PRIMITIVE SOCIETIES, POWER AND THE COUNTER-STATE IN PIERRE CLASTRES

Abstract

The article aims to address, first, the notion of “counter-state” in Pierre Clastres, and the relationship
between the state power established through surplus production and the emergence of social classes.
And on the other hand, it seeks to address social and political relations in so-called primitive societies.
Then stands out the caracteristics of Clastres' thinking, centered on the inverted power relationship
between the chief and the tribe, based on the chief's prestige, and the tribe's power. Finally,
interlocutions are established between his work and other theoretical references, such as Étienne de
La Boétie, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Hannah Arendt and Michel Foucault. It is confirmed through
bibliographic study and critical analysis, the affirmation of the intensity of the insurgent character of
Clastres' thought, essential for the understanding of primitive societies and the form of the State.