Stateless Societies Part - 1
Contents
- Introduction
- Politics and Political Organisations
- Political Institutions and Stateless Societies
- Political Principles of Stateless Society
Introduction
You will discover more about politics and political structure in this article. You'll discover information about societies without a centralized government and statelessness. Here, the importance of kinship organization in relation to political control is discussed.
Politics and Political Organisations
The division of power in society is a subject of politics. Political institutions are specific social relations that exist in a given region. So, in any society's political system, the territorial area is a crucial component. The territorial structure provides the framework for various forms of organization, including political organization. However, when we study political institutions, we deal with the "maintenance and establishing of order within a territorial framework by the organised exercise of coercive authority through the use or possibility of use of physical force" (Fortes M. and Evans, Pritchard, E. E. , 1949) .
In society, the state is one of the most significant political institutions. A human community that is successful in securing the exclusive right to use force legally within a specific territory has been described as such. Government and state are different in that government is the body that executes the state's orders. So, we can say that the combination and interaction of power and authority in the upkeep of public affairs constitutes political organization.
The police and the army are the means of preserving public order in today's complex societies. Criminals are subject to legal sanctions. One tool the state uses to fulfill its social control role is the law.
Politics have become increasingly more organized over time in various societies. All other facets of social organization, including political institutions, have become more complex as societies have progressed from simple to modern industrial societies. Societies exist without a centralized government known as stateless societies. These societies are the topic of Unit 16.
Political Institutions and Stateless Societies
In contrast to modern societies, simple societies have a very small population. These societies contain a very nebulous political community. In this case, there is no official social control agency because face-to-face interaction is possible. The political structure of stateless societies will now be discussed. Regardless of how straightforward their organizational structure, people in all types of stateless societies typically have an understanding of their territorial rights. The concepts of age, social control, and social sanctions all work to preserve these rights.
It is imperative to state upfront that when we discuss African tribes as a whole. These societies have a variety of political institutions, including councils, monarchies, chiefs, etc. , exist. Power and authority in stateless societies are typically distributed among various social groups. The ties of kinship and lineage systems help to keep political order in place.
A society is called stateless if it:
- has no rigid boundary or permanent physical territory,
- follows oral traditions, and the bureaucratic aspect is absent from it,
- has a single person holding several major powers of religious, economic and political offices within the society,
- there is no fixed rigidly spelt out ideology, and
- has simple economy
Sources of Data about Stateless Societies
There are three sources of knowledge about simple societies without government. It is from these that our information is derived:
- archaeological records about stateless societies,
- literature produced by missionaries, travellers and administrators, and
- monographs written by anthropologists
When studying stateless societies, the archaeological record is crucial. This leads to a crucial point. All evidence of simple societies demonstrates that they have always been engaged in a process of change, growth, and development. Here, we should point out that simple societies are all dynamic and that none of them are static. Additionally, missionaries, travelers, and colonial administrators produced literature that anthropologists studying stateless societies have used. The anthropologists' monographs on societies without states are last but certainly not least.
Types of Stateless Societies
According to their sociopolitical organizations, the stateless societies can be roughly divided into four broad types of societies:
- i) The first class of societies are those that typically rely on hunting and gathering for their subsistence. Here, cooperating groups of families or close kin are the largest social units. Other than this, there is no formal grouping at all. Gradations, classifications, or even distinct institutions don't exist. In this kind of society, there is no particular political organization. The senior members of these families hold the reins of power. However, the scope of this authority is extremely constrained. Examples of these societies include the South African Bushmen, some of the inhabitants of South East Asia, the Jarwa of the Andaman Islands, etc. i.
- A second kind of society is one that consists of village communities connected to one another through various ties of kinship and commerce. To keep up administration, councils have been formally appointed. Each society has a different set of requirements for membership in these councils. The descent from an established family or a well-known family is one of the eligibility requirements. or any other social distinction, like wealth. Political order is starting to take shape, as can be seen here. These societies include some in West Africa, such as the Ibo and Yako.
- In the third type, societies are governed by age-based systems. This is a typical trait of East African societies. The elders in these societies are given the responsibility for delegating authority. As a result, the seniority principle underpins age-set organizations. An illustration of one of these tribes. is the Nuer of Africa and the Cheyenne of America.
- The fourth category of societies includes those where unilineal descent-organized groups perform political tasks. It follows either the father's or the mother's line to determine the unilineal descent. There aren't any particular political offices in these societies. There are no political chiefs, but the society's elders may have some discretionary power. The groups that make up the society in this type of society might be in a state of balanced opposition. Examples of such societies include the Nuer and the Dinka of Southern Sudan. This detail will be discussed later.
Kinship System as a Form of Political Control
In the sociopolitical and economic organization of simple societies, the kinship system is extremely important. Its duties are numerous and overlap with those of the institutions of government and commerce. It takes on the responsibility of keeping society balanced and in order. Within the simple societies, along the kinship and territorial lines, the principle of fission or conflict and fusion or cohesion operates. For instance, the Nuer tribe is split up into groups. The tribe's primary section, or segment, is the largest and it occupies the largest territory, followed by the secondary section, which is smaller than the primary and which takes up the next-largest territory, and the tertiary section, which is the smallest and which occupies the smallest territory. This kinship distribution in Nuer society is separate from its political and territorial divisions. Conflict results in alliances and opposition along kinship and especially lineage lines in such a society.
Alliances are formed along the lines of territory, residence, kinship, descent, heritage, and marriage in all stateless societies where there are divisions or segments in the society. In these societies, conflict promotes cohesion. For instance, all members of a group who are agnatically descended from the same man may view themselves as a unit against all of the agnatic descendants of that man's adversaries in the event of conflict. It is possible for the enemy to come from one's own lineage or from another lineage. By having actual or potential conflict with one another, society's divisions are maintained. The institution of "blood feud" in these societies is a typical way that this opposition is expressed. When someone from one section of society murders a member of another, the other section will not be satisfied until the murderer or any other members of his section are killed. These cross-cutting ties, such as those of affinity and matrilateral kinship, balance out these inter-lineage conflicts. Therefore, there are always individuals in opposing groups who are interested in finding a peaceful resolution to conflicts between lineages.
As a result, we can conclude that kinship ties play political roles in stateless societies. The concepts of exogamy, in which a person only marries someone from outside their community, and endogamy, in which a person marries someone from within a specific community, are crucial. These principles determine the type of potential supporters or allies one might have in a conflict.
Political Principles of Stateless Society
There are a great number of stateless societies, and among them there are many different traditions. However, some fundamental values that their organization upholds can be identified. All stateless societies appear to be based on and exhibit these principles:.
- When various segments or groups come together, society becomes more cohesive. They initially owe loyalty to various groups, but they band together for a particular reason, such as the defense of territory or a "blood feud," etc.
- A subordinate acquires independence when authority is delegated to or granted to them. Consequently, in a society without states, juniors who are given authority by seniors grow to be powerful on their own.
- Mystical symbols can 'integrate' and 'unite' stateless societies. This is due to the fact that the entire society views these as sacred and deserving of protection.
An Example: The Tonga
Let's use the Tonga tribe of Africa as an example. In an effort to avoid being raided, the Tongas live in small villages. Unfriendly tribes carry out these raids to steal food and valuables. The headman in this tribe has little authority. One of the primary characteristics of stateless societies is this. Because of its dependence on agriculture, this tribe is nomadic (it frequently changes locations). As a result, numerous new friendships are forged and many old ones are dissolved. Tongas are members of the mukowa, a group of matrilineally connected kin.
It is crucial to remember that a marriage cannot unite two mukowa. The exogamy principle serves as the main mechanism for forging the various connections and alliances. The fact that Tonga clans are connected through cross-cousin relationships, also known as joking relations, is a very interesting characteristic. When laughter is forcedly turned into a ritual, it is called a "joking relationship.". Because they are unable to speak normally, they must joke and laugh. This organization is crucial. This humor has significant political repercussions among the Tonga.
This is due to the fact that "clan joking" fosters numerous friendships among all parties involved. Additionally, it gives privileged middlemen and moral arbiters in a society a chance to interfere in people's lives while still projecting a sense of authority. This is so that "counselling" and "warnings" can be given as part of jokes when people are laughing. Society can function without the interference of political authority and power.
An Example: The Lozis
When food is scarce or limited, institutions that protect everyone's rights exist in some stateless societies. The distribution issue is always present in these societies because the idea of accumulating food and possessions is nonexistent. Kufunda, which literally translates to mean legal theft, is a system that exists among the Lozi people of Africa. It also exists in a few other tribes. From the homes of one's kinsmen, anyone in the tribe is permitted to take anything they want, including food. Because one can always get food from one or both of one's kinsmen, it solves the hunger problem. Each member of these tribes is required to share their food with the others. Thus, kufunda, or legal theft, serves as a political institution and gives the kinship and economic systems of the community their purpose.
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