Editing Chiefdom (section)

{{Short description|Form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2013}}
[[File:La chefferie d’Afareïtu à Mooréa.jpg|thumb|The chiefdom of Afareïtu in [[Moʻorea]], [[French Polynesia]], {{Circa|1890}}]]
{{Political anthropology|expanded=Basic concepts}}
{{Forms of government}}
A '''chiefdom''' is a political organization of people [[representation (politics)|represented]] or [[government|governed]] by a [[tribal chief|chief]]. Chiefdoms have been discussed, depending on their scope, as a [[stateless society|stateless]], [[state (polity)|state]] analogue or early state system or institution.<ref name="Social studies n823">{{cite journal | first=Henri J. M.| journal=Social Evolution & History | volume=21 | number=2 | date=September 2022| last=Claessen | title=Before the early state and after | url=https://www.sociostudies.org/journal/articles/3342409/ | access-date=2024-02-26}}</ref><ref name="African Studies Centre Leiden 2002 e786">{{cite web | title=Chiefdoms and kingdoms in Africa: Why they are neither states nor empires | website=African Studies Centre Leiden | date=2002-02-21 | url=https://www.ascleiden.nl/news/chiefdoms-and-kingdoms-africa-why-they-are-neither-states-nor-empires | access-date=2024-02-26}}</ref><ref name="Grinin">{{cite web | last=Grinin | first=Leonid | title=Complex Chiefdoms vs Early States: The Evolutionary Perspective | series=Evolution: Trajectories of Social Evolution | year=2022 | pages=96–129 | url=https://www.sociostudies.org/almanac/articles/complex_chiefdoms_vs_early_states-_the_evolutionary_perspective/ | access-date=2024-02-26}}</ref>

Usually a chief's position is based on [[kinship]], which is often monopolized by the legitimate senior members of select families or 'houses'. These elites can form a political-ideological [[aristocracy]] relative to the general group.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Helm|first1=Mary|title=Access to Origins: Affines, Ancestors, and Aristocrats|date=2010|oclc=640095710|publisher=Univ Of Texas Press|location=Austin, TX|isbn=9780292723740|page=4}}</ref>

Chiefdoms and chiefs are sometimes identified as the same as kingdoms and [[king]]s, and therefore understood as [[monarchy|monarchies]], particularly when they are understood as not necessarily states, but having [[monarch]]ic representation or government.<ref name="African Studies Centre Leiden 2002 e786"/>