8 How Do Humans Maintain Order?
Social Order
Defining families and kinship and developing rules for marriage are some of the social institutions that cultures created to help maintain order so that groups of people can live together. Religion and political organization are also social institutions that help to maintain social order.
Anthropologists look at these institutions differently than what you are used to. While we might describe the doctrine of religions and discuss the ideology of various political organizations, we do not advocate for any of them. Anthropologists are not trying to identify which belief system or political organization is ‘right.’ We examine them to determine what they do for the cultures in which they are found. In other words, why this belief system or political organization in this culture? What do these social institutions do for the people? How do these social institutions interact with other elements of the culture? How and why have these social institutions changed over time?
Religion
What defines religion has been problematic for anthropologists. Tylor defined it simplistically as a belief in ‘spirit beings.’ He added that they provided explanations of the world and evoked reverence, awe, terror, and ecstasy (Bishop 2020). Subsequent scholars focused on the sacred and the profane (Emile Durkheim) or practices related to the supernatural (Anthony F. C. Wallace). Edward Sapir proposed that religions and a religion be differentiated, with the former being a universal concept and the latter being a formally organized religion (Kottak 2017, 404-405). Clifford Geertz suggested the anthropologists could best understand religion as a system of symbols that is,
…(1) a system of symbols which act to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic (Geertz quoted in Welsch et.al. 2017, 481).
Even today, anthropologists vary in the focus of their definitions of religion. Some focus on the symbolic and social nature of religion (Welsch et.al. 2017) while others focus on the beliefs and behaviors as related to the supernatural (Ember et.al. 2019; Harris and Johnson 2007; Park 2014), anything beyond the natural world. Some sidestep defining religion to focus on the elements that comprise it and its function within a cultural group (Kottak 2017). Nonetheless, anthropologists agree that religion is a cultural universal no matter how it is defined. “The universality of religion across human society points to a deep evolutionary past” (Peoples et.al. 2016, 262). A 2010 Pew Research Center study (“The Global Religious Landscape” 2012) concluded that eight-in-ten people worldwide (~85%) identify with a religious group. Seventy-seven percent identify with one of the world’s global religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. About 7% identify with other, e.g., Jainism or Wicca, or traditional/folk religions, e.g., Native American spirituality, while roughly 16% did not identify with any particular religion. A subsequent Gallup poll (“Religion Prevails in the World” 2017) suggests that these numbers are declining, where 62% of people worldwide identified as religious.
What constitutes evidence of this deep evolutionary past is debated. Recall from chapter 5 the Neanderthal burials. Some point to the inclusion of flowers, tools, and food in Neanderthal burials as the earliest material evidence of a belief in the supernatural (Price and Feinman 2010). Others point to rock art such as the caves paintings in France and Spain as some of the earliest evidence of spiritual belief. Others aim to explain why religious beliefs are universal by looking at human cognition. Atran and Henrich (2010) suggest that humans are cognitively inclined to accept the concept of the supernatural, plus the communal nature of religion promoted solidarity of the group. What does cognitively inclined mean? Humans know that poisonous snakes can kill us so when we are in an area where those poisonous snakes live, we assume they are there even if we cannot see them—it is a survival adaptation. We are cognitively inclined to believe something is there even if we cannot see it.
Ritual healing theory proposes that the origins of religious belief are found in genes allowing hominins to be susceptible to hypnotic suggestion. These gene were selected for because the ability to be in a hypnotic state was beneficial when practicing therapeutic healing rituals, allowing some individuals to be more easily cured. Furthermore, people who are easily hypnotized tend to report supernatural experiences. These genes would have been passed down to subsequent generations, providing the basis for the emergence of religious beliefs (McClenon 2009).
In a study of 33 hunter-gatherer societies, Peoples et.al. (2016) support E. B. Tylor’s contention that the earliest belief system was animism, which is a belief that supernatural forces or beings inhabit everything, including inanimate objects such as mountains and rivers. Many natural places are considered sacred because of this. Uluru, which contains forces that can give life, is sacred to the indigenous peoples of Australia (Brockman 2011). The researchers suggest that animism is a “feature of human mentality, a by-product of cognitive processes that enable social intelligence, among other capabilities” (Peoples et.al. 2016, 274). Belief in the afterlife, ancestor veneration, and belief in gods came later.
No matter how we define it or when or how religion began, as a social institution it serves multiple functions for cultures and its members. Religions provide explanation, comfort, order, and help to unify the community.
Elements of Religion
Stories
Regardless of how anthropologists define religion, there is a consensus that religions share the same basic elements or characteristics. One of these characteristics is stories. These stories may relate the history of the religion, impart social morals and rules of behavior, or explain cosmology, which explains the origin of the world. Cosmologies can reflect other ideologies such as political organization. For instance, cultures whose cosmology includes a single creator God often have a single ruler, whether that be a king or a president. Cultures who rely more on communal rule, may have multiple figures involved in creation such as the Navajo whose cosmology includes animals and First Man and First Woman as creators (Henninger-Rener 2019). Stories are often called myths, but this does not imply that the stories are false or fiction. In this context, myths represent a truth for the people who follow the religion. It is an important distinction to keep in mind.
Concept of the Supernatural
Stories can offer us information about the next characteristic which is belief in the supernatural. The supernatural could be supernatural beings or power; anything not of the natural world. Anthropologists often use a Melanesian term, mana, to refer to an impersonal supernatural force that is believed to inhabit everything, from inanimate objects such as rock to wind to living organisms. We even see this idea of mana in pop culture such as The Force in George Lucas’ Star Wars™ saga.
While mana may inhabit humans, many cultures have a specific name for the supernatural aspect of the human body. For instance, it is called the Ba in Ancient Egyptian theology, the atman in Hinduism, and the soul in Christianity. Individuals may have one soul such as in Christianity, or multiple souls. The Nupeci (Nigeria) believe humans have two souls while the Dogon (Mali) believe that each person has the kikinu, the physical shadow of the body and the nyama, the vital force of the body, (Dieterlen and Granka 1942) and four sex souls (Elvi 2009).
Theism
Religions may accept the existence of one supreme deity, monotheism, such as the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Others are polytheistic and believe in multiple gods. Many ancient religions including those practiced in Mesoamerica, Egypt, Greece, and Rome were polytheistic. Today, many indigenous religions are polytheistic as is Hinduism and Santeria. It should be noted that within in the polytheistic religions, multiple deities can become a single deity. For example, in Hinduism, Shiva and Vishnu are sometimes viewed as aspects of Brahma and depicted with a single avatar. Religions do not have to belief in deities. Theravādic Buddhism is atheistic, meaning there is no belief in a deity. You may be asking yourself, “If Theravādic Buddhism doesn’t believe in a deity then can it be called a religion?” The answer is yes. It has all the elements laid out in this section, including belief in the supernatural. According to Venerable Master Hsing Yun (2018, 4), there are six main categories of the supernatural: heavenly vision, heavenly hearing, the power of knowing others’ minds, the power of performing miracles, the power of knowing past lives, and the power of eradicating all defilements.
The relationship people have with their deity/ies may be modeled on parent-child relationships, e.g., if parents use punitive practices in child-rearing, then fear of the god/s is usually part of the religion (Glazier and Ember 2019). Most supernatural beings are anthropomorphic, i.e., they have human attributes. This makes them more relatable to people.
Symbols
Religions incorporate symbols to represent important figures, deities, or morals that are sacred or holy. For instance, early Christians used the symbol of the fish, the ichthys, to identify meeting places and other Christians. The Om symbol in Hinduism represents piety and the Brahman or the Absolute, which is the source of all existence. In Buddhism, the bodhi tree is a symbol of the Buddha’s enlightenment.
Ritual
Symbols are frequently used in ritual, which is another common element of religions. Ritual is a formal, repetitive stereotyped behavior (Kottak 2017, 492). Some rituals are more sacred than other rituals, much like some stories are more sacred than other stories. Rituals may mark important life events like birth, coming of age, marriage, and death. Other rituals may honor deities, seasons, or important dates in the religion. Some rituals are performed daily, such as prayer, while others are sporadic, like communion or vision quest. Ritual is important as it can guide people through liminal periods—a period when someone is between statuses such as when entering puberty. Many cultures have rites of passage to help children transition from childhood to young adulthood, but a rite of passage can be for any transition from one life stage to another. Rituals can also strengthen community bonds. During rituals, social statuses are often broken down, making all members of the community equal. Victor Turner (1920-1983), a renowned anthropologist who studied religion, referred to this as communitas; others refer to this as a leveling mechanism, which a practice, in this case ritual, acts to reduce social differences so everyone is in line with community norms (Gezon and Kottak 2014, 178). Rites of intensification and revitalization rituals both function to bring communities together during or following crises. Revitalization rituals are specifically designed to address critical problems in the community. The ghost dance is an example of a revitalization ritual.
The ghost dance emerged in response to the imperialist expansion of the United States into indigenous territories in the western U.S. This religious movement began among the Paiute and quickly spread to other tribes in the Great Plains, Nevada, California, and Oregon. One of the rituals that developed was the ghost dance, which was a ceremonial dance that would help to restore Native American lands, resources, and bring back to life those killed by white men. It was a dance of reunification. While its adherents saw it as a peaceful movement, the US government and settlers viewed it as a threat. The movement effectively ended on December 29, 1890, when the U.S. Army slaughtered 150 men, women, and children of the Lakota nation at Wounded Knee.
Religious Specialists
The ghost dance was first proposed by Wovoka, a Paiute shaman. He is an example of the next element of religions which is that there are specialists. There are three basic types of religious specialists: shamans, prophets, and priests. Shaman is a word co-opted from the Tungusic Evenki language spoken by indigenous peoples in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria to describe religious specialists in small-scale societies (Vadala 2019). Shamans are the spiritual leader and healer for their people. They perform rituals to help individuals and the group. They are the conduit to the supernatural and must be trained to handle that contact as it is inherently dangerous. Shamans are generally part-time practitioners with other duties to perform for the group such as hunting. They may be called to be shamans or inherit it.
Prophets can communicate directly with the supernatural then pass on divine messages to others. There are many examples of prophets. Muhammad (peace be upon him) is not only the founder of Islam but is a prophet as he received the Qur’ān from the archangel Gabriel. Prophets have authority because of their direct connection to the divine and because of their charisma which is used to help convince others of their legitimacy. Historically, prophets often emerge during times of social conflict. Zarathushtra brought forth the word of Ahura Mazdā, the Creator, when people living in ancient Persia were oppressed by “wicked priests and their secular overlords” (De Jong 2005, 9934), establishing Zoroastrianism. Jesus of Nazareth began his teaching during a time of strife for Jewish people in the Levant, resulting in the establishment of Christianity. Some prophets are not so successful, leading their followers to their deaths. David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Dravidians, and Jim Jones, the leader of the People’s Temple, were both prophets whose followers met tragic ends.
Priests are full time specialists who act as intermediaries between deities and humans. Historically, the vast majority of priests were male. Today, priests may be any gender, although they are still predominantly male. Priests have only been identified in cultures with a high degree of occupational specialization, which means that people have different jobs within their culture. Industrial societies have a high degree of occupational specialization, creating great interdependence among its members, while non-industrial societies have a lower degree of occupational specialization. In the latter, members have the skills to do pretty much anything needed. Priests have great authority within their societies, setting rules and controlling access to the religion. The early Catholic church held great power in Europe and used the threat of excommunication to effectively control political, economic, and educational leaders.
There are other types of religious specialists, including sorcerers, witches, and mediums, that are mentioned less in anthropology texts. Mediums are part-time practitioners who can be possessed by spirits. Sorcerers manipulate the supernatural to harm others. Sorcerers must learn rituals to connect with the supernatural, while witches have an innate connection—no rituals needed. Both are feared. Sorcerers because they intentionally bring harm to others and witches because they can cause harm by accident. Do not confuse this definition of witch with the Wiccan witch. Some Wiccans refer to themselves as witches, but others do not.
Altered States of Consciousness
Religious specialists often use altered states of consciousness to connect with the supernatural; however, other members of the community can also reach altered states. An altered state of consciousness is any state of mind that differs from the waking state (Reevy 2010, 53). These altered states were not for recreational purposes, which is different for why some in the contemporary world want to be in an altered state. There are many methods used to achieve altered states. Meditation, ecstatic body trance, dance, prayer, and drugs are common methods used in religious practice to reach an altered state. Pre-Columbian Maya used hallucinogens in drinks and ritual enemas to achieve an altered state. Lonchocarpus longistylus, a type of tree, was infused into a mead-like drink to enable direct communication with the supernatural. Wild tobacco, piziet, was smoked, chewed, and inhaled as another way to communicate with the supernatural. Water lily was consumed to induce visions. Hallucinogenic mushrooms were ritually used to see visions (Carod-Atal 2011). Ecstatic body trance, the combination of body posture with a beat made by drumming, rattling, or chanting, was used for divination, healing, spirit journeys, and transformation (check out a picture of the Olmec were-jaguar; the pose shown was part of the ecstatic body trance to transform into a jaguar).
Magic and Religion
Magic is often a part of religious ritual. Anthropologists view magic as “an explanatory system of causation that does not follow naturalistic explanations, often working at a distance without direct physical contact” (Welsch et.al. 2017, 491). Magic can be used for good or bad means and may use the manipulation of objects, incantations, spells, and unusual behavior (Welsch et.al. 2017, 491). Does magic really work? It does not matter if it does or not because the practitioners of the religion believe that it does. Whether it be the power of prayer or the power of the curse, magic is a part of religious beliefs.
Anthropologists use the term sympathetic magic to describe magic practices that do not rely on a supernatural being for the outcome. Prayer is not an example of sympathetic magic but using hair clippings or washing away sins through baptism is. Using hair clippings in a magic rite is an example of the law of contagion which states that something that has been in contact with a human (their hair, sweat, clothing, etc.) retains a bit of that individuals mana. If something is done to that object, then it will happen to the individual as well. Using poppets (or doll) with hair or a bit of clothing from someone then sticking a pin its arm will cause pain in the arm of the person. Christians use water baptism as a symbol to wash away sins, an example of the law of similarity. Rituals may exclusively use one of the laws of magic, but they are not necessarily mutually exclusive. We can look to Christianity again for an example—communion. Communion is a celebration of Jesus Christ and the Gospel. It involves eating a wafer and drinking wine or grape juice to commemorate his sacrifice. At the Last Supper, where Jesus celebrated Passover, he told his disciples that the unleavened (flat) bread they ate was his body and the red wine they drank was his blood, in and of itself an example of the law of similarity. The wafer and wine or grape juice used in the communion ritual still represent the body and blood of Christ—the law of similarity. The law of contagion is in effect as the celebrant is linked to Christ and to the congregation through the consumption of the offerings (Welsch et.al. 2017, 494).
Religion and Society
Religion works for society because it helps people cope, it transforms lives, and provides a system of reward and punishment.
Many people engage in religious activity because it works for them…religion can work by getting inside people and mobilizing their emotions—their joy, their wrath, their certainty, their righteousness. People can feel a deep sense of shared joy, meaning, experience, communion, belonging, and commitment to their religion. The power of religion affects action (Gezon and Kottak 2014, 177-178).
One of the key functions of religion is to help provide order for society. Doctrine outlines what types of behaviors are acceptable and unacceptable as well as prescribes punishments, which may be something supernatural, e.g., being judged bad after death and being sent to an underworld or hell. Jews, Christians, and Muslims are told through the Ten Commandments that honoring parents is acceptable while idolatry, adultery, and murder are among the unacceptable behaviors. Buddhism teaches the pancha sila, a set of five ethical principles that prohibit murder, theft, sexual misconduct, lying, and drinking alcohol. Through karma, which has a cumulative effect over lifetimes, an individual can be rewarded or punished when reincarnated based on their behavior (Kinnard 2015). The possibility of reward or punishment is often enough to keep people on their best behavior. These types of moral concerns are more likely to develop in religions where the culture experienced ecological uncertainty such as drought, low environmental productivity, and water scarcity, or where enforcement of cooperative behavior was imperative. Other factors that may have influenced the necessity of deity interested in moral codes was pastoralism, political organization beyond the community, differences in individual wealth (Glazier and Ember 2019, 9).
Religions may define taboo behavior, such as incest which was discussed in chapter 7. The Catholic church prohibited marriage between cousins in the Middle Ages, providing it with a sacredness and a bonding of the larger community (Harris and Johnson 2007) at the expense of extended family ties (Bruer 2019). Judaism prohibits eating pork, which may have arisen because the cost of raising pigs was too high for the return. What this means is that pork products gained were too little in comparison to the resources used to raise them. Unlike cattle, sheep, and goats who provided not only meat but secondary resources like milk or wool or could be used to pull carts and plows, pigs need shade and moisture to regulate body temperature and they could not graze on a cheaply replenished resource like grass. Cost-benefit may also explain the sacredness of the cow in India, where over time the population surpassed farmers ability to produce enough cattle for beef. To ensure that there remained enough cattle to help with plowing and pulling carts, the prohibition to eating beef was instituted (Harris and Johnson 2007, 289). [optional: Harris provides a more detailed explanation of the complexities of the sacred cow in his short essay “India’s Sacred Cow”]
Religion and Politics
Those who believe religion and politics aren’t connected don’t understand either.
Mahatma Gandhi
Despite legal restrictions in countries like the United States where religion and state are separate, religion often plays a part in the political lives of people. Some religions such as Islam do not separate the political and religious life. Religion has been and is used to uphold political order.
Let us look at the Ancient Mayans as an example. Rulers and other elites monopolized rituals and sacred space, making it so everyone else could only access the supernatural through them. Religious temples were constructed in residential areas of Mayan urban areas to serve as focal points of not only religion but political power as the temples united the residents under a religious banner headed by the local ruler. Central plazas often had limited access, giving the ruler control of who could access it and when people could access it. Mayan pyramids represented sacred mountains. The temples at the top replicated caves where Kukulkan, the feathered serpent responsible for rain, lived. The large temples had a triadic pyramid complex at the top, which archaeologists suggest represents the maize god and his two sons. Maize is fundamental to the Maya. It was not only the cornerstone of their diet, but symbolized life, creation, and rebirth. Mayan kings and their priests conducted ceremonies in between the temples at the top of the pyramids, effectively placing themselves in the middle of the Mayan creation story. The Mayan elite went even further to connect themselves to this important deity, emulating the maize god by using cradle boards to elongate the head of infants into the shape of a corn cob (Carroll 2005).
Ancient Mayan kings and elite were not the only ones to use religion to bolster political power. The archaeological record abounds with evidence to show this was a widespread practice. From ancient Mesopotamia where the temple elite controlled access to water to irrigate crops to European monarchs who claimed divine right to rule, religion has been used for millennia to support the emergence and maintenance of political power.
Religion is frequently used to challenge the existing social order. We discussed this briefly above with the ghost dance, but there are many documented revitalization movements, including Christianity and the cargo cults of Melanesia and Papua New Guinea. Cargo cults emerged in some societies that experienced European colonialism and meshed Christianity with local religious beliefs to explain European wealth (cargo) and domination. European behaviors were imitated to promote the similar accumulation of wealth. Some of the cargo cults predicted that eventually, the Europeans would see a reversal of fortune and the native peoples would prevail (Kottak 2017).
Contemporary fundamentalist movements in Christianity and Islam are antimodernist movements, rejecting “modern life in favor of what is perceived as an earlier, purer, and better way of life” (Kottak 2017, 419) and returning to the fundamentals of the religion. For fundamentalists, there is no separation between the religious life and the political life.
Political Organization
Human beings are, for the most part, social creatures. We want to belong to a group. In order for people to coexist in groups, they have developed rules for living in the group. Some of these rules manifest in social norms. Norms are “typical patterns of behavior as well as rules of how things should be done” (Welsch et.al. 2017, 533). We begin learning social norms from our family who use informal methods to get us to conform to the norms. These methods may be corporal, such as spanking, or non-corporal, such as a time-out or an allowance. As we age, we are introduced to more formal methods used by social institutions. This includes getting any type of degree from an educational institution, a raise at your job, or punishment through the legal system.
Anthropologists study how cultures control their members through the study of political organization, which is the study of “relationships and processes of cooperation, conflict, and power” (Welsch et.al. 2017, 534). Power in this sense means the ability an individual or group has to make others do what they want. Closely related to this is the concept of authority which refers to the right to lead and enforce obedience. Sociologist Max Weber identified three types of authority (Sociology n.d.),
Traditional authority: individuals with power because of social traditions, beliefs, and practices, e.g., inherited or bestowed through religious practices and beliefs; qualifications not necessary
Rational-Legal authority: power derived from the law; primarily found in democracies; qualifications usually necessary
Charismatic authority: power comes from an individual’s personal characteristics; may lead a segment of society or the whole society; ability to persuade others key.
Depending on the type of political organization present in a culture, we may see more of one type of authority over another or we may see a mix.
Types of Political Organization
Anthropological research identifies four types of political organization or levels of sociocultural integration: bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states (Service 1975). Archaeological research demonstrates that the different types of political organizations existed independently of one another; however, in the contemporary world, bands, tribes, and chiefdoms exist and are operate under the auspices of the nation-state, “an independent, centrally organized political unit or government” (Kottak 2017, 286). It is best to think of the four types of political organizations as a continuum. Some “bands” might be closer to the “tribe” definition and some “tribes” may be closer to the “chiefdom.” It all depends on what is happening with a particular group at a particular time and what the power structure looks like at the moment in time the group is being studied.
Bands
Bands appear to be the oldest type of political organization. They are kin-based food gatherers or foraging groups. Foraging groups hunt and gather wild foods for their subsistence. The groups rarely have more than 100 people in them. Population control is important so that they do not surpass the carrying capacity of the natural environment. Carrying capacity is “the number of calories that can be extracted from a particular unit of land to support a human population (Shearn 2019). Most bands are nomadic and may follow a seasonal round, meaning they move around the environment following food sources as they come into season. There is no formal leadership in bands. If the group needs to hunt, then the best hunter may be called upon to temporarily lead the group. If the group faces conflict with another group, then the best warrior may be called on to be the temporary leader. Shamans may have the most constant authority and may be called upon to settle disagreement through divination. Bands are egalitarian, meaning that everyone has equal access to the resources and the skills they need to survive. Private property does not exist. To this end, it is important that a group mentality is stressed. Members of the group are expected to be humble and willing to share their skills for the betterment of the group, not individual advancement.
The threat of being ostracized from the group is used to help maintain social control. Teasing and ridicule may also be employed to keep people humble. Richard Borshay Lee reported that the Ju/’hoansi (!Kung or San Bushmen) of the Kalahari made fun of the ox he (Lee) had purchased for a Christmas feast as a thank you to the Ju/’hoansi. At first, he was confused and worried when person after person told him what a scrawny ox he had purchased and that it would lead to fights among the Ju/’hoansi for the best, fattiest meat, especially after he had spent much time finding the best ox he could. On the day the ox was butchered, Lee exclaimed about the amount of fat on the ox while the Ju/’hoansi laughed. A few days later, Lee asked why they insulted a man who had a large amount of good meat to share with the group. He was told,
…when a young man kills much meat he comes to think of himself as a chief or big man, and he thinks the rest of us as his servants or inferiors. We can’t accept this. We refuse one who boasts, for someday his pride will make him kill somebody. So we always speak of his meat as worthless. This way we cool his heart and make him gentle (Lee 1969, 62).
So, while the Ju/’hoansi, and other band level cultures, do not have law, or a legal code with trials and enforcement (Kottak 2017, 324), they do have ways to encourage people to follow the social norms. Bands may develop other ways to keep the peace among their people. E. A. Hoebel (1954) reported that the Inuit used song battles to settle disputes about wife stealing instead of blood feuds between families. The wronged man would challenge the wife stealer to a public song battle, where the contestants sang insulting songs about each other. The audience would choose the winner, although if the aggrieved man won there was no guarantee that his wife would return to him, so women still had some autonomy.
Tribes
Tribes rely on pastoralism (herding) or horticulture (small scale agriculture relying on manual labor) for their subsistence. Tribes live in small kin-based communities of anywhere from 100 to 5,000 people. Kin relations are reckoned by clan or lineage. While primarily egalitarian, tribes may display division of labor along gender lines. In pastoral societies like the Ariaal of Kenya, young men take care of the large herd animals—camel and cattle—while young women take care of smaller herd animals such as goats and sheep. There is no formal government. Instead, tribes rely on a headman, or less commonly a headwoman, or a council to lead; however, the leaders have limited authority. Positions of authority are not inherited or ascribed but are based on achievement. Charisma and generosity are key characteristics needed to lead—there are no other ways to enforce ones will on others. Among some South Pacific cultures such as the Kapauku Papuans, the Big Man is the leader of several villages and is responsible for overseeing regional events and cooperative economic projects. The Big Man gathered and maintained support by setting an example for hard work and by hosting pig feasts. In other words, he spread his wealth, especially in the form of pigs, around. Hoarding of his wealth would lead to the demise of his authority and possibly his life (Kottak 2017).
With a larger group, it can be difficult to maintain group cohesion. Tribes often use sodalities to bolster cohesion among unrelated group members. A sodality is a non-kin-based group used for a specific purpose. Male sodalities are more common than female sodalities, gender and age being two common forms of sodalities. An example of a sodality was already mentioned above—the Ariaal’s practice of dividing herd care among young men and young women. These age-grade sodalities are formed by young men or young women close in age. The young men leave their villages to care for the camels and cattle. They grow their hair long to signify their status in the group which is that of warrior. They are not allowed contact with any females in their group, including their mother and any sisters. When they are finally called back to the village, which might be a decade or longer, their status changes from that of warrior to family man and they are required to cut their hair and get married. However, the bond established between the men in an age-grade is strong and provides cohesion and stability to the group.
Group cohesion may also be maintained through marriage practices. Among the Yanomami in Brazil and Venezuela practice bilateral cross-cousin marriage. A man is expected to marry either the daughter of his father’s sister or his mother’s brother. “Because cross-cousin marriage links people together by both marriage and blood ties (kinship), these unions can reduce tension between the groups or at least provide an incentive for members of rival lineages to work together” (McDowell 2019).
Since tribal societies do not have law, other methods have evolved to solve conflict between group members. Avoidance is one strategy, with one party simply moving away from the other party. Oaths may be sworn to deities to determine truth, or an ordeal may be used to determine guilt or innocence. An ordeal may be dangerous and painful, although not necessarily for the individuals involved. For instance, the Azande (Sudan and the Congo) force feed poison to a chicken and the name of the accused is called out. If the chicken dies, then the suspect is guilty and may be punished or go through reconciliation (McDowell 2019). Negotiation, public apologies, and mediation are other methods used by tribes to solve conflict. The Nuer Leopard-Skin Chief is one example of a mediator who is called upon to intercede between feuding families, especially in the case of murder (“Nuer” 2017). The Leopard-Skin Chief can only strongly encourage the aggrieved family to accept compensation, i.e., cattle. He cannot force his will on either party. Failure of these methods may result in intra-tribal feuds or inter-tribal war in the form of cattle raids or the abduction of women.
Chiefdoms
Chiefdoms are non-egalitarian societies, otherwise referred to as rank or ranked societies. They are “regional [polities] with hierarchical organization, limited political offices (chiefs), but lacking specialized administration” (Covey 2008, 1842). Social and economic differentiation are the norm with power centralized into an individual or chief (not to be confused with Native American tribal chiefs). Personal property is of value and personal identity often takes on an element of the polity and not just the family, although kinship ties are still strong. Personal status may be ascribed (what you are born with) or achieved (what you earn based on personal attributes). The archaeological record suggests that chiefdoms appeared about 6,500 years ago, about a thousand years before the first state-level society emerged in Mesopotamia. However, it is difficult to describe chiefdoms archaeologically as the later state-level societies often obliterated the archaeological footprint of the earlier chiefdoms. Archaeologically, chiefdoms have been identified in the Caribbean, Mexico, North America, Africa, Europe, Amazonia, and Polynesia. In fact, it is historical data of the Polynesian chiefdoms along with those found in sub-Saharan Africa where most of our ethnographic information about chiefdoms is drawn.
Chiefdoms can be large, with multiple communities and thousands of people. There are even complex chiefdoms where several chiefdoms were under the rule of a paramount chief such as is proposed for the North American archaeological culture, Cahokia, and pre-contact Hawai’i; however, the chief’s power was most likely ephemeral and weak over subordinate polities (Hudson 1997). The first chiefs most likely gained power through personal attributes, but using ideology and their personal skills, including the power of persuasion, established themselves and their family as hereditary rulers.
Chiefs were fulltime political leaders. Members of the chiefdoms provided the chief with products. The chief was responsible for redistributing these products, oftentimes, using redistribution to court and maintain alliances. This may sound like the Big Man, but the chief could withhold goods either for his personal wealth or store goods for times of scarcity. The number of resources an individual accrued was an indication of status—the more resources, the higher the status. The giving away of personal wealth was particularly important in the Pacific Northwest Coast chiefdoms where the potlatch, a large feast where the host gave away much of their personal wealth, was important to the retention of power. One’s relatedness to the chief could also be an indication of status.
Archaeologically, we see monumental architecture associated with chiefdom level societies. Looking again to Cahokia, the chiefs had the power to direct the construction of Monks Mound, a 30-meter-tall earthen mound with a large wooden structure on top. This most likely served as a space for the rulers to hold public rituals and feasts but also as the primary residence of the chief. Other mounds at the site were places for mortuary rituals, including internments. Evidence of mass graves, one with the remains of 53 young women who had been ritually sacrificed, are another indication of the power of the chief who used the rituals to uphold his position (Redmond and Spencer 2012). At San José Mogote in the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico, we find large stone temple platforms and elite residential compound. The site, located at the top of a 15-meter-tall, modified hill, was fortified, indicating that one of the chief’s purposes was to lead during times of conflict. This is further supported when after the destruction of San José Mogote, the paramount center is found at Monte Albán, a site at the top of a low mountain (400 meters) where all three branches of the valley could be seen—a strategic site. All food and water had to be hauled up the mountain as the nearest arable land and potable water was 4 km away. Imagine the authority an individual must have had to get people to not only build a stone city at the top of the mountain, but provision it every day.
Monte Albán provides evidence of how art was used to manipulate the masses. A gallery of 320 slain victims was uncovered within one of the earliest structures. The carved stone slabs depict males who were mutilated and even decapitated. Some victims are identified through insignias and personal names. Archaeologists interpret this as rulers using art to intimidate both enemies and allies and legitimize their power (Redmond and Spencer 2012).
Since the power of the chief was somewhat limited, kinship still played a vital role in the integration of the chiefdom. Marriage not only linked families, but it also helped to reinforce social statuses. Ancient royalty in Incan, Egyptian, and Hawai’ian chiefdoms married siblings to keep power within the family. However, marriage could be used to change social status. For instance, among the Natchez in the Mississippi River Valley in North America, a person could marry up so that their children would be of a higher social status. In this matrilineal society, if a man married a woman of higher status, his children would take on their mother’s status not his status.
Archaic States
The first states evolved from chiefdoms and share some of their characteristics like monumental architecture, although it is monumental architecture on steroids. “States are autonomous political units with social strata and a formal government. States tend to be large and populous, and certain statuses, systems, and subsystems with specialized function are found in all states, including the following:
- Population control: fixing of boundaries, establishment of citizenship categories, and censusing.
- Judiciary: laws, legal procedures, and judges.
- Enforcement: permanent military and police forces.
- Fiscal support: taxation” (Kottak 2017, 332).
Like chiefdoms, state leaders and other people of high status have differential access to resources. The people in power (the superordinate) had ways to limit the power and availability of resources for those of lower statuses (the subordinate). This is a characteristic of a stratified society with defined social statuses. Sociologist Max Weber identified three dimensions of social stratification (Gezon and Kottak 2014):
- Wealth: economic status is determined by an individual’s material assets from property to money.
- Power: political status is determined by an individual’s ability to exert their will over others.
- Prestige: social status is determined by an individual’s level of respect or esteem others hold for them.
Occupational specialization, or specialized jobs, is a key feature of states and one of the ways that the hundreds of thousands of people who belong to the state are organized. While it is likely there was some occupational specialization in chiefdoms, it does not appear to be as delineated as in states. In the Ancient Egyptian state, pharaoh sat at the top of a complex stratified society. After pharaoh came the vizier or chief executive, usually a royal relative. Next came the priests, the chancellor of the god, who performed special task for the king like trading trips, then members of the provincial government called nomarchs, and then everyone else. Everyone worked for pharaoh in some way. Some were called for military service and some were called to build monumental architecture, but everyone was paid, usually in grain or other foodstuffs.
A key difference between chiefdoms and states is the state’s ability to monopolize the use of force. This can be in the form of a standing military or a police force. States have relatively clear boundaries, using the military to defend those borders when necessary. The police force was used to control the members of the state. States enact laws to strictly define the accepted rules of behavior and provide guidelines for responding to disputes and transgressions (Park 2014).
Archaic states either encompassed large territories such as that of Ancient Egypt and the Inca or were city-states such as those found in Ancient Mesopotamia (Sumer). Archaeological data suggests that archaic state leaders relied heavily on religious ideology to secure their right to govern, something that continued well into the modern era where European monarchs claimed a divine right to rule. Ancient Mayan rulers constructed triadic pyramid complexes on the tops of pyramids. The temples represented key figures in their creation story. Conducting ceremonies in the midst of the triadic temples placed the ruler right in the middle of creation—a powerful metaphor for the divine right to rule.
Some ancient states like the Aztec and Rome had councils that worked with the leader to govern. States rely on propaganda to legitimize their rule. Ancient Mayan kings left behind a hieroglyphic record of their ancestry and deeds in stone, monuments meant to persuade the people that they had a right to rule. The hieroglyphic stairway at the Mayan site of Copan is one example of such propaganda. The stairway lays out the dynastic history of the 5th to 8th century rulers, an attempt by the current rulers (there are two phases to the construction of the stairway) to legitimize their rule. Legitimizing the state’s authority is critical for the state to survive.
States rely on the support of the people for their existence, both ideologically and fiscally. States have the ability to tax its citizens. The tax could be in the form of goods or money. Some of the taxes are returned to the people in the form of services and some is kept to fund the operation of the state itself. With all the rules and the taxes, we might wonder how state-level societies ever formed in the first place. From an evolutionary perspective, the benefits of the state had to outweigh the cost of the state. The security and order of the state must have had a strong pull on our ancestors. It is one of the great questions of anthropology—why did state-level societies emerge? From an evolutionary standpoint, states are unstable political units; few have lasted more than a thousand years. Humans lived in egalitarian societies for tens of thousands of years. Why give it up. Various theories have been proposed but are beyond the scope of this class to address adequately. If you are interested in learning about the theories on state-level development, check out Redmond and Spencer’s article on the competitive origins of states.
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