Chiefdoms Power, Economy, and Ideology [Paperback]

These eleven case studies of different chiefdoms examine how ruling elites retain and legitimize their power.The study of chiefdoms has moved from a preoccupation with their formal characteristics to a concern with their dynamics as political institutions. Ten case studies look at particular chiefdoms to reveal how ruling elites retain power over production and exchange, and then legitimize their control through an elaborated ideology.The study of chiefdoms has moved from a preoccupation with their formal characteristics to a concern with their dynamics as political institutions. Ten case studies look at particular chiefdoms to reveal how ruling elites retain power over production and exchange, and then legitimize their control through an elaborated ideology.The study of chiefdoms has moved from a preoccupation with their formal characteristics to a concern with their dynamics as political institutions. The contributors are interested in how ruling elites retain power through control over production and exchange, and then legitimize that control through an elaborated ideology. The ten case studies look at particular chiefdoms, originating in specific historical conditions. Despite obvious differences between the chiefdoms, certain common underlying processes are revealed. The collection recognizes how complex and interdependent are the sources of power in society, as well as the forces of instability that constantly threaten to tear it apart.l. The evolution of chiefdoms Timothy Earle; 2. Chiefdoms, states, and systems of social evolution Kristian Kristiansen; 3. The pattern of change in British prehistory Richard Bradley; 4. Property rights and the evolution of chiefdoms Timothy Earle; 5. Lords of the waste: predation, pastoral production, and the process of stratification among the Eastern Tuaregs Candelario Saenz; 6. Chiefship and competitive involution: the Marquesas Islands of eastern Polynesia Patrick Kirch; 7. Trajectories towards social complexity in tlÓ<