It is a second type of multi-centric authority system in which separate social units are integrated by a number of political factors.
- Tribal organization is characteristic of most horticulturists and pastoral nomads. Tribes are like bands in that in tribal societies there is no overall centralized political authority haying jurisdiction over the several tribal sections. Thus, tribes are referred to as acephalous, meaning “without a head”.
- Tribes are also characterized by their commingling of institutions: economics, politics, kinship, religion, and so on. They are not separately organized. In tribes, “these are not so much different institutions as they are different functions of the same institutions. But a tribe is like a state in that the problems tribal organization must solve are similar to those in state societies: because populations are larger and more dense, problems concerning the maintenance of order and conformity are more complex.
- The structure of a tribe is a kind of building-block arrangement. Small units are combined to form progressively larger, more inclusive units, until the level of the tribe as a whole is reached, For instance, at the lowest level the units may be composed of individual households. Several related households taken together may form a lineage. Several lineages may then constitute a village, all the villages in a defined area constitute a district or ward. And all the districts or wards taken together constitute a tribe, but it is important to remember that there is no central authority at the maximal tribal level.
A tribe is more complex in structure as compared to the band society, as it accommodates much larger population. Tribes have well-formed kinship oriented units i.e., lineage, clan, moieties, kindred, etc and sodalities i.e., special-purpose non-residential groups instead of centralized and formal institutions. An illustration of sodality is the age-set system, in which a group which initiated together at the time of puberty will form a continuing sodality that would carry out different functions as it passes through certain age levels. Age-set group is often termed as „Secret society‟. Hoebel described it as „fraternity whose activities and membership are wrapped in secrecy‟. This is infrequently observed in North America and Africa where sex-linked roles are highly operative i.e., during the initiation ceremonies or the puberty rites, certain activities are only for the males and others are only for the females. Thus, matters are kept as secret and no one is aware, what is going on the other side. The Mendi and Temrie tribes of Sierra Leone, Northwest Africa are such examples of secret society. In the age-set group, matters of political interest are mainly in the hands of age-set members and their seniors.