Unlike the band organization of most foragers, food producers, either horticulturalists or pastoralists, are politically organized into either tribes, associated with big men, or chiefdoms, associated with chiefs. Both tribes and chiefdoms have the basic traits of horticulture (or pastoralists if herders); however the sociopolitical structure can be quite different. Below is a list of traits that tend to differentiate the two.
Tribes
The earliest horticulturalists were tribal in organization, and tended to be relatively small in size, consisting in some cases of only two or three villages.
Tribes, like bands, tend to be egalitarian, that is, there is an equal distribution of resources, goods and authority with the same sex and age group.
Political leaders are called big men, after a literal translation of the term given these men among horticultural New Guinea tribes. Big Men act as redistributive leaders, with goods and resources flowing to them which are subsequently redistributed among the people. They have no true authority, and have no power to enforce any of their requests except by persuasion and the respect they gain from their followers. Hence they are often highly verbal and charismatic people.
Egalitarian redistributive exchange becomes important; however, reciprocal exchange usually remains the primary method by which resources and goods are distributed in the culture. In any type of redistribute exchange, goods/resources flow into a political center (in this case the big man) who redistributes the goods, as indicated in the diagram below. In egalitarian redistributive exchange, the result is to maintain a fairly egalitarian culture, and the big man had no more wealth than anyone else in the society.
Big men tend to work harder than others, and achieve prestige by giving away goods; they must lead by persuasion and example, since they have no formal authority. At the end, they may have fewer goods than others. The position is not inherited.
Big men function to intensify production, encouraging people to work longer and harder for the prestige of their group. The "group" in this case is either a kin group, such as lineage or clan, or the entire village or even tribe. Intensification thus produces more food, allowing the village to maintain its standard of living (for a time) in the face of rising population. From the point of view of tribal members, the payoff for working longer is prestige, and big men were probably the first people in the world to discover that people will work longer and harder for prestige.
Redistribution often takes place as part of feasts; feasts are often given for rival big men from rival clans or villages. Groups boast about how much they have given away at their feasts, and in this way gain prestige.
Contributions to the big man are voluntary, though supported by religious beliefs, desire for prestige, cultural ideas of appropriate behavior, fear of shame or ridicule from others, etc.
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