Eskimo political organization: a behavioural approach ...

• Main Author: Babcock, Douglas Robert
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2011
• Subjects: eskimo*
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0104753; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0104753

The state-stateless dichotomy in political anthropology, based on the criterion of government in a legal-structural sense, leads to the "ordered anarchy" designation of some primitive societies such as the Eskimo. The dichotomy apparently stems from a pre-occupation with Western forms of government. This ethnocentric, structural bias invalidates many of the conclusions to be found in the literature regarding primitive societies, and has important implications for current research methods. A tentative analytic framework is outlined for political organization, here construed as a process rather than a substantive structure, utilizing the interrelated concepts of power or influence, and decision- making. Influence or power, defined as the ability to get others to act, think, or feel as one intends, is an attribute of social relationships. Its dimensions include sources, means, scopes, extension, amount, costs, and strength. Political organization is regarded as the process by which decisions of group range are ...