Status and Authority

In the social stratification of provincial society, income stratification, education, proficiency, and even occupational prestige (professional status) are not the main criteria of personal status. The status of an individual in local society is determined by the following factors (in order of priority): social, ethnogenetic, political, and economic. Status depends first on personal influence in the local society (public respect), then on clan affiliation (belonging to a kin group and/or ethnic group), then on the position in the power hierarchy, and only last of all on monetary income. This hierarchy of factors determining status positions is due to the fact that in contrast to urban societies the determinants of status in a provincial society are not anonymous. The social structure is heterarchical (networked) rather than hierarchical. It seems that the political organization of a local society’s life depends on how individual status is determined. We have identified four polar types of power relations in provincial public administration: true local self-government, “estate” governance, state governorship (“Soviet-type” administration), and competitive governance in politicized municipalities. The establishment of one or another type of governance correlates with the type of community in terms of spatial isolation and the natural/coercive nature of its development to draw on the prevailing stratification factors giving access to formal leadership positions in municipal administration.