Social and Political Inequality
Overview
In this module, we move from food production to social and political
organization and dynamics (a theme that is continued in the modules on
gender and warfare). Students consider where inequality comes from and
how it is perpetuated by examining case studies of a “big man” society
and ethnographic and archaeological examples of chiefdoms. What are the
economic, political, and ideological dynamics that explain how a few
come to dominate the many?
Lesson Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
- Compare and contrast how political and economic inequality are derived
and maintained in different societies.
Matrix Principles
Social Relevance (inequality persists; where does it come from, and
what can we learn from a historical and comparative perspective?).
Instructional Procedures
Class 1
Video: The Kawelka: Ongka’s Big Moka
Format
View video and discuss the efforts and strategies of Ongka, a “big
man,” to accumulate enough resources for a big moka (a
giveaway). The film emphasizes the long, difficult process of convincing
supporters, fending off competitors, and appeasing potential enemies
(as well as the exhausting physical work of Ongka’s wives to raise
and tend pigs for the ceremony) to gain the considerable but temporary
prestige that comes with sponsoring a big moka. It also introduces the
concept (repeated in subsequent classes) of the importance of accumulation
(wealth) as well as generosity (or the appearance of generosity) to
acquire prestige and to mask unequal access to resources. Materials
include the film and a VCR and television. Assessment based on participation
in discussion.
Class 2
Readings
Wolf, Eric
1999 Envisioning Power: Ideologies of Domination and Crisis.
University of California Press, Berkeley.
Read the chapter on the Kwakiutl.
Format: Discussion
Wolf’s chapter on the Kwakiutl is a clearly written, richly detailed
ethnographic portrait of a chiefly society that demonstrates how inequality
is reinforced through a cosmology and associated ceremonies that emphasize
the special origin and supernatural attributes of nobles who are believed
to ensure the food supply and well-being of the group. While similar
processes linking social structure, cosmology, and resources are discussed
in much of the archaeological literature on chiefdoms, it is particularly
helpful to see these dynamics illustrated in an ethnographic case study.
Before class, students are asked to consider (in their reading journals)
how political power was created and maintained with the Kwakiutl; this
question frames the day's discussion.
Class 3
Readings
Clark, John E., and Michael Blake
1996 [1993] The Power of Prestige: Competitive Generosity and the Emergence
of Rank Societies in Lowland Mesoamerica. In Contemporary Archaeology
in Theory, edited by Robert W. Preucel and Ian Hodder, pp. 258-281.
Blackwell, Oxford.
Format: Discussion
In their article, Clark and Blake discuss how chiefdoms originate as
political actors (“aggrandizers”) compete for prestige using
generosity (e.g., feasting) to attract followers. They illustrate this
point using an archaeological example from Formative Mesoamerica, citing
evidence for changes in settlement pattern, access to resources, and
craft production (with the manufacture of fine pottery for feasting).
Class discussion centers on: (1) an assessment of aggrandizer strategies
and their representation in the archaeological record (a useful exercise
that helps students understand the links between research questions,
evidence, and interpretations); and (2) a comparison (addressed in the
reading journal assignment for the day) of political power in Kwakiutl
and Formative Chiapas societies.