Within anthropology an acephalous society is one in which
there is no “head”. The term acephalous comes from the Greek word
meaning “headless”. These societies are generally small, bands or tribes that make
decisions through consensus rather than an appointed head ruler. These groups have been
traditional hunter-gatherer societies, nomadic tribes, and other traditional
societies.
An age set is a social group which may arise in
acephalous societies. An age set is a social group based upon similar age. This term is
most commonly used to refer to tribal societies where the age groups have a collective
identity and as its members age the set stays together. The younger set is subservient
to the senior age set, as the older set dies off then new ones are
formed.
Outside formal, modern markets many transfers of
wealth take place through practices such as social allotment and apportionment. The
forms of transfer take place as inheritance, dowry, bridewealth, bloodwealth.
Bloodwealth or diya in Arabic is a term used to refer to payment in
compensation for a death of another person. It is not important whether the death is
the subject of murder, war or accident. Suppose someone from B tribe/clan kills someone
from A tribe/clan. Once B pays blood wealth, normally in the form of livestock, all is
forgiven.
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