Cross-Cultural Study of the Use of Elections for Selection of the Village Headman

Abstract

Because political democracy in nonindustrial societies has received rela tively little attention in past research, this paper was undertaken to study the differences between societies using electionlconsensus for village head man selection and those in which either heredity or appointment, influence, or seniority are the selection mechanisms. Several political theories post ulating relationships between political forms and (1) the family (2) the economy, or (3) societal complexity were tested. Six hundred and sixteen (616) Ethnographic Atlas societies (Murdock 1967) were divided into two groups: those in which election or consensus is used for headman selection, and those using other methods. Statistical correlations were sought, com paring the two groups in terms of kin groups, type of economy, and indi cators of societal complexity. The findings indicate no relationship between any of the independent variables and the form of headman selection. While further research is necessary, it seems likely that current political theories may not be applicable to the nonindustrial world. Some possible relation ships with sex division of labor in agriculture or with cognatic kin groups need further investigation. A search for additional variables, culled from the ethnographic literature, is recommended for further insight into this subject.