Abstract

HOPE HENDERSON, Helen. The Development of Chiefdom Communities and Political Inequality: Challenges in Understanding Social Change. Rev. colomb. antropol. [online]. 2017, vol.53, n.1, pp.241-268. ISSN 0486-6525.

This article reviews the discussions of Elizabeth Brumfiel (1992) and Eric Wolf (1990, 1999) on the importance of understanding the constitution and capacity of social groups to participate in social change. I develop a comparative analysis on the initial formation of chiefdom communities in prehistoric Muisca societies and compare multiple lines of evidence (Drennan and Peterson 2005, 2011) on community formation in five regional studies of settlement patterns to evaluate tendencies in the processes of social change. I argue that the concepts of organizational and structural power strengthen comparative discussion, which is especially important when there were few social differences based on varied traits in different communities.

Keywords : systematic regional survey; chiefdom communities; power; social change.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )