Village Bonded Societies are the largest classification of acephalous societies

Acephalous Society

In anthropology, an acephalous society is a society which lacks political leaders or hierarchies. Such groups are also known as egalitarian or non-stratified societies. Typically these societies are small-scale, organized into bands or tribes that make decisions through consensus decision making...

. They differ from lineage-bonded societies and land-bonded societies mainly in that they are large enough to support both secret societies and age sets.

With both of those institutions in place, a village-bonded society can make the transition to statehood, if the need arises.

(Based on material presented by Joseph C. Dorsey at Purdue University)