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Although humans have established many types of societies throughout
history sociologists and anthropologists tend to classify different
societies according to the degree to which different groups within a
society have unequal access to advantages such as resources, prestige or
power, and usually refer to four basic types of societies. From least to
most socially complex, they are: clans, tribes, chiefdoms and states.
Clan
These are small-scale societies of hunters and gatherers, generally
of fewer than 100 people, who move seasonally to exploit wild
(undomesticated) food resources. Most surviving hunter – gatherer groups
are of this kind, such as the Hadza of Tanzania or the San of southern
Africa. Clan members are generally kinsfolk, related by descent or
marriage. Clans lack formal leaders, so there are no marked economic
differences or disparities in status among their members.
Because clans are composed of mobile groups of hunter-gatherers,
their sites consist mainly of seasonally occupied camps, and other smaller
and more specialised sites. Among the latter are kill or butchery sites –
locations where large mammals are killed and sometimes butchered – and work
sites, where tools are made or other specific activities carried out. The
base camp of such a group may give evidence of rather insubstantial
dwellings or temporary shelters, along with the debris of residential
occupation.
Tribe
These are generally larger than mobile hunter – gatherer groups, but
rarely number more than a few thousand, and their diet or subsistence is
based largely on cultivated plants and domesticated animals. Typically, they
are settled farmers, but they may be nomadic with a very different, mobile
economy based on the intensive exploitation of livestock. These are
generally multi-community societies, with the individual communities
integrated into the large society through kinship ties. Although some
tribes have officials and even a “capital” or seat of government, such
officials lack the economic base necessary for effective use of power.
The typical settlement pattern for tribes is one of settled
agricultural homesteads or villages. Characteristically, no one settlement
dominates any of the others in the region. Instead, the archaeologist finds
evidence for isolated, permanently occupied houses or for permanent
villages. Such villages may be made up of a collection of free-standing
houses, like those of the first farms of the Danube valley in Europe. Or
they may be clusters of buildings grouped together, for example, the
pueblos of the American Southwest, and the early farming village or small
town of Catalhoyuk in modern Turkey.
Chiefdom
These operate on the principle of ranking-differences in social
status between people. Different lineages (a lineage is a group claiming
descent from a common ancestor) are graded on a scale of prestige, and the
senior lineage, and hence the society as a whole, is governed by a chief.
Prestige and rank are determined by how closely related one is to the
chief, and there is no true stratification into classes. The role of the
chief is crucial.
Often, there is local specialisation in craft products, and surpluses
of these and of foodstuffs are periodically paid as obligation to the
chief. He uses these to maintain his retainers, and may use them for
redistribution to his subjects. The chiefdom generally has a center of
power, often with temples, residences of the chief and his retainers, and
craft specialists. Chiefdoms vary greatly in size, but the range is
generally between about 5000 and 20,000 persons.
Early State
These preserve many of the features of chiefdoms, but the ruler
(perhaps a king or sometimes a queen) has explicit authority to establish
laws and also to enforce them by the use of a standing army. Society no
longer depends totally upon kin relationships: it is now stratified into
different classes. Agricultural workers and the poorer urban dwellers form
the lowest classes, with the craft specialists above, and the priests and
kinsfolk of the ruler higher still. The functions of the ruler are often
separated from those of the priest: palace is distinguished from temple.
The society is viewed as a territory owned by the ruling lineage and
populated by tenants who have an obligation to pay taxes. The central
capital houses a bureaucratic administration of officials; one of their
principal purposes is to collect revenue (often in the form of taxes and
tolls) and distribute it to government, army and craft specialists. Many
early states developed complex redistribution systems to support these
essential services.
This rather simple social typology, set out by Elman Service and
elaborated by William Sanders and Joseph Marino, can be criticised, and it
should not be used unthinkingly. Nevertheless, if we are seeking to talk
about early societies, we must use words and hence concepts to do so.
Service’s categories provide a good framework to help organise our
thoughts.
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