UCSP Module-9

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Module 9:

Political and Leadership


Structures
Objectives
1. Analyze social and political
structures.
2. Differentiate the types of political
organizations
3. Differentiate the different forms of
legitimacy of authority
This module is divided into 2 parts:

I. Discusses the types of political


organizations created by humans.
II. Discusses the types of authority
and legitimacy present in human
societies that allow for the rise of
leaders.
Political Organization
is any entity that is participating in a political
process.

Elman Service (1962)


- a political anthropologist
- identified four types of sociopolitical
organizations
- argued that these political organizations
function in consideration of their economic
orientation.
Four Types:
Bands
Tribes
Chiefdoms
States and Nations
Band
Band
Is the least complex form of political organization, as it has
neither a rigid form of governance nor a structured form of
leadership.
Typically consists of 20-50 individuals who are usually related to
one another by kinship. Due to the close ties between members
of this group, coercion as form of receiving compliance is not an
option.
Individuals are made to follow group decision through social
mechnaisms such as gossiping, ostracizing, and being ridiculed.
Band
This society is chiefly based on foraging, which is also known as
hunting and gathering
This type of economic subsistence allows for greater mobility of
the group as they follow animals and other food sources.
Decision-making is often made by the entire group, with the
eldest member acting as the facilitator.
Form of leadership is informal, as the extent of the leader's power
lies only upon his or capacity to influence the course of dialog in
the group. He/She can, by no means, coerce anyone in the group
to do a task that the other does not want to perform.
Bands are egalitarian in social composition. This implies
that individuals in the group have equal access to resources and
values.
Reciprocity is a primary form of exchange among the
members. Individuals who have lesser capacity to hunt or gather
have equal access to the food that other members are able to
produce.
This arrangement produces a form of an economic safety
net, wherein every member of the group is assured of basic needs
such as food and water. This is observed even if the member is
not able to produce on a particular day, as food and almost
everything else is communally owned.
The drawback of this setting is the creation of
free riders or those who would partake of their
share of the community's resources without any
attempt to contribute. In such cases, bands would
usually employ noncoercive tactics such as
ridiculing and gossiping.
TRIBES
TRIBES
is a political organization that consists of segmentary
lineages.
This type of kinship relation is marked by loyalty per family
cluster or segment.
An individual's loyalty primarily lies on his or her
cousins,then his or her distant cousins. This type of kinship
grouping allows for the creation of interdependent
organizations. This means that the position of the father in the
family as the prime decision maker and his position in society
will most likely be similar.
TRIBES
 The Maasai's have strong segmentary lineages that allow
for generational solidarity of warriors coming from the
same age group.
TRIBES
Tribes are less mobile than bands, as their form of
economic subsistence requires a degree of settlement.
Most tribes are either:
Horticultural (shifting agriculture)
Pastoral (tending animals)
These types of economic systems require individuals to
settle in one area for a specific period either to let their animals
graze (pastoralism) or to harvest their crops (horticultural).
This supports the need to create an informal form of
leadership that is based on need.
TRIBES
The leaders that are chosen are individuals who are
believed to possess special skills or aptitudes that relate to the
economic activity.
Hence, should a younger and an older hunter be in a
debate about a decision, the decision-making power shall be
accorded by the members of the society to the person with
greater skills in hunting without considering age.
Similar to the leaders of bands, the leaders in a tribe have
no concrete political power over their members, except in
areas when group concerns are in place.
TRIBES
A tribute is a form of gift that may consist of
wealth, food, or other materials given to a central
figure who in turn redistributes the accumulated
goods to the other members of society.
Through this process, the products of one
group is shared and consumed by the other
groups.
Chiefdoms
Chiefdo
ms
is more complex than a tribe, as this political organization consists of
a few local communities who subscribe to the power and rule of a
leader who has absolute power on them
This absolute power is derived from the perceived relation of the
leader to supernatural forces and powers, which is a form of
legitimizing factor. As long as their leader is a direct descendant of
their gods, this leader maintains his or her sovereignty in the land.
Once the belief of people shifts, this leader almost instanteneously
loses power
Chiefdo
ms The ancient Mayans were know for their complex and elaborate
political system that incorporated religion, kinship and politics. The
Mayan political organization embodied the characteristics of a
chiefdom, that includes a political leader with an advisory council, a
leader who exercises power that is based on legitimacy, and the
existence of social stratification.
Similarities of TRIBE and CHIEFDOMS
*tied with horticulture *economic distribution
and pastoralism through tribute collection

What distinguishes a chiefdom from a


tribe?
*Existence of social stratification that segregates society into
the elite and the commoner
The elites are often relatives of the ruler and are also believed to
have divinity or connections to the supernatural.
States and Nations
State - refers to a political
organization united by a common set
of laws
Nation - refers to a group of people
sharing similar culture and political
history
A state :
 uses absolute power in directing the path of a
society.
 uses complete political coerciveness to attain
societal goals and objectives, which may come
on the form of armed personnel, stricter law,
and rigid governmental policies.
The primary form of economic subsistence in
this political organization is market exchange.
Standardized currencies are used to exchange
commodities, unlike in a band where a commodity
or service is exchanged with another commodity
or service, which are often deemed by both parties
to be of similar value.
The differentiated access to production and capital
creates the formation and perpetuation of class and
caste systems.

Pyramid of power in ancient states


Social rules are implemented in the form of : LAWS
Laws are created to manage the interaction among
individuals and between the individuals and the state.
As a citizen of a country, an individual is subjected
to the legal norms in the territory. These norms may
include paying taxes, rendering military service, and
contributing to the political life in the society.
In South Korea, all males are required to render
military service and undergo training for 21 months
despite their gender or social status.
In the Philippines, some of the obligations of its
citizens include:
1) Payment of at most 32% of one's income as income
tax to the government
2) Payment of 12% value added tax (VAT) for all
commodities and services purchased
3) Completion of the National Service Training
Program (NSTP)or the Reserve Officers' Training
Corps (ROTC) while in college
4) Recognition of the authority of government
officials (e.g., police officers, lawmakers)
Being a citizen of a country also entails the enjoyment of
certain priviliges that are labelled as rights.
TWO TYPES OF RIGHTS
1. Natural rights
- those that are expected to be enjoyed by all
individuals, regardless of citizenship. These rights are
derived from the basic elements of individuals being
humans. Some of these rights include: the right to life,
the right to liberty or freedom, and the right to property.
2. Legal rights
- are those that are awarded to an individual by the
state as part of its culture, traditions, and norms.
Hence, a Muslim-dominated state will provide its
citizens a different set of legal rights as compared to a
Christian-dominated state.
Some examples include: the right to vote, the right
to privacy and the right to join formal organizations.
Authority and Legitimacy
The extent of leader's power relies on how
much his or her followers accord him or her with
it. This leads to a discussion on the reasons that
leaders rise and how they maintain power over
individuals.
According to Max Weber, a 20th century
sociologist, every leader has some form of
justification as to why he or she should be
accorded with such power. He organized these
reasons into three categories of legitimacy of
authority: legal, traditional, and charismatic.
Legal authority
is achieved by a leader through the process of
following established codes and procedures
governing the allocation and distribution of power
and resources within a society.
Leader who are ruling under the clout of this
authority have been either elected or appointed to
office following the existing laws of the land. The
extent as to which this type of leaders can wield
power is limited to what the codified laws of the
society accords him or her
Traditional authority
is achieved by a leadership legitimacy that
highlights the right of a leader to rule based on
inheritance of the title.
People under the leadership of a ruler with
traditional authority accept the latter's exercise of
power as it has been the status quo in the society
since their forefathers.
The rules of monarchs and their allies in both
patrimonial and feudal regimes are examples of
this.
Charismatic authority
creates a type of leadership that is based on
the personal attachment of the subordinates to the
ruler whose characteristics, experiences, or even
skills are believed to be extraordinary, or maybe
even supernatural.
Due to this, most of the ruler's followers are
devoted to him or her without regard as to whether
the authority of the ruler is accepted within the
legal work of the society or that he or she has not
been part of a royal lineage.
These types of authority and legitimacy are
not mutually exclusive, as some can be combined
to produce other forms of leadership justification.

INSTITUTIONAL CHARISMA
= Charismatic authority + Legal authority
= observed among religious institutions
where leaders authority is accepted
based on his or her charisma, but his exercise
of power is limited by legal structures
of the church
FAMILIAL CHARISMA
= Traditional authority + Charismatic
authority
= observed in kingship rules as individuals
recognize the rightof the king to rule based
on his inheritance of the position and
his innate extraordinary capacities
Thank you.

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