Politics: Influence and Power

Ch. 6 Political Systems - Social Networks from Bands and Beyond

I was thinking about why humans created political systems. Was it to create ways of dealing with conflicts within bands or among tribes? Is this what led to the creation of laws? And who gets to make the laws and why?

The following list about the complexity of groups helps me understand the need for political systems on a level I hadn't considered before. As human population began to increase and more and more "strangers" began to interact. Their ideas of how to subsist changed and needed to be managed on some level. And there was a need to cope with the exponential relations that came with larger and larger populations--governance became a necessity or so it seemed.

The Complexity of Groups
2 people = 1 relation
3 people = 3 relations
4 people = 6 relations
5 people = 10 relations
12 people = 66 relations
35 people = 600 relations
50 people = 1225 relations

Wesch has a diagram that suggests two ways humans have organized themselves -- (uncentralized) INFLUENCE and (centralized) POWER -- as we moved from bands and tribes to chiefdoms and states. You might consider Chapter 6 a way of looking at how "law & order" came into being. If you add the barrel model of culture to this and think about ideas alone, somehow we need uncentralized and centralized ways of organizing ideas alone. That's what the information age has come to be about in some ways. It's also what TED is doing with their tag "IDEAS WORTH SPREADING". They use video to share ideas with a world of people no matter what their level of wealth, power and prestige (Weber).


Wesch's list (above) of the complexity of groups also makes me think of Web 2.0 (click the tags for references to Web 2.0 at the top of the blog). Web 2.0 or online social networks like MySpace and Facebook are allowing a new kind of governance for the people, of the people, by the people more or less. Or is it a return to the egalitarianism of bands?

The Internet, esp. Web 2.0 -- user-generated-content stage of the WWW-- is allowing millions of users to mix both the INFLUENCE of being in a small band or tribe with the POWER of industrialization. Individuals can broadcast like state governments once exclusively did. You and I can talk to the writers of our textbooks or government officials with ease.

Students can write THEIR OWN textbooks and create THEIR OWN education with other students around the world whether in Russia, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, or just the South Bronx. They all can access and use info immediately without being limited by wealth, power or prestige (Weber). That was nearly impossible in my time before the Web appeared esp. for the lowest class of folks in our society or for folks outside the U.S. in developing countries. Now with a laptop at an Internet Cafe you can reach the world with the click of a mouse and a keyboard.

QUESTION FOR COMMENTS: How are people in industrialized nations claiming or reclaiming being egalitarian in the anthropological sense? Conversely, how are people in developing nations becoming powerful--in the sense of the "achieved status" found in the U.S.? Could someone from a lower caste in India move beyond their "ascribed status" today and how so? Do a little homework on Google with this one. Don't just share your own opinion. Gather evidence online.

P.S.
I love the image (below) of the world that shows the various social networking sites that dominate each region. Facebook and Myspace are dominant in the U.S. but not so elsewhere.

Consider all the networks being created BEYOND BORDERS with the WWW. For example, you've heard of doctors without borders, but what about teachers without borders, mothers without borders, architects without borders, students without borders, lawyers without borders, to CEOs without borders. Google any of these for more info.

ANTHRO IN REVIEW: Research Process, Ethnocentrism & Government

Check out these short videos by Studio4Learning that offer overviews of some key concepts, themes or practices like the research process:

Research Process-- Framing the Research Question



Cultural Relativism & Ethnocentrism




American Government: Types of Government

Kottak Political Systems - Check Tag Cloud for Key Words

This week comment on one of the previous posts on the topic of Political Systems. Check out the keywords from the chapter in the tag cloud in addition to Political Systems which has several posts. Try power, prestige, big men, etc. You choose and post a comment. Read at least 5-6 other comments AND try to say something that's never been said before or that hasn't been noticed by previous comments.

PS. Witness a spectacular photography highlight a shocking and underreported global crisis at the TED event on Oct 3 and Oct 4th in Union Square

James Nachtwey, one of the world’s greatest photojournalists and winner of the 2007 TEDPrize, received “one wish to change the world”:

“I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it, in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.”

http://www.tedprize.org/nachtwey/eventlocation.html

Ch. 6 Political systems: Indian Caste System

One of the most controversial topic regarding Indian society and culture is its stringent caste system. The word "caste" is taken from the Portuguese word casta. It can be defined as a rigid social system in which a social hierarchy is maintained generation after generation and allows little mobility out of the position to which a person is born. This is a perfect example of Max Weber's theory.

This system dates almost 3000 years back and was formed on the need to form a social order in ancient India. It is still very prevalent as part of India's society. Today, it occurs more in the rural villages than in big urban cities; and more in the social matters of kinship and marriages than in impersonal day-to-day interaction, such as taking the bus. Having been around for centuries, it is highly doubtful that the caste system will die out completely. Its presence will still be felt in the near future.

The four major roles excluding the dalits are:

Brahmans - priests, holy men, arbiters
Kshatriyas - kings, warriors, soldiers that protect and guard the country
Vaishyas - businessmen, traders, commercial class
Shudras - farmers, producers, peasants

The lowest class and the one excluded from even being in the list is the dalits. These have it the worst of the worst and as the video explains not even because of government amendments does it fade away from people's customs and beliefs. The true meaning of a social construct.

Warren Buffet once again World's Richest Man

In the slide show last week, Warren Buffett appears eating Dairy Queen ice cream (which he owns). Veronica knew of Buffett but made a comment about his image that reflects what I was sort of after with the slide show--multiple interpretations of culture. Remember interpretative ethnography? See Chapter 2 of Kottak.

Just read an article about Bill Gates no longer being the richest man in the world. In the article Buffett is revealed as a BIG MAN:

In October, Buffett issued a challenge to members of the Forbes 400 richest Americans list, saying he would donate $1 million to charity if the collective group (or a significant number of them) would admit they pay less taxes, as a percentage of income, than their secretaries.

Days after issuing the challenge, Buffett appeared before Congress to encourage it to keep the estate tax. Armed with a few Forbes 400 issues, he told the hearing that "dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise."

Kottak defines big man Figure often found among tribal horticulturalists and pastoralists. The big man occupies no office but creates his reputation through entrepreneurship and generosity to others. Neither his wealth nor his position passes to his heirs. p. 114 (5th ed.)

Ch. 6 Politcal Systems: Wealth, Power and Prestige (Max Weber's Theory)

Max Weber formulated a three-component theory of social stratification--wealth (property), power (political power or party class), and prestige (social status and honor).

The three constitute the three sides of a triangle, so to speak, regarding a person's status in society or the "life chances." How do these slides suggest the malleability, the shifting status and integration of these elements?

The man in with the Dairy Queen ice cream is Warren Buffet. He is once again the world's richest man.

NYU Students Would Trade the Right to Vote for an Ipod Touch or Full Tuition

Tuesday in class, Stephen Seymour (4:10 section) showed me a set of statistics on a study done at NYU that appeared in an issue of THE ECONOMIST. It said something like students at NYU were surveyed and would give up their right to vote for a year in exchange for an iPod touch and they'd give up their right to vote forever for free tuition (a free ride). I was stunned.

What's interesting is to compare and contrast the November 22nd print version that appeared in The Economist (very short):

For sale
A poll of New York University students revealed that 20% would give up their vote in the next election for an iPod and two-thirds would do so for a year's college tuition. Half would renounce their vote permanently for $1m.

with the longer version dated November 14th that appeared in The Politico:

...66 percent said they'd forfeit their vote for a free ride to NYU. And half said they'd give up the right to vote forever for $1 million.

But they also overwhelmingly lauded the importance of voting.

Ninety percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for the money also said they consider voting "very important" or "somewhat important"; only 10 percent said it was "not important."

Also, 70.5 percent said they believe that one vote can make a difference — including 70 percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for free tuition.

The class — "Foundations of Journalism," taught by journalism department chairwoman Brooke Kroeger — polled more than 3,000 undergraduates between Oct. 24 and 26 to assess student attitudes toward voting.

Which version says more and what difference does it make to the reader? How might the shorter or longer version be better or worse for cultural perceptions of college students? In what way does each contribute to stratification along class lines and to concerns about wealth, power and prestige in the U.S.?

MODERN TRIBALISM (Chap 7 Political Systems)

TRIBALISM IN OUR MODERN WORLD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5XusQuHiJE
When reading the chapter on political systems we realized that the word “tribe” is not a word of past but is still present in our modern society. In the tribal system there were “village heads” and “big men,” who had control over the population but didn’t have the authority to enforce rules. The village head and the big man are still present in our society. Men of wealth who demonstrate hard work and potential become leaders in our modern society. Often these people aspire masses by their intellect, actions, but most importantly their wealth. The big men of our modern society could be the owners of corporations that control the world and influence the political decisions. These people posses a great amount of wealth that allows them to use it to lobby the politicians and create changes in the system that benefit them.

Here is a short video about this:
WHO OWNS AMERICA?
In this video George Carlin talks about politics and the effect of "big men" - the “owners” of America on our society. In this case the big men are the corporation owners who influence the politics and basically run the country even though they are not put in power by people.
http://www.youtube.com/v/9KVTfcAyYGg

How is tribal culture still present in our society? We can see the evidence of modern tribalism in our culture every day. People often try to differentiate themselves from one another and they form groups that share similarities with the old tribes that existed in the past. An example of this would be the street gangs. In such gang there is always a leader who is respected by the gang members. This gang leader would be a modern type of a village head. We all in some way participate in some kind of a tribal life.

MODERN TRIBALISAM
This short clip illustrates the importance tribalism in our modern world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5XusQuHiJE

Greatest force in nations, markets, business: TRIBALISM
http://www.youtube.com/v/HzKOu0UKCL4

What is the reason that people start to come back to tribalism? Many believe that the reason for the rediscovery of tribalism is descending in education and cultural intelligence. People lose the connection with the world and what is happening around them, they become apathetic and try to find their way through life in some kind of modern tribalism. What do you think about this? Is it necessarily a bad thing?

Questions to consider for this chapter:
Has the mankind start descending back to tribalism because of decline in education and cultural intelligence?

Is tribalism still prevalent in our modern lives? How is tribal life in the past similar to the life in our today’s society?

Nick's Rap on Political Systems (Chap 7)

Many years ago Elma Service was born.....Poly organo was finally formed......That means political organization......Four types of levels covered the nations.......You had the bands, the tribes, the chiefdoms, and the state......Sayin' which ones best would start a debate......I'm only rappin' to layout the facts.....And get your brain cruisin' on the educated tracks......The man in charge of the tribe was the village head......But they didn't always listen to what he said....The big man was the boss of New Guinea......He was also known as tonowi.......Regulator of regional organization.....Expansion in the scale of Sociopolitical Regulation

Political Systems - Boxer Muhammad Ali & Comedian George Carlin resist the Big Men

This segment of a 2007 ESPN documentary video about Muhammad Ali brings the issues in Chap 7 of the Kottak into the present.

"Ali's 65" debuts Jan. 3, 2007 on ESPN
Ali's 65, produced by Televersemedia, a Stamford, Connecticut production company, is a one-hour special that will explore the impact and true meaning of Muhammad Ali's life, exploring why there had never been an athlete like Ali before and why there will likely never be anyone like him again. Ali's 65 captures never before told stories of "The Greatest" from Spike Lee, George Foreman, Lennox Lewis, Ali's brother Rahman Ali, and in his final interview, Ed Bradley. For more information, please visit www.televersemedia.com

The 2:30 section shared a great video remix of a George Carlin's HBO Special called 'This Life is Worth Losing'.



Wikipedia's biography of Carlin states:

Grammy-winning American stand-up comedian, actor, and author.

Carlin is especially noted for his political and black humor and his observations on language, psychology, and religion along with many taboo subjects. In fact, Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a narrow 5-4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's right to regulate Carlin's act on the public airwaves.

A good cultural anthropologist, an ethnographer who does their job well, always does a "background check" so to speak, on things they present publicly. I request we all be good ethnographers and do our scholarly homework on anything we present to the class and briefly contextualize the facts (For instance, "This is a YouTube video remix of comedian George Carlin, known for his black humor, speaking about the "Big Men" of corporate America"....etc.)

Here is the remix of a segment from his HBO special shown with graphics signifying all the corporate brands of the "owners of America" -- the BIG MEN. Great example of how the polities described in the chapter are present in our state polity.

The group in the 2:30 section will post their videos soon. Prof. G

Chapter 7 Poltical Systems

Chapter 7 dicusses about Political Systems and how they affect everyday life. Anthropologist use a sociopolitical typology to classify societies. These titles include the following: bands, tribes, chiefdoms, or states. Foragers use a band- oragnized approach. Bandleaders could not enforce laws or punishments and were first among equals. In horiculture villages leaders have limited power so they lead by persuassion and example. age and gender can also have an effect on politics. Males are seen as the warriors and have to earn movement in grades. The state is made up of many communites and is based on a centural government and social stratification. Chiefdoms are similar to states but lack stratificatio. Like bands and tribes, chiefdoms are organized by kinship, marriage, and descent. According to Weber, the three dimensions of stratification: wealth, power, and prestige. A socioeconomic stratum encompasses people of all ages and sexes. Population control, judiciary, enforcement, and fiscal are systems found in all states. A ruling system or government regulates the state.

One interesting subject we learned in reading this Chapter was about the Inuit. The male role in society took a great affect on prestige. Similar to today, most disputes were over women. Since no government existed rivals challegned each other to a song battle. This is similar to rap in today's world in which songs are made about other rappers in defense of one's self. We also found it interesting that thefts were uncommon. Every man took care of himself and there was no notion of private ownership. Americans pride themselves on competion. If there was no government, as memebers of the class do you feel Americans could handle situations in a justified way as the Inuits did? On the other hand, why do people feel the need to result to competition as a means of just getting by? Power and competion play a major factor in our everyday lives. As citizens and avergae students do you think this can ever change?

This is another video about the Inuits in Chapter 7. We tried to delete the previous post but are unsure if it worked. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz9-e8h2Zo8. Being a band/ community in northern Canada, the Inuits are effected by globalwarming. This people are threatended by assimilation. The food production is deteriorating as a reault of globalwarming since the Inuits are interconnected with the enviornment around them. As memebers of the American community, do you feel that it is just to so call "upgrade" people and force them to live industrialized? If not, what can we do as human beings to help or change the future of our world?

TED Talks, McDonough and Political Systems for Change

A student in the 2:30 section asked if you all could access all the TED Talks videos. Of course you can. Now when I mention things in class, it's your opportunity to find them yourselves. Be hungry. Make a note and GOOGLE it later. In any case, here is the link to all the videos. TED TALK VIDEOS. I love the great graphics and image design, not to mention the edutainment and graphics within the talks themselves!

NOTE: If you missed class, you must watch the following video shown on Thursday Oct 11. Others can also watch it again to question and analyze his points and project.

William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle
Architect and designer William McDonough asks what our buildings and products would look like if designers took into account "All children, all species, for all time." A tireless proponent of absolute sustainability (with a deadpan sense of humor), he explains his philosophy of "cradle to cradle" design, which bridge the needs of ecology and economics.


QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: What kind of political structures have humans practiced in the past that would assist us in facilitating McDonough notion of "absolute sustainability"? How does the chapter on POLITICAL SYSTEMS (Chap 7 in Kottak) provide insights into not simply our past but perhaps what 's possible in the future of absolute sustainability? What can you imagine the future looks like as a political system for absolute sustainability?

Chapter 7 Political Systems Overview:
This chapter discusses political organization in bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states, as well as some of the social and economic features commonly found in these types of societies.