ANT 2000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 17: Morton Fried, Elman Service, Conflict Resolution
Document Summary
Morton fried offered the following definition of political organization. Political organization compromises those portions of social organization that specifically relate to the individuals or groups that manage the affairs of public policy or seek to control the appointment or activities of those individuals or groups. Fried"s definition is less applicable to nonstarters, where it"s often difficult to detect any. Ethnographic and archeological studies in hundreds of places have revealed many correlations between the economy and social and political organization. Decades ago, the anthropologist elman service listed four types, or levels, of political organization: band, tribe, chiefdom, and state. Modern hunter-gatherers are today"s remnants of foraging band societies. Susan kent noted a tendency to stereotype foragers, to treat them all as alike. They used to be stereotyped as isolated, primitive survivors of the stone age. Kent focused on variation among foragers, describing considerable diversity in time and space among the san.
