Sociopolitical typology refers to four types, or levels, of a political organization: "band", "tribe", "chiefdom", and "state", created by the anthropologist Elman Service.
Ethnographic and archaeological studies in hundreds of places have revealed many correlations between economy and social and political organizations.
With food production come the larger, denser populations and more complex economies than are found among foragers.
New regulatory problems were created by these features and that gave rise to more complex relations and linkages.
Archaeologists study these trends through time, and cultural anthropologists observe them among contemporary groups.