The society of West Africa was stratified in several different
ways. It was divided in terms of differing occupations: farmers,
merchants, priests, scholars, laborers, and a wide variety of
craftsmen. The social ranking assigned to these occupation divisions
varied according to the importance of each occupation.
Society was also divided in terms of clans, families, and villages.
At the same time, there was a hierarchical division based on the
varying degrees of political power each group exercised within its
society. Some had the power to become chiefs and rulers. Some had
the right to choose and depose rulers, and others could limit and
define the rights of the rulers. However, almost everywhere there
was a clear trend toward increasing centralized authority and
decreasing popular participation. The centralization of power in
West Africa never reached the extremes of absolute monarchy
which occurred in Europe, and there was never the same need for
revolutionary social changes to revive democratic participation
within African society.
In an old Asante ritual, connected with the enthronement of a ruler,
the people pray that their ruler should not be greedy, should not
be hard of hearing, should not act on his own initiative nor
perpetuate personal abuse nor commit violence on his people,
While the right to rule was generally passed on from generation to
generation within a single family, the power did not immediately
and automatically fall on the eldest son within that family.
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