to 24%. • Those living in “not free” societies decreased from 42 to 35%.

16. Variations in Political Aspects of World Cultures

17. Variations in Socioeconomic Aspects of World Cultures

18. Social Control • Every society must ensure that most of the people behave themselves in appropriate ways most of the time. • Social norms are normal, proper, or expected ways of behaving. • Deviance is a violation of social norms. • Sanctions are institutionalized ways of encouraging people to conform to the norms.

19. Social Norms in the U.S.

20. Informal Social Control • Socialization • Public Opinion • Corporate Lineages • Supernatural Belief Systems • Age Organizations

21. Age-Graded Society

22. Formal Social Control • Verbal competition • Intermediaries • Councils of elders • Oaths • Ordeals • Formal court systems • Warfare

23. Why A Society Will Go to War • It blames another society for its own social problems. • It believes it is threatened. • Wants to further its own ends. • Is defending a moral position.

24. Quick Quiz

25. 1. _______ refers to the way in which power is distributed within a society so as to control peoples' behavior and maintain social order. • Political organization • Social order • Gender stratification • Religion

26. Answer: a • Political organization refers to the way in which power is distributed within a society so as to control peoples' behavior and maintain social order.

27. 2. The least complex form of political arrangement is the ________, characterized by small groups of food collectors. • chiefdom • band • tribe • state

28. Answer: b • The least complex form of political arrangement is the band, characterized by small groups of food collectors.

29. 3. In societies known as ________, political authority is likely to reside with a single individual, acting alone or with an advisory council. • bands • states • chiefdoms • tribes

30. Answer: c • In societies known as chiefdoms, political authority is likely to reside with a single individual, acting alone or with an advisory council.

31. 4. The ________ system of government is the most formal and most complex form of political organization. • band • tribe • state • chiefdom

32. Answer: c • The state system of government is the most formal and most complex form of political organization.

33. 5. All societies have some form of ________, which involves teaching the young what the norms are and that they should not be violated. • normalization • public opinion • socialization • coercion

34. Answer: c 5. All societies have some form of socialization, which involves teaching the young what the norms are and that they should not be violated.