Chiefdom is a form of tribal organization, in chiefdoms, the locus of authority has moved farther up in the tribal structure, beyond the small local communities (or primary segments), which have lost their autonomy and are now reduced to interdependent political subdivisions. The centers of power have moved to a position intermediate between the level of local communities and the level of the tribe as a whole . Chiefdoms are still tribes and as such lack an overall central authority , The tribe is composed of several chiefdoms that are politically independent of each other.
For example; in chiefdom, descent groups, such as clans are ranked in a hierarchical order with one of the groups considered the chiefly or noble group, from this group comes the chief who holds authority over all the groups in a particular area. A Chiefdom, then is composed of a number of descent groups occupying a defined territory and under the leadership of a chief who is a member of the senior descent group, A number of these chiefdoms, to repeat, make up the entire tribe.
The position of chief is an official one, a fixed office, governed by an order of succession that is based on heredity. The authority of a chief is greater than any of the others; usually the chief has the power to life and death over subjects. The chief and the chiefly lineage or clan only sty in power as long as they are strong enough to hold it. It is always a possibility and not uncommon that that another group will gather enough strength to overthrow and supplant them. Thus Chiefdoms are ranked societies in which every member has a specific rank in the hierarchy. Rank is based on age seniority and the degree of kinship relationship of an individual to the chief. Thus if two people are related to the chief in the same degree of kinship, then the more senior individual in age would have a higher social ranking.
- The chief sometimes inherits his office
- He is generally a true authority figure, His office unites the community in all affairs at all times
- There is always a recognized hierarchy of major and minor authority.
- On the economic level, a chief controls the productive activities of his people.
Eg: – HeHe of Tanzania
Further Reading:
Chiefdoms are an intermediate-level society, often seen as a stage in social evolution (Service 1962). (A closely related social type is ranked societies.) In contrast to the local-group level of egalitarian societies, chiefdoms organize several local groups or villages in a region with a composite population in the thousands or tens of thousands.
Chiefdoms can be characterized as simple or complex in terms of the scale of integration and elaboration of institutionalization (Earle 1978).With respect to social integration, the chiefdom level transcends the tribal level in two major ways: (1) it has a higher population density made possible by more efficient productivity; and (2) it is more complex, with some form of centralized authority. Unlike segmentary systems in which political units coalesce and dissolve according to the situation, chiefdoms have relatively permanent central agencies of government, typically based on collection and redistribution of an economic surplus (often including a labor surplus).Chiefdoms represent a new level of integration, with institutions that incorporate the expanded size of the polity. Explanations of the evolution of chiefdoms have emphasized alternatively managerial and political causes (Earle 1987).
Within the chiefdom polity, the individuals occupying chiefly offices constitute a social segment and are ranked with respect to each other according to genealogies to create an institutionalized hierarchy of leadership. In simple chiefdoms, community leaders are the highest-ranked individuals of their community. In more complex chiefdoms, chiefs become a separate social segment set off from the commoner populace and designated by special dress and paraphernalia (Earle 1989). Genealogies become political tools, determining the pool of potential leaders, and often linking them to the gods. The position of chief, unlike that of headman of a band or lineage, is a position of at least minimal power—that is, the chief has access to a certain amount of coercion. The chief may be the final authority in the distribution of land, and may be able to recruit an army. Economically, he is the center and coordinator of the redistribution system: he can collect taxes on food or goods, some of which will be returned to the populace, creating a new level of group solidarity in which a number of specialized parts depend on the smooth functioning of the whole. Even if the chief’s position is not directly hereditary, it will only be available to certain families or lineages. Although actual class stratification is absent, every individual is ranked according to membership in a descent group; those closer to the chief’s lineage will be higher on the scale and receive the deference of all those below. Indeed, according to Service (1971: 145), “the most distinctive characteristic of chiefdoms, as compared to tribes and bands, is . . . the pervasive inequality of persons and groups in the society.
”However, the chief by no means possesses absolute power. The aristocratic ethos does not carry with it any formal, legal apparatus of forceful repression, and what obedience the chief can command may derive less from fear of physical sanctions than from his direct control of the economic redistributional system. The chief’s lineage may itself become exceptionally wealthy, but ultimately loyalty is purchased by constant bestowal of goods and benefits. Although there may be the approximation of a bureaucracy, offices beneath that of chief are not clearly differentiated, and when pressures build up, these lower bureaucrats can break away from the parent body and set up an opposition government. Thus, a chief walks a narrow tightrope between conflicting interest groups and maintains his position through a precarious balancing act.