Culture has been used to signify the ‘’pattern of life within a community-the regularly recurring activities and material and social arrangements’’ of a specific group. A tribe consists of a unity of people by ties of descent from a common ancestor, community of customs and traditions or adherence to the same leaders. There are two types of labels that can be given to a tribe. One of them is the mosaic view, which consists of small-scale of tribes located mainly in the tropical world, and these make up a type of mosaic cultures. This means in essence that every culture is very unique and has to be studied differently, hence mosaic (every part is different not common).

The second view is the ladder type. This is made up of a string of developmental stages or levels, which are defined by diverse subsistence economies and accompanying levels of socio-political integration. The tribal world was defined as a system by the confronting of indigenous people by explorers or colonialists, later described by anthropologists. On the other hand, peasants are a member of a class of persons who are small farmers or farm labourers of low social rank. This definition however is not that accurate as it varies in different communities and systems. Studies on peasants by Anthropologists took place since 1950 and have been increasing.

The main difference between these social groups can be seen by quoting Geertz; ‘’Culture is the fabric of meaning in terms of which human beings interpret their experience and guide that action takes, the... network of social relations. Culture and social structure are... different abstractions from the same phenomena’’. Therefore tribes, with a homogeneous population can be associated with a Cultural structure whilst peasants with a Social one.
A factor that can be discussed is the distribution of surplus that is produced