Lesson 3

Political and Leadership Structures

In this lesson, we are going to identify the defining

characteristics of each political system, as well as the social
and economic features that have been correlated with each
type of society.

a. Political organization

Morton Fried defines

political organization as that which comprises those
portions of social organization that specifically relate to the
individuals or groups that manage the affairs of public
policy or seek to control the appointment or activities of
those individuals or groups. (Fried 1967, pp. 20–21) .

Regulation in political organization

involves issues like allocation of political roles, levels of
political integration, concentrations of power and
authority, mechanisms of social control and resolving
conflicts.

Types of Political Systems

Anthropologist Elman Service (1962) listed four types,

or levels, of political organization: band, tribe, chiefdom,
and state.

Typology of Political Organizations of Elman Service

(1962)
 from Lewellen (1992)

i. Bands iii. Chiefdoms

A small kin-based group A form of sociopolitical

(all the members are organization intermediate
related to each other by between the tribe and the
kinship or marriage ties) state. Social relations were
found among foragers. based mainly on kinship,
marriage, descent, age,
generation, and gender—just
as they were in bands and
tribes.
ii. Tribes iv. States and nations

Most commonly found a A form of sociopolitical

mong horticulturists and organization based on a
pastoralists (Neur in Su formal government structure
dan, Africa or the and socioeconomic
Lumads of Mindanao). stratification.
Bands

The basic features of band

societies are explained by
constraints and
opportunities of foraging
subsistence patterns
including: a dependence
upon the low carrying
capacity of undomesticated food resources and the regime
of seasonal nomadic movements.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/co
urses/239/band.html

Tribes

Tribal organizations, like bands also lack centralized

political leadership and are egalitarian. Tribally based
societies have certain pan-tribal mechanisms that integrate
clan members to face external threats. An example is the
formation of Kalumaran , where the lumads of Mindanao
converge to raise their voice against issues on mining and
militarization in their ancestral lands. Clan elders do not
hold formal political offices but usually manage affairs of
their clans (settling disputes, representing clan in
negotiation with other clans etc.)

Image from:
http://www.arkibongbayan.org/2009/2009-03-March07-
kalumaran/kalumaran.htm

Chiefdoms
 In chiefdoms, political and economic power is
exercised by a single person (or group of
persons) over many communities. Though these were
kin-based, they featured
differential access to resources (some people had
more wealth, prestige, and power than others)
and a permanent political structure.

State and Nations

A nation-state is a political unit whose boundaries are co-

extensive with a society, that is, with a cultural, linguistic or
ethnic nation. Politics is the sphere of activity involved in
running the state. The modern nation-state is a relatively
recent political form. Foraging societies had no formal state
institution. The modern state is based on the principle
of sovereignty and the sovereign state
system. Sovereignty is the political form in which a single,
central “sovereign” or supreme lawmaking authority
governs within a clearly demarcated territory.

Weber defines the state, not as an institution or

decision-making body, but as “a human community that
(successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of
physical force within a given territory” (Weber 1919b, p.
78). Weber’s definition emphasizes the way in which the
state is founded on the control of territory through the use
of force (Little & McGivern,2014)

Let’s try this!

 Activity 19. Complete the chart to summarize the
lesson.

POLITICA ECONOMI EXAMPLE TYPE OF

L SYSTEM C TYPE S REGULATIO
N
Band Local

Tribe Mindanao
Lumad
Chiefdom Productive
horticulture,
pastoral
nomadism,
agriculture
State Permanent
Regional

Let us continue learning!

Authority and legitimacy

Social institutions are responsible for protecting the

society from internal disorder, crime and chaos; as well as
from external threats and invasion. They are responsible
for maintaining peace and order at micro and macro
levels; enforcing social control; and maintaining the
welfare and well-being of society
Max Weber (1947) suggested three kinds of leaders in
society.

1. Traditional or feudal leaders take their authority

from their position in the kinship structure of their society,
and they embody the traditional beliefs and customs of
their people. One would think that this type is rare or even
nonexistent in science.

2. The second type is bureaucratic, taking their

authority from the formal rules of a modern bureaucratic
organization. This type is common in science and
engineering, but by definition it would tend to innovate
only incrementally.

3. Charismatic authority breaks through the customs

of tradition and the rule of
bureaucracy and, thus, would be connected to innovation.
Charismatic leaders are role models, so rank-and-file
members of the social system aspire to emulate them.