Chapter 12, Political Organizationand Social Control

Key Terms

acephalous societies Societies without a political head such as a president, chief, or king.

age grade Permanent age categories in a society through which people pass during the course of a lifetime.

age organization A type of social organization, found in East Africa and among certain Native American groups, where people of roughly the same age pass through different levels of society together. Each ascending level, based on age, carries with it increased social status and rigidly defined roles.

age set A group of people roughly the same age who pass through various age grades together.

ancestor worship The worshiping of deceased relatives. These souls are considered supernatural beings and fully functioning members of a descent group.

authority Legitimate power exercised with the consent of the members of a society.

autocracy A form of government, controlled by a leader with absolute power that denies popular participation in decision making.

band societies Bands are the basic social unit found in many hunting-and- gathering societies; these societies are characterized by being kinship based and having no permanent political structure.

chiefdoms An intermediate form of political organization in which integration is achieved through the office of chiefs.

corporate lineagesKinship groups whose members engage in daily activities together.

council of eldersA formal control mechanism composed of a group of elders who settle disputes among individuals within a community.

degradation ceremonies Deliberate and formal societal mechanisms designed to publicly humiliate someone who has broken a social norm.

deviance The violation of a social norm.

ghost invocation The practice of a living person (typically an elder) calling forth the wrath of ancestor gods against an alleged sinner.

ghostly vengeance The belief that ancestor gods (ghosts) will punish sinners.

hydraulic theory of state formation The notion that early state systems of government arose because small-scale farmers were willing to surrender a portion of their autonomy to a large government entity in exchange for the benefits of large-scale irrigation systems.

intermediaries Mediators of disputes among individuals or families within a society.

law Cultural rules that regulate human behavior and maintain order.

Leopard-skin Chief An example of an intermediary found among the Nuer of the African Sudan.

moots Informal hearings of disputes for the purpose of resolving conflicts, usually found in small-scale societies.

nation A group of people who share a common identity, history, and culture.

negative sanctions Punishment for violating the norms of a society.

oath The practice of having God bear witness to the truth of what a person says.

ordeal A painful and possibly life-threatening test inflicted on someone suspected of wrongdoing.

pan-tribal mechanismsMechanisms such as clans, age grades, and secret societies found in tribal societies that cut across kinship lines and integrate the local segments of the tribe into a larger whole.

political coerciveness The capacity of a political system to enforce its will on the general population.

political integration The process that brings disparate people under the control of a single political system.

positive sanctions A mechanism of social control for enforcing a society’s norms through rewards.

public opinionWhat the general public thinks about some issue. When public opinion is brought to bear on an individual, it can influence his or her behavior.

rebellion An attempt within a society to disrupt the status quo and redistribute the power and resources.

revolution An attempt to overthrow the existing form of political organization, the principles of economic production and distribution, and the allocation of social status.

sanctions Any means used to enforce compliance with the rules and norms of a society.

social control Mechanisms found in all societies that function to encourage people not to violate the social norms.

socialization Teaching the young the norms in a society.

social normsExpected forms of behavior.

song duelA means of settling disputes over wife stealing among the Inuit involving the use of song and lyrics to determine one’s guilt or innocence.

specialized political roles When large numbers of people are required to carry out specific tasks such as law enforcement, tax collection, dispute settlement, recruitment of labor, and protection from outside invasion.

state A particular type of political structure that is hierarchical, bureaucratic, and centralized and has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force to implement its policies.

state system of governmentA bureaucratic, hierarchical form of government composed of various echelons of political specialists.

supernatural belief systems A set of beliefs found in all societies that transcend the natural, observable world.

tribal societies Small-scale societies composed of a number of autonomous political units sharing common linguistic and cultural features.

voluntaristic theory of state formationThe theory that suggests that stable systems of state government arose because people voluntarily surrendered some of their autonomy to the state in exchange for certain benefits.

warfareArmed conflict between nation-states or other politically distinct groups.

witchcraft An inborn, involuntary, and often unconscious capacity to cause harm to other people.