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SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL
OF ANTHROPOLOGY
VOLUME 26
NUMBER 4
WINTER
1970
THE
316
SYSTEMS
317
AND CONFRONTATIONS
318
SOUTHWESTERN
JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY
SYSTEMS
319
and
heavilydependentupon actionstakenby theUnited Statesgovernment,
its political systemis explicitlyaligned with the policy decisions of the
United States and against those of socialist countries.The governmentof
Guatemala, in turn, exercises domain over all Guatemalans in various
aspects.And within Guatemala, thereare lesserdomains of businesses,the
church,agrarianenterprises,industries,corporatecommunities,etc. Levels
of articulationcan be identifiedwithin Guatemala by taking note of the
confrontationarticulationsbetween individual familyheads, of town officialsdealing with like officialselsewhere,of ministersof governmentnegotiatingwith leaders in businessand industryor with political figuresof distinction,and so forth.They are also evident in the dealings between the
Guatemalan governmentand other governmentsand in the fact that the
United Statesclearlyexercisesmore power over Guatemalan decisionsthan
the reverse.In thispaper, however,we are concernedwith the lower levels
of articulation,thosethatoperatewithinthenation.
It is importantto recognizethat domains and levels are two different
ways of conceptualizingthe consequences of power operations within a
single society.The presenceof domains can be examined to see how players with roughlyequivalent access to power are aligned horizontally;and
the manifestationof levels indicates that the relationshipbetweendomains
has becomesomewhatinstitutionalized.
However,the two conceptsneed differentiationbecause confrontationsmay produce domains which are not
clearlyalignedwithina set of levels.The notionto be exploredin thispaper
is that societies,or subsegmentsof societies,will fromtime to time place
emspecial emphasison eitherdomains or levels,and that this differential
has
for
our
and
moof
brokers
career
phasis
consequences
understanding
bilitysystems.
APPLICATION
OF THE CONCEPTS
320
SOUTHWESTERN
JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY
321
brokeris an individual fromone level who lives or operatesamong individuals of anotherlevel. Whateverinfluencehe mayhave on the otherlevel depends basicallynot on the power thathe can wield but on his own skill and
successat one level may have absolutely
personalinfluence.Even flamboyant
no effecton his role at the other.The school teacherwho is a favoritein a
rural school is not necessarilygoing to be the favoritein the Ministry;and
he who "politicks"around the Ministrymay fail to gain a followingin his
own school.
The power broker,on the otherhand, specificallywields power at each
of two levels, and his power in one level depends upon the success of his
operationsat the otherlevel. He controlsone domain only by virtueof having access to derivativepower froma largerdomain. It is interestingthat so
many Latin Americangovernmentshave, fromtime to time,attemptedto
use culturalbrokerroles in a contextwheretheyreallyneeded power brokers. Few governments,
however,allow theirschool teachersor agricultural
agentsaccessto power.
The conditionsunderwhicheach of thesebrokersappears withina complex society necessarilydiffer.Cultural brokers are usually sponsored
throughupper level decisionsand are destinedto act at lower levels. Their
tasks,however,are seldom of firstpriority,since a failure to realize them
is not feltto be a threatto therelativepositionof power of the partiessponsoring them.Classically,a Ministerof Education does not lose his job because he fails to improve national education but because he becomes a
political liability.The increase of teachers,public health agents, and agriculturalagentsvaries with changes in national governmentpolicy about
the importanceof theseparticularareas of lifeforthe governmentor forthe
nation. The increase of travelingagents of breweries,shoe salesmen,and
wholesale agentsdepends upon how and when commercialhouses decide to
improve business operations.In general, I would assume that the importance of culturalbrokersvaries with the stateof the national economyand
theparticularefforts
being made to promotethespreadof a national culture.
The incidence of power brokersanswersto a different
structure.Power
brokerslink unitsor actorsat different
in power
levels,wherethe difference
is such that the inferiorhas no real chance to confrontthe superior.The
19thcenturyGuatemalanIndian dealt throughtheeldersor cacique because
little could be gained by going directlyto officialsat the national level.
Political partyagents operate at the local level to gain voting support for
theircandidatesbecause it is impossibleforthe candidate himselfto do all
the organizing,traveling,and convincingnecessaryfor his election. The
militaryestablishmentkeeps local agents to undertakerecruitingbecause
it cannotaffordto takeup the timeof colonelsand generalsin such a menial
322
task.In all, the power brokerholds an importantplace in the power structureof thecountryand particularlyin theregionwithinwhichhe works.
Since a major featureof the role of power brokersis to mediate where
do not occur, it followsthat theyshould be especiallyimconfrontations
where
domains
are dominant.If someone low in a domain wishes
portant
to obtain somethingthat is available only to superiorsin the domain, he
or he may tryto do it througha broker.If he
may attempta confrontation,
a
he
the levels more flexible;if he operates
makes
attempts confrontation,
a
he
the
broker,
through
strengthens domain. Power brokersare important,
where levels tend to be
where
domains
are strongand, correlatively,
then,
In
to
Guatemala
rigid. pre-revolutionary
(prior 1944) dictatorUbico allowed
no confrontation;similarly,no coffeefarmerwould allow a show of organized poweron thepart of his laborers.The major meansof handlingproblemswerethroughelders,caciques, townintendentes(government-appointed
town mayors),farmadministrators,
and otherswho stood in power brokerAt
the
there
was no question as to what levels
same time,
age positions.
and
each person knew where he stood. Domains were strongand
existed,
levelswererigid.
During the 1944-1954revolutionary
period,new sourcesof poweropened
up, and multipleaccess to power was made possible by organizingpolitical
parties,mass organizations,labor unions, and the like; concomitantwith
these changes,the incidence of confrontationsbetween organizationsand
domain superiorsincreased.As a result,the systemof levels became much
more flexible,and domains weakened. By the same token,the role of the
power brokerbecame ambiguous.As it became increasinglypossible forthe
lowersectorto get what it wanted throughvariousnew channels,the broker
was by-passedif he was not effective.
The outstandingcase was the manner
in which young,politicallyorientedindividualsbegan to take over control
of local governmentsthroughthe elective processand therebyignored the
traditionalchannelsof local political authority.Indian elders,local ladino
(mestizo)upper strata,and large farmoperatorscould all be confrontedor
by-passedcompletelyby virtueof the new access to power of the political
partyand labor union. (See Adams 1957forcase histories.)
The change bringingabout the new emphasis on levels, and the concomitantde-emphasison domains,did not stop with the end of the revoluwas reduced in imtionaryperiod in 1954. The increase in confrontations
but
and
channels
new
new
the
sources
portantways,
opened by the
power
Labor
revolutionbegan to be used in different
courts
continued in
ways.
under
severe
and,
constraints,
although
operation,
practical
theywere more
in dealing directlywith a farmadministratorin extremeinstances.
effective
SYSTEMS
323
324
moving out of the lower levels and by obtaining direct access to power
(whetherderivativeor independent).
Anotherway to look at the contrastbetweenthe two situationsis to see
the brokersystemas static and the mobilitysystemas dynamic.A broker
does not change his position within the total structureby virtueof his activitiesas broker.Since his power in each level depends upon maintaining
his controlover resourcesin both areas, he generallycannot move without
losingcontrolover one or both sources.(I say "generally,"because thereare
occasional individuals who are successfulin moving out of the brokerage
The classic case of the
position into higherlevels throughconfrontations.
provincial caudillo who takes over the central government,as Rafael
Carreradid in Guatemala in 1838,does occur. But theyare relativelyfew
when compared with the number of brokersin operation.) Consequently,
the broker accomplisheslinkage within the societyby not moving. In a
careermobilitysystem,on the other hand, the linkage is accomplishedby
the individualoccupyingone positionin one part of the societyat one point
in his careerand anotherpositionlater. He may retain relationsat the differentlevels,but his roles change as he moves up. Time does not change
the broker'sposition,but it extends the roles of the mobile person across
variouslevelsof society,and it is the verymovementover timethatprovides
thelinkage.
THE PROCESS OF WEAKENINGAND STRENGTHENING OF DOMAINS
There remainsa questionas to the reasonsthatdomainsvaryfromweakness to strengthand levelsof articulationfromflexibilityto rigidity.Basicalpower withinits
ly a domain may be said to be strongwhen it has sufficient
control to keep subordinatesin an inferiorposition. The circumstances
whichmay affectthe relativecontrolof domain superiorsare too varied to
permiteven a cursoryreview here. They may be illustrated,however,in
termsof recentGuatemalanhistory.
it followsthat
Since levels are definedby the presenceof confrontations,
in levels depends upon an increasein confrontations.
an increasedflexibility
Some of the more obvious conditionsthat produce this include population
increase,economicdevelopment,and political expansion.Populationgrowth
bringsabout competitionover land and other resources,and it resultsin
whichmay appear at any level, fromthe familyto the interconfrontations
national. Economicdevelopment,entailingas it does an increasedextraction
of resourcesand production,is inherentlya competitiveprocess,both inat any level,
It, too, may breed confrontations
ternallyand internationally.
at
better
known
levels.
are
Political
higher
expansion
althoughthey perhaps
refersmainly to the expansion of nation statesor to political movements
325
flexibleto rigidlevels.Indeed,thethreeprocesses
just describedconstitute
is not a convergence
of independent
variablesbut a complex
conjunction
each
affects
and
feedback
from
the
one increasesactivities
other,
whereby
withinanother.
Giventhispicture,
and assuming
thatthecourseofevolution
reasonably
is unidirectional,
it wouldbe easyto assumethatflexibility
oflevelsregularincreases.
is
erroneous.
The
of levels
This,however,
ly
changingflexibility
and strength
of domainsis a mechanism
withinthe evolutionary
process,
notan outcomeofit.A majorunidirectional
changeis to increasethenum-
SOUTHWESTERN
326
JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY
ual regenerationof a morevirile revolutionarymovementin the 1960s,following the Cuban Revolution,led the conservativeelementsof Guatemala
to align themselves(not by any means always to their taste) with United
States demands, so that confrontationsbecame parallel at various levels.
Not onlywas the United Statesin confrontation
withCuba and the socialist
world, but the governmentof Guatemala was in confrontationwith some
fairlyagile guerrillagroups,and in both rural and urban populations there
were frequentpoliticallyrelated assassinations.In this way, the increasing
activityat various levels initiateda new seriesof specificallypolitical confrontations.Over the past thirtyyears,then,Guatemala has shiftedfroma
period of strongdomains (pre-1944),to a weakening(1945-1954),back again
to strength(1954-ca. 1961), and now again to signs of weakening(ca. 1961
to thepresent).
Nation statesessentiallyattemptto strengthentheirown domain structures. But the fact that they are undergoingeconomic developmentand
that their populations are usually growingmeans that inherentlythe freincreases.Concurrently,
levels reassertthemselves
quency of confrontations
and become more flexiblethroughconfrontations,
promotingthe appearand puttingpowerbrokersout of business.
ance of careermobilitysystems
FINAL COMMENT
N.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
a Symposium.
1957 PoliticalChangesin GuatemalanIndian Communities:
Middle AmericanResearchInstitute,publication
Tulane University,
24,pp. 1-54.
ofTexas Press.
Austin:University
mala,1944-1966.
LEEDS, ANTHONY
327
WATSON,
WILLIAM
WEBER,
MAX
1964 The Theoryof Economic and Social Organization(trans.by A. M. Henderson and Talcott Parsons. Ed. with an introductionby Talcott Parsons). Glencoe,Ill.: The Free Press.
WOLF, ERIC