Lesson 7 - Political and

Leadership Structures
Understanding Culture,
Society and Politics

Objectives
At the end of the lesson, the learner is expected to:
1. Explain the concepts of politics, power, and
authority.
2. Explain what is the nature of politics and political
organization.
3. Distinguish the types of political organizations that
have existed over time.
4. Define legitimacy and differentiate the types of
authority.
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Understanding Culture,
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Start up: (Pre-Assigned)

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Politics - refers to activities through which people make,

preserve, and amend the general rules under which they live.
• - it involves the dynamics of conflict resolution and cooperation, as
well as the exercise of power.

Power - refers to the ability to do something in order to

achieve a desired outcome.
• - it involves a relationship – there is one who exercise power and another
who is subject to it.

Authority – is legitimate power, where in the person who has

authority has the right to exercise power.

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Political Organizations:

All societies have political systems that function to manage public

affairs, maintain social order, and resolve conflict. Yet the forms
of these political systems are diverse, sometimes embedded in
other social structures.

Political organization involves issues like allocation

of political roles, levels of political integration, concentrations of
power and authority, mechanisms of social control and resolving conflicts.

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• 1. Band It is usually a very small,

oftentimes nomadic group that is connected
by family ties and is politically independent.
• Nomadic means moving from place to
Types of place, usually in search of food, bands are
most often made up of hunter-gatherers.
Political • Due to their small size and their tendency
Organizations: to move around, bands usually have little
to no formal leadership.
• When to move and when to stay is usually
based on group consensus rather than
one governing official calling the shots.

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With this, bands are usually referred to as being egalitarian

societies, societies in which all persons of the same age and gender are seen
as equals.

2. Tribes
• It is a combination of smaller kin or non-kin groups, linked by a
common culture, that usually act as one.
• Sort of multi-grouped and usually bigger than bands, tribes
tend to contain communities that are a bit larger.
• Similar to bands, most tribes have no formal leadership.
Instead, they, too, are egalitarian in nature.

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3. Chiefdoms
• a political unit headed by a chief, who holds power over
more than one community group.
• these are usually more densely populated and are not
egalitarian but instead have social rank, with the chief and
his family holding power.
• Since chiefs are usually chosen by heredity, this usually
gives his family and their inner circle the reigns to power.
• Many chiefdoms practice redistribution, in which goods are
accumulated by one central person or power, who then
decides how to allocate them among the people.
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Many chiefdoms believe their chiefs are endowed with mana, a

supernatural power that gives the right to rule.

Despite this powerful force, chiefdoms usually have no form of

bureaucracy or written laws that help support the chief.

4. States and Nations

• A nation consists of a distinct population of people bound together by a
common culture, history, and tradition who are typically concentrated within
a specific geographic regions.
• A state is a political unit that has sovereignty – the legitimate and ultimate
authority of the state – over an area of territory and the people within it.

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Not all nations are recognized

Nation has two aspects - a as states. Likewise, a state is
cultural community and a not equivalent to a single
political community. nation and may in fact be
composed of several nations.

A state is a political unit that

encompasses several
communities, has a
bureaucracy, and has leaders
that possess legitimate
powers.
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Leaders of states have

more responsibilities such
as the maintenance of law
and order, securing the
state territory, engaging in
international relations, and
preserving social control.

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→ Legitimacy originated
from the Latin word
Legitimacy and Types of legitimare, meaning “to
Authority declare lawful,” and is
broadly defined as
rightfulness.

→ Max Weber studied the

→ It confers on an order or
transformation of societies
command an authoritative
and observed that the
or binding character , thus
bases of legitimacy of rule
transforming power into
vary in different type of
authority.
societies.

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→ Weber formulated three

types of authority for and
explanation or justification why
certain men rise to positions of
authority or superiority and why
people obey them.

• Traditional Authority – authority is based on a

Three Types of system that is believed to ha “always existed”.
• the legitimacy of this type of authority is
Authority: based on long-established customs and
traditions that do not need to be justified.

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- Examples are those exercised by elders in a tribe or an indigenous people’s

group as well as by monarchs who have inherited their power and authority

2. Charismatic Authority – is based on the presumed special

and extraordinary characteristics or qualities possessed by a
certain individual
• People with charisma are often very popular, highly persuasive, and
inspire loyalty and obedience from other people.
• They also seen as “born leaders” and “heroes”.
• Charisma applies to "a certain quality of an individual personality, by
virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as
endowed with supernatural powers“(Weber).

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• Cuban leaders Fidel Castro and Che

Generally Guevara, Chinese revolutionary
considered a gift leaders Mao Tse Tung, US President
or innate quality John F. Kennedy, UK Prime Minister
unique to a Margaret Thatcher, and Philippine
President Ramon Magsaysay are
person, but it charismatic leaders.
can also be • However, charismatic authority is the
manufactured most unstable type of authority as
through the use leaders may eventually “lose” their
charisma when people’s views
of propaganda. regarding them change.

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3. Legal-relational authority – is the most typical

type of authority in modern societies.
• Power and authority in a legal-relational context are legitimized
by a clearly defined set of written rules and laws.
• Leaders can rightfully wield authority if they obtain their
positions according to established procedures such as elections
or through appointment.
• Among the three types of authority, a legal-relational system
has the highest degree of stability.
• The three types of authority identified by Weber are what he
referred to as the “deal or pure types.”

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References:
Books
Serapio, M. (2016) Understanding Society, Culture &
Politics. MINDSHAPERS CO., INC.
Atienza, et. Al (2016) Understanding Society, Culture &
Politics: for Senior High School. C & E Publishing Inc.
Lanuza, G. & Raymundo, S. (2016) ) Understanding
Society, Culture & Politics. Rex Bookstore
Websites
http://study.com/academy/lesson/political-organizations-bands-tribes-chiefdoms-states.html
http://www.zeepedia.com/read.php?political_organization_bands_tribal_organizations_chief
doms_cultural_anthropology
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