Everything about Band Society totally explained
A
band society is the simplest form of human
society. A band generally consists of a small kin group, no larger than an
extended family or
clan. Bands are often
egalitarian and have very informal leadership; the older members of the band generally are looked to for guidance and advice and decisions are often made on a
consensus basis, but there are no written
laws and none of the specialised
coercive roles, for example, police, seen typically in more complex societies. Bands'
customs are almost always transmitted
orally. Formal social institutions are few or non-existent.
Religion is generally based on family tradition, individual experience, or counsel from a
shaman. All known band societies
hunt and gather to obtain their food. (See
Subsistence.)
In his 1972 study,
The Notion of the Tribe,
Morton Fried defined bands as small, mobile, and fluid social formations with weak
leadership that don't generate surpluses, pay no
taxes and support no standing
army.
Bands are distinguished from
tribes in that tribes are generally larger, consisting of many families. Tribes have more social institutions, such as a
chief,
big man, or
elders. Tribes are also more permanent than bands; a band can cease to exist if only a small group walks out. Many tribes are in fact sub-divided into bands; in the
United States, some tribes are made up of official bands that live in specific locations.
With the spread of the modern
nation-state to all corners of the globe, there are very few true band societies left. Some historic examples include the
Shoshone of the
Great Basin, the
Bushmen of southern
Africa, the pygmies (
Mbuti) of the Ituri Rainforest in Africa and some groups of
Indigenous Australians.
Compare to
Lineage-bonded societies
See also: First Nations Government, in which a "band" forms fundamental component.
Further Information
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