Department of Education
Region IX, Zamboanga Peninsula
Division of Zamboanga City
Tolosa National High School
Tolosa, Zamboanga City
Understanding Culture, Society and Politics
Name: __________________________________ Score: ______________
Grade & Section: ___________________ Date: ______________
Activity 2.1: Political Organization
Concept Notes:
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION refers to the way power is distributed and embedded in societies
Who has power?
How does power differ from authority?
How is power organized and administered?
How is order maintained?
Political organizations and the maintenance of order.
Social control needed for people to live together
Ostracism - banning a person from a group
Judiciary systems
POWER
Potency, capability, charisma (individual)
Ability of person to impose its will in social action upon another
Tactical or organizational power -- The instrumentalities through which individuals or groups direct or
circumscribe the actions of others
Structural power – power that organizes and orchestrates the settings themselves & that specifies the
direction & distribution of energy flows
DISTINCTION BETWEEN POWER AND AUTHORITY
POWER: ability to bring about results
power may be informal and based on force
coercive power versus persuasive power
Symbolic power based on positive expectations of those who accede to it
AUTHORITY is the socially recognized right to exert power
LEGITIMACY - the socially recognized right to hold, use, and allocate power
3 Types of Legitimate Rule (Weber)
1. CHARISMATIC AUTHORITY (character, heroism, leadership, r eligious),
2. TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY (patriarchs, patrimonialism, feudalism) and
3. LEGAL-RATIONAL AUTHORITY (modern law and state, bureaucracy).
Early Evolutionary Scheme Matched with Subsistence Strategies
►band, tribe, chiefdom, state (Elman Service)
foragers, horticulturalists, agriculturalists, industrialists
►different types of political organization related to
subsistence strategy
population density and heterogeneity
degree of hierarchy and social stratification
presence of bounded territory
degree of formalization of rule
Band, Tribe, Chiefdom, State
Sequence can be replaced with contrast between uncentralized and centralized political
systems
Replace evolutionary perspective with:
ethnographic present
historical perspective
Bands and Tribes: Uncentralized political systems
►associated with:
subsistence level economies such as foraging
small, homogeneous populations
little social stratification
relatively autonomous groups
often relatively mobile without strict territorial boundaries formal leader or organization
beyond kinship rare
Chiefdom & State: Centralized political systems
► associated with:
intensive agricultural or industrialization
►technology becomes more complicated
►labor specialization increases
large, diverse population
less mobility
opportunity for control of resources appears
appearance of coercive force
►Wolf’s 3rd modality
male leaders more frequent
political authority is concentrated in a single individual (chiefdoms) or a body of individuals
(the state)
The Band
small group of politically independent, though related, households
all social relationships based on kinship
least complex form of political organization
associated with foraging forms of subsistence
decisions made through consensus
no fixed leadership, only informal recognition of prowess
The Tribe
tribal system consists of separate bands or villages
integrated through lineages, clans, age grades, or other associations cross-cutting kinship and
territory
associated with farming or herding subsistence strategies
greater population density
no centralized leadership
typically someone respected for wisdom or prowess – charisma & “big men”
group decisions by consensus
leaders of localized descent groups or a territorial group
authority is personal (a) not elected, (b) no formal office (c) status result of personal behavior
status often achieved through exchange (a) Gift exchange (b) Redistribution – public
exchange of scarce resources
Chiefdom
►a regional society in which one or more local groups are organized under a single ruling individual –
the chief – who is at the head of a ranked hierarchy of people
The Chief
Divine king – macrocosm and microcosm
status determined by closeness to chief
office of chief often hereditary e.g. passing to son or to sister’s son
also based on talents
often conceived as a semi-sacred position
may accumulate personal wealth to add to power
Chiefdom
► a true authority figure with a formal office
► can distribute resources
associated with redistributive economies
chief controls surpluses and labour
may collect taxes or tribute
may recruit labour for community projects
►irrigation, a temple, a palace e.g. can conscript for military
► recognized hierarchy linked to chief
► tend to be unstable
► Rank society
► do not have unequal access to economic resources or to power, but they do contain social
groups having unequal access to prestige
► Unequal access to prestige often reflected in position of chief to which only some members of a
specified group in the society can succeed
► Ascribed status
Band & tribe vs. chiefdom
►in band and tribal societies competitive displays & conspicuous consumption by individuals
disappears & anyone foolish enough to boast how great he is gets accused of witchcraft & is stoned
to death
►mutual benefit predominates, not redistribution
Guide Questions:
a. What is difference of POWER and AUTHORITY?
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b. Give at least two examples of a Philippine tribal group and describe each.
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2.________________________________________________________________________________________________
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22. the state
►the most formal of political organizations and is one of the hallmarks of civilization
►political power is centralized in a government which may LEGITIMATELY use force to regulate the
affairs of its citizens ►Weber’s monopoly on the legitimate use of force
23. The state: associated with –
►increased food production (agriculture and industry)
►irrigation and transformation of landscape
►increased population
►fixed territory
►developed market system
►appearance of cities developed urban sector
24. The state: associated with –
►appearance of bureaucracy
►military
►usually an official religion
►delegation of authority to maintain order
within and without its borders
►right to control information
►authority is formal and impersonal Holding office and the person
25. The state: associated with –
►differentiation in population appears – social stratification
►appearance of ethnicity
►permanent, heritable inequality
slaves, castes and classes
►social conflict increases
26. original states appeared 5000 years ago
►primary states are agricultural
►theories about their formation
►military needs, irrigation needs, environmental conditions
27. why the state? from band to state
► more wealth
► more people
► more settled
► more inequality and ranking
► less reliance on kinship
► more internal and external conflict
► increased power and responsibility to leaders
► increased burden to citizens to support political organization
► increased use of formal, legal structures for adjudication
28. The Nation (-State)
► modern nation-state a more recent phenomenon
most have appeared since the end of WWII
► communities of people who see themselves as “one people” on the basis of common ancestry,
history, society, institutions, ideology, language, territory, and (often) religion
► anthropology questions this reality while recognizing the power of the idea
► differences are suppressed in modern nation- states
29. NATION & NATIONALITY
►nation was once a term that referred to tribe, indigenous people, or ethnic group - collectivity
sharing single language, religion, history, territory, ancestry, kinship (Herder & volk)
►nation comes to mean the state = a country
►a sociopolitical form, the modern state composed of diverse ethnic groups
30. Nation as “Imagined Community”
►"it is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their
fellow members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their
communion" (Anderson p.15)
31. imagined community
►A community that “imagines” itself
No possibility of face-to-face communication
Moments of simultaneity
Language & “print capitalism”
Monuments and memorials
►Anthropology questions this reality while recognizing the power of the idea
Differences are marked and suppressed in modern nation-states
A form of amnesia?
32. The Nation, Social Structure & National Identity
►based upon sentiments of prestige
extend deep into the masses of political structures (located in the field of politics)
►groups who hold the power to steer common conduct within a polity will most strongly instill
themselves with this ideal fervor of power prestige
►Those who think of themselves as being specific partners of a specific culture diffused among
members of the polity
33. The State, The Nation, and Ethnicity
► 181 states but 5000 nations?
► idea that nation and state coincide is rare
► The appearance of ethnicity and the rise of the nation-state
► (Nash) nation-state responsible for the rise and definition of social entities called ethnic groups -
last 500 years
grew out of the wreck of empires, breakups of civilizations - disruptions of mechanic societies
within borders of nation-state - social and cultural diversity
34. Political Organization and Ethnicity
►ethnicity is founded upon structural inequities among dissimilar groups into a single political entity
►based on cultural differences & similarities perceived as shared
►identification with & feeling a part of an ethnic group & exclusion from certain other groups
because of this affiliation
35. Assimilation & Nation Building
►increase in shared characteristics among social groups and an increasing social homogeneity are
a key to nation building
►erasure of differences (in ethnicity, cognitive orientations, patterns of social interactions, etc.) for
the creation of a cohesive, productive, just and affluent society
►various communication media assume an important role in providing information that facilitates
key transformations in individuals and communities
36. Pluri-Ethnic States
► Pluralist model treats groups as permanent and enduring
Group rights
► Cosmopolitan model that accepts shifting boundaries, multiple affiliations, hybrid identities
Individual rights
► Accommodation of immigrant ethnicity
► Minority nationalism – nations within (indigenous peoples and Québécois)
Stateless nations, ethnic nationalism vs. indigenous groups
► Nations within – groups that formed complete and functioning societies on their historic homeland
before being incorporated into a larger state
►Typically been involuntary – colonization, conquest, etc.
37. indigeneity
►Nations within – groups that formed complete and functioning societies on their historic homeland
before being incorporated into a larger state
►Typically been involuntary – colonization, conquest, etc.
►Indigenous groups around the world
Drive for recognition of rights
Sovereignty and self-governance
