ANTH 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Wield, Materialism, Class Stratification

• School: University of Victoria
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTH 100
• Professor: Erin Mc Guire

Document Summary

Political organization: the way a society maintains order internally and manages affair externally. Political relationships are managed by the use of power, authority, and prestige. Power is the ability to compel another person to do something that he or she would not do otherwise. It may be by threat of punishment or promise of reward. Power is essentially used in two ways: coercively: uses physical force or the treat of it, persuasi(cid:448)e: relies (cid:374)ot o(cid:374) for(cid:272)e, (cid:271)ut o(cid:374) (cid:272)ha(cid:374)gi(cid:374)g so(cid:373)eo(cid:374)e"s (cid:271)eha(cid:448)ior through argumentation using religious or cultural beliefs. This type of power offers a type of reward for compliance. Prestige: type of social reward that can only be given to a person by others. It refers to the positive reputation or high regard of a person or other entity merited by actions, wealth, authority, or status. The big man: found throughout melanesia, uses his prestige as an informal leader in his community.