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 have very informal leadership; the older members of the band generally are looked to for guidance and advice, but there are no laws and none of the coercion seen rather 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) ... Extended family is a term with several distinct meanings. ... A clan is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by perceived descent from a common ancestor. ... Law (from the Old Norse lagu) in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules or norms of conduct which mandate, proscribe or permit specified relationships among people and organizations, intended to provide methods for ensuring the impartial treatment of such people, and provide punishments of/for those who do... Coercion is the practice of compelling a person to act by employing threat of harm (usually physical force, sometimes other forms of harm). ... Custom has a number of meanings: A custom is a common practice among a group of people, especially depending on country, culture, time, and religion. ... Oral tradition or oral culture is a way of transmitting history, literature or law from one generation to the next in a civilization without a writing system. ... The shaman is an intellectual and spiritual figure who is regarded as possessing power and influence on other peoples in the tribe and performs several functions, primarily that of a healer ( medicine man). The shaman provides medical care, and serves other community needs during crisis times, via supernatural means (means... In anthropology, the hunter-gatherer way of life is that led by certain societies of the Neolithic Era based on the exploitation of wild plants and animals. ... The following is a list of subsistence techniques: Hunting and Gathering, also known as Foraging freeganism involves gathering of discarded food in the context of an urban environment gleaning involves the gathering of food that traditional farmers have left behind in their fields Cultivation Horticulture - plant cultivation, based on the...

In his 1972 study, The Notion of the Tribe, Morton Fried defined bands as small, mobile, and fluid social formations with weak leadership that do not generate surpluses, pay no taxes and support no standing army. 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year that started on a Tuesday. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A tax is a compulsory charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (e. ... Army (from French armée) can, in some countries, refer to any armed force. ...

Bands are distinguished from tribes in that tribes are generally larger, consisting of many families. Tribes have more social institutions, such as a chief 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. Viewed historically or developmentally, a tribe consists of a social formation existing before the development of, or outside of, states. ... This article is about the leader. ... An elder can refer to various topics: Elder (administrative title) Elder (religious) Elder - person of knowledge or high degree Elderberry plant (Sambucus) Box-elder plant (maple) Box elder bug (Leptocoris trivittatus or Boisea trivittatus) Elderly person - see: Old age William Henry Elder bishop and Archbishop of Cincinnati Joycelyn Elders Elder...

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 Inuit of northern North America, the Shoshone of the Great Basin, the Bushmen of southern Africa, and some groups of Indigenous Australians. The term nation-state, while often used interchangeably with the terms unitary state and independent state, refers properly to the parallel occurence of a state and a nation. ... Inuit (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᓄᐃᑦ, singular Inuk or Inuq / ᐃᓄᒃ) is a general term for a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic coasts of Siberia, Alaska, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Québec, Labrador and Greenland. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... Shoshone around their tipi, probably taken around 1890 Shoshone Indians at Ft. ... Map showing the Great Basin in orange The Great Basin is a large, arid region of the western United States, commonly defined as the contiguous watershed region, roughly between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, that has no natural outlet to the sea. ... The Bushmen (also known as Khwe Khoe, Basarwa, or San) peoples of South Africa and neighbouring Botswana and Namibia, who live in the Kalahari, are part of the Khoisan group and are related to the Khoikhoi. ... A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. ... The Indigenous Australians are the first inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands, continuing their presence during European settlement. ...

Compare to Lineage-bonded societies ...