Kinship as the basis of social organization

1. Kinship as the basis of social organization Kimberly Martin, Ph.D. ANTH 250: Issues in Anthropology

2. What is a Subsistence Technique? A subsistence technique is a strategy for making a living that is characterized by population size, tools used, settlement pattern, and ways of obtaining food. There are four general subsistence techniques named after the four food acquisition strategies. • Hunting and Gathering/Foraging • Pastoralism • Horticulture • Agriculture

3. What is Hunting and Gathering/Foraging? Hunting and gathering (sometimes called foraging) means using naturally occurring plant and animal resources without caring for or replacing them. These groups are usually characterized by: • Live in foraging groups average 30 individuals (all kin to one another) • Usually mobile - Nomadic or semi-nomadic • Hand tools and carrying containers only • Includes gathering plant and insect resources, hunting animals and/or fishing • No surplus – surplus left in nature to grow and increase natural food supplies

4. What is Pastoralism? Pastoralism means making your living primarily from raising herd animals. Pastoralists live their lives according to the needs of their animals, and trade their animal products (milk, meat, hides) for other things they need. These societies are usually characterized by: • Camps with numbers in the 100’s • Usually mobile - Nomadic or semi-nomadic • Pack animals carry their possessions as they move their animals to better pasture. • Breed herd animals for milk, meat, butter, yoghurt, hides and blood. • No surplus – surplus is kept alive and breeding in the form of the herd.

5. What is Horticulture? Horticulture means raising plant crops as a main food source using hand tools like digging sticks, machetes, axes and hoes. The most common form is “slash and burn” or “swidden” horticulture, where brush is cut, fields are burned off and seeds or cuttings are planted by hand. These societies are usually characterized by: • Live in villages with 100’s to 1000’s of individuals, size depending on whether they produce a surplus. • Usually sedentary - Dispersed homesteads, or villages • Hand tools only • Domesticated plants are raised, with the specific plants depending on the area of the world – sweet potato, yam, taro, bananas, corn, etc. • Sometimes surplus, but if so, everyone produces the same things in surplus (e.g. all surplus is corn)

6. What is Agriculture? Agriculture means raising plants using anything more sophistocated than hand tools. This includes plows, draft animals, irrigation, chemical fertilizers, mechanization and industrialization. These societies are usually characterized by: • Live in towns/cities of 10,000 individuals and up • Usually sedentary – towns and cities • Plows, draft animals, irrigation, mechanization, industrialization • Domesticated plants are raised in huge quantities by a small segment of the society. • Large surplus – used to allow economic specialists to do things other than produce food.

7. Levels of Sociocultural Integration Anthropologists divide societies into five different levels of sociocultural integration based on political characteristics. These are: Bands Tribes Chiefdoms States Empires

8. What Is a Band? A Band usually has the following characteristics: • Social organization based on personal kinship relationships • Small group (30 individuals) • Consensus or situational leadership authority • Persuasive power is delegated • Frequently mobile (nomadic or semi-nomadic) • Hunting and Gathering/Foraging Subsistence • Use reciprocity as primary distribution system • No surplus is produced

9. What Is a Tribe? Tribes usually have the following characteristics: • Social organization based on lineage kinship relationships, with lineages not ranked with regard to one another. • Villages/camps of 50-100’s • Mediation/Negotiation Leadership (Persuasive power through a Headman) • Leadership by Personal Qualifications • May be mobile or sedentary • Pastoralist, Horticulturalist or Hunting and Gathering/Foraging Subsistence • Use reciprocity as primary distribution system • No surplus is produced

10. What Is a Chiefdom? A Chiefdom usually has the following characteristics: • Social organization based on membership in ranked lineages. • Villages/towns in the 100’s-1000’s • Mediation/Negotiation or Decide and Enforce (Persuasive (leader called Big Man) or coercive power (leader called Chief) • Leadership selected from members of a high ranking lineage • May be mobile or sedentary • Pastoralist or Horticulturalist Subsistence • Use redistribution as primary distribution system • Some surplus is produced, but all surplus is in the same product or products)

11. What Is a State? A State usually has the following characteristics: • Social organization based on non-kin relationships based on special interest groups. • Towns and cities of 10,000’s and up • Authority to decide and enforce (coercive power) • Leadership selected by personal qualification election, hereditary succession or force. • Sedentary (cities) • Agricultural Subsistence • Use market system as primary distribution system • Large surplus is produced in a wide variety of products) • Full-time economic specialization

12. What Is an Empire? An Empire is a state that has conquered and rules by force one or more other societies.