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Anthropology is a science that aims to comprehend humans from their different sides. About two hundred years anthropologists have been gathering all possible information about people living in scattered places. Scientists examined different monographs, ethnographic books, and spent several years living with those people in order to properly describe their unique mode of life and history.
To compare cultures is not to deny their individual uniqueness. Ethnography and comparative research deal with the same observable characteristics, but they look differently at reality (Ember, 1).
The political organization is also important for anthropology research. The knowledge about different societies’ organization facilitates the task to estimate the level of social development and find the prerequisites for present time political and social events.
A band society or a band is one of the simplest patterns of human society organization. As a rule, it consists of a small group of people whose number does not prevail over the number of extended family. On average, band society can count up to 50 individuals.
Band is a free society organization. The leadership in power structure has informal character. The oldest member of the band is considered to be the leader and the “governor” possessing the right for guidance, advice giving and decision making. However, important decisions are taken on a consensus basis. There are no strict laws nor compulsory rules of behavior. The only moral principles are contained in oral customs and traditions. Religion is based on traditions as well. The other premises for its existence are individual experience or prophecies and advice from shaman.
Another type of society organization worth scientists’ attention is tribal society. According to Shorter, “Tribe is a whole society, having a high degree of self-sufficiency at near-subsistence level, based on a relatively simple technology, without writing a literature, politically autonomous and with its own distinctive language, culture, sense of identity and religion” (2). It is considered to be a relatively simple type of organization, though its internal structure varies greatly in different cases. The distinctive feature of tribalism is the strong cultural distinction between members of different tribes.
The Shavante inhabit the Mato Grasso region in Brazil. Although the Shavante practice some agriculture, they rely primarily on food collection. The Shavante have villages, but they rarely stay in them for more than a few weeks at a time. Age-sets are extremely important part of Shavante society, particularly for males. For Shavante women, then, the age-set system does not function as association(Ember, 405-406).
In conclusion I would like to say that bands differ from tribes by number of members and families. There are definite social institutions in tribes presented by elders or chiefs. Bands are less stable than tribes. Tribes usually have subdivisions. Thus, a band may be a part of a tribe. Nevertheless, tribes rely on common primary instincts for their survival and organization. Instincts are taken into account while resolving the question of the whole nation. In fact, political tension in modern states may be considered as an internal conflict between the desire to create a state on the basis of tribal laws of egalitarianism and the understanding that a nation inside the state is much bigger. Thus, it can not obey small society rules.
Bibliography
Ember, Carol R., Ember, Melvin. Cross-Cultural Research methods. Plymouth: Rowman Altamira, 2009.
Ember, Carol et al. Anthropology. New York: Pearson Education, 2003.
Shorter, Aylward. East African Societies.London: Routledge, 2005.
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