An Anthropological View of Bands, Tribes, Chiefdoms, and States

Political systems vary from culture to culture, and can take the form of a band, tribe, chiefdom, or a state. Each of these four political systems vary in their organization in their degree of centralization, the size of the region that they occupy, their subsistence pattern and economy type, and how they are lead.

The Ju/’hoansi of South Africa, for example are politically organized as a band. Bands are uncentralized and are made up of equals. However they do have a leader that settles disputes and fulfills ceremonial roles. The Ju/’hoansi’s leader is known as the “headman.” Despite have a leader, bands still consider its members equals, and because of this, bands are considered to be egalitarian societies. They have a small population, usually only being made up of less than 100 members. Their main way of subsistence is food-foraging. This economic system requires a band to be mobile, and they maintain a constant rotation of seasonal territories. (Haviland, 2002, pp.326-328).

The next political system is a tribe. A tribe is similar to a band in that it is uncentralized has little to no stratification, however some stratification may be seen. The level of stratification depends on the leadership system in place and what subsistence pattern the tribe has adopted. Also like a band, a tribe occupies a specific region, and may make seasonal migrations. This again depends on the subsistence pattern of the tribe. The main subsistence pattern of tribes varies. Unlike bands they have evolved domestication practices of plants and animals, and because of this they may have economic systems that are either horticulture based or pastoral based. In some cases they may even maintain food-foraging techniques to balance out their diet. One example of a tribe is the Nuer. (Haviland, 2002, pp.328-331).

The next level of political organization is a chiefdom. It is at this level of organization that stratification, size, and centralization change. Unlike tribes and bands, chiefdoms are centralized and have ranked societies with an exhaulted leader, such as the “paramount chief of the Kpelle. The size of chiefdom varies and can be small like bands and tribes, or they can be larger. Like a tribe, domestication of plants and animals is an important part of their economy. However, chiefdoms utilize domestication on a much larger scale as they base their economy on intensive agricultural practices that create a surplus. (Haviland, 2002, pp.333-335).

Finally there is the political organization known as a state. A state, like a chiefdom, is centralized and stratified, however the level of stratification is based on classes or castes. States are lead by a powerful official like a king, as is the case with the Swazi. Population in states is also much larger and occupies territories that are larger than any of the other political organization. The population is large enough to support a market economy and intensive agriculture. Because of their reliance on intensive agriculture, they can create a surplus that is able to support larger populations. It is also because of this surplus that labor specialization can be achieved and other areas of interest and skill can be developed. (Haviland, 2002, pp. 335-337).

References

Haviland, William A. (2002). Cultural Anthropology. (10th ed.). Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers.

Lee, Valerie L., and Searles, Richard T. (2002). Study Guide for the Telecourse Faces of Culture. (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.