Tribes and Chiefdoms
Unlike the band organization of most foragers, food producers, either horticulturalists or pastoralists, are politically organized into either tribes, associated with big men, or chiefdoms, associated with chiefs. Both tribes and chiefdoms have the basic traits of horticulture (or pastoralists if herders); however the sociopolitical structure can be quite different. Below is a list of traits that tend to differentiate the two.
Tribes
- The earliest horticulturalists were tribal in organization, and tended to be relatively small in size, consisting in some cases of only two or three villages.
- Tribes, like bands, tend to be egalitarian, that is, there is an equal distribution of resources, goods and authority with the same sex and age group.
- Political leaders are called big men, after a literal translation of the term given these men among horticultural New Guinea tribes. Big Men act as redistributive leaders, with goods and resources flowing to them which are subsequently redistributed among the people. They have no true authority, and have no power to enforce any of their requests except by persuasion and the respect they gain from their followers. Hence they are often highly verbal and charismatic people.
- Egalitarian redistributive exchange becomes important; however, reciprocal exchange usually remains the primary method by which resources and goods are distributed in the culture. In any type of redistribute exchange, goods/resources flow into a political center (in this case the big man) who redistributes the goods, as indicated in the diagram below. In egalitarian redistributive exchange, the result is to maintain a fairly egalitarian culture, and the big man had no more wealth than anyone else in the society.
- Big men tend to work harder than others, and achieve prestige by giving away goods; they must lead by persuasion and example, since they have no formal authority. At the end, they may have fewer goods than others. The position is not inherited.
- Big men function to intensify production, encouraging people to work longer and harder for the prestige of their group. The "group" in this case is either a kin group, such as lineage or clan, or the entire village or even tribe. Intensification thus produces more food, allowing the village to maintain its standard of living (for a time) in the face of rising population. From the point of view of tribal members, the payoff for working longer is prestige, and big men were probably the first people in the world to discover that people will work longer and harder for prestige.
- Redistribution often takes place as part of feasts; feasts are often given for rival big men from rival clans or villages. Groups boast about how much they have given away at their feasts, and in this way gain prestige.
- Contributions to the big man are voluntary, though supported by religious beliefs, desire for prestige, cultural ideas of appropriate behavior, fear of shame or ridicule from others, etc.
- Political leaders are chiefs, and usually unite several villages. Chiefdoms tend to be larger than tribes. Chiefs have true authority, and are usually wealthier than others.
- Non-egalitarian. Chiefdoms are the first type of society where significant differences of wealth, prestige, and authority exist between groups of people. Usually, the chiefs and immediate supporters are notably better off in terms of material items and food. In terms of social differences, such cultures are often referred to as ranked. Also, chiefs and supporters usually posses certain prestige items which may be reserved for them.
- Stratified redistributive exchange is important in chiefdoms. In stratified redistributive exchange, goods and resources flow into the political center (the chief and his immediate followers) and are then redistributed to the people. However, the political center keeps more for themselves. Stratified redistributive exchange is not only found in chiefdoms, but also in the state societies of intensive agriculture and industrialism. (Taxes in American culture are a form of stratified redistributive exchange.) Chiefdoms also relied on reciprocal exchange and increasingly, market exchange.
- Contributions to the political center are not voluntary, although contributing is supported by religious beliefs and cultural values. By withholding some of the contributions and distributing them only to a select group of followers, chiefs often create a military/police group which will obey the chief. This gives the chief true power and authority, and they can compel others to do their bidding. Such authority is normally reinforced by the religious belief system, which may hold chiefs to be semi-divine or actually gods.
- Chiefs often do not labor at food production, or do so only in highly symbolic fashion. The position tends to be inherited. Still, chieftainships must often be validated by waging war, obtaining goods, and favorably rewarding followers via the redistributive system. Usually chieftains are supposed to be generous, even though it is culturally viewed as right that chiefs should have more wealth, power and prestige.
- Because of the nonegalitarian nature of chiefdoms, they are usually viewed in anthropology as being transitional to the true state found in intensive agriculture.
While some tribes did indeed become larger in size and developed into chiefdoms, and while some chiefdoms did indeed become the earliest political states, there was no "natural" tendency or cultural evolution to this end. Many horticulturalists (and pastoralists) remained tribal, and many remained chiefdoms, until well into the 20th century, and were often forced into membership of political states.
