Social Power and Anonymity of the Kawelka People and the United States of America
As one compares the social structure of the Kawelka people to the United States of America, one notices a distinct difference in each of the respective social structure through the way social power is executed in the respective groups. Now when discussing social power, one must know and understand all that it encompasses. Social power has two distinct concepts: influence and authority. Although they may seem similar, thus allowing them to seem as though they are interchangeable, they are not and should not be used in such way.
In an influence based social power, one, the influencer (leader), has the ability to persuade people to do his or her bidding with only the use of his or her words. For this to work, the people must know the influencer personally and trust him or her and vice versa. Additional, it is through the persuasion of the influencer in which allows him or her to have the social power. A prime example of an influence based social power society is the Kawelka people of Papua New Guinea.
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Ongka, was a well-respective leader known for his metaphors and continuous long-winded way of speaking, hence leading him to be and stay the Big Man until his later years. Through his persuasive speeches, Ongka was able to convince his people to assist him in doing the unimaginable of that time, giving a moka, an interest on valued items (as in financial interest), so large to the neighboring leader that said leader would not know how to or what giving back to Ongka. Although it took Ongka longer than expected to deliver the moka, he was able to do so through his social power of