Anthropology Chapters 9/10

States

A form of political organization in which a centralized political unit encompasses many communities, a bureaucratic structure and leaders who posses coercive power. All people now live in states (bands, tribes,chiefdoms are incorporated in some way under state structures.)

Policing

A form of social control that includes surveillance and the threat of punishment. Police discover, report, and investigate crimes.

Youth Gangs

A group of young people found in urban areas. Considered to be a social problem by society. Most have rituals for initiation or symbols of membership.

Achieved status

A person's position in society defined in economic terms as "achieved" by the individual.

Status

A persons position in society. Two types of status achieved and ascribed.

Democratization

A process of transformation from an authoritarian regime to a democratic regime. (End of torture, liberation of political prisoners, lifting of censorship, toleration of some opposition.)

Ethnicity

A sense of group membership based on a shared sense of identity. (Shared history, territory, language, religion)

Clubs/Fraternities/Sororities

A social group that defines membership in terms of a sense of shared identity and objectives. This often includes people of the same ethnic heritage, occupation, religion or gender. Provides social and psychological support to members but have political and economic functions too.

Norm

Accepted standard for behavior, usually unwritten. (standing for national anthem, chewing with your mouth closed.)

Two groups of social stratification

Achieved and Ascribed

New Social Movement

Activist groups of the late 20th century and early 21st century. Many use cybernate working or the new social media.

Social conflict and Violence

All societies experience conflict with other groups and societies. varieties of conflict include (1) ethnic conflict (2) warfare

Civil society

Diverse interest groups outside the government that organize aspects of life.

Cooperatives

Economic group in which surpluses are shared among members. One person, one vote.

Authority

The right to take certain forms of action based on a persons achieved or ascribed status or moral reputation.

Laws

A biding rule about behavior.

Social Groups

A cluster of people beyond the domestic unit who are usually related to each other on grounds other than kinship.

Political organization/Leadership

Bands, tribes, bigman/woman,chiefdom and state

Ethnic Conflict

Can stem from an ethnic groups attempt to gain more autonomy or equality or by a dominant groups actions of genocide or ethnocide.

Achieved (social stratification)

Class status, a position that is earned.

Friendship

Close social ties between at least 2 people, usually informal, voluntary, and involving face to face interaction. May contribute to economic security. I maintained through balanced exchange and mutual support. Related to Micro-cultural factors, usually between social equals.

Executions

Communicate a political message to the general populace about the states power or strength.

Social inequality/ the law

Critical legal anthro: examine the role of law/ judicial processes in maintaining the dominance of powerful groups through discrimination practices rather than protecting powerful people.

Bigman/Woman

Defined leadership is achieved.

Self-Help groups

Formed to achieve personal goals. Varieties/numbers have proliferated in recent years. Rituals of solidarity.

Activist groups

Formed with the goal of protesting conditions such as political repression or human rights violations. Can be anti-government or anti big power structures

Countercultural groups

Groups formed by people outside the mainstream who resist conforming to the dominant cultural patterns. Youth gangs, body modification groups, hippies and punks.

Chiefdom

Have to have a chief at all times. Chiefs are achieved or ascribed. Common in North America. Chiefs have power.

Social Stratification

Hierarchal relationships among different groups including outright discrimination.

Tribes

Horticulture and pastoralism. Several bands make a tribe. Leader is chosen from ascribed and achieved status.

Social Control in States

Increased specialization of roles involved in social control. Formal trials and courts. Power, enforced forms of punishments such as prison and the death penalty.

Symbol/State Power

Leaders may be considered deities. Leaders may have special dress, housing, food, modes of transportation.

Gender/Leadership In States

Most contemporary states are hierarchal/patriarchal to different degrees. Women's political roles often indirected tied to kinship.

Sectarian Conflict

Often tied to or over lapping with ethnic conflict. Conflict based on perceived differences between divisions or sects within a religion.

Secondary social group

People who identify with each other on some basis but who may never meet each other or know each other personally. (religion and frat/sororities)

Primary social group

People who interact with each other and know each other personally. (friends and Sports teams)

Politics/Political organization

Political Anthro is cross cultural study if power and related concepts such as influence and authority. Legal Anthro is the study of social accepted ways of maintaing social order and resolving conflict.

Global-local conflict

Political, involving coalitions of many countries. Corporate: involving multinational businesses in conflict with local communities. Result:attempts at increasing corporate social responsibility to reduce such conflicts.

3 aspects of political leadership

Power, authority, influence

Two types of social groups

Primary Social groups and Secondary Social group.

Ascribed (social stratification)

Race, ethnicity, caste. Something you are born into.

Race as a social Construct

Recent form of social inequality. Unequal meeting of two formerly separate groups through colonization, slavery and other large group movements.

Punishment for Norm Violation

Ridicule, the goal is to restore normal social relations. Ostracism for serious offenders. Punishment often legitimized through beliefs in supernatural forces. Capital punishment is rare.

Bands

Small group of people who don't have power or authority. Found in foraging groups and is based on kinship relations.

Social order/social conflict

Social control are the processes that, through both informal/formal. mechanisms, maintain orderly social life. All cultures have norms, some also have laws, especially states

Caste/Jati

Social stratification system linked with hinduism. based on a persons birth into a particular group. Four major social categories (Priests, warriors, merchants, laborers and outcasts)

Ascribed status

Systems of social stratification based on divisions of people into unequally ranked groups.

Influence

The ability to achieve a desired end by exerting social or moral pressure on someone or some group.

Power

The ability to take action in the face of resistance, through force if necessary.

Prisons/ Death Penalty

The prison, as a place where people are forcibly detained as a form of punishment, has a long history.

Trials/Courts

Trial by ordeal: a way of determining innocence or guilt in which the accused person is put to a test that may be painful, stressful or fatal. The goal is to ensure justice/fairness. Biases such as racial, ethnic and gender influence the achievement of the goal.

Warfare

War: organized group action directed against another group and involving lethal force. There is cultural variation in the frequency of way, the objectives of war, how it is waged and post war relations.

Emerging and transnational nations

What is a nation? A group of people who share a language, culture, territorial base, political organization and history. US would not be a nation from this definition. Nations and other groups can constitute a political threat to state stability and control: Kurds, Maya, Tamils and Tibetans.

The UN and Peacekeepers

What role does the UN have in peace keeping. What role can anthropologists play?