States are something different.
“States tend to have a relatively rigidly defined territory, whereas non-state societies do not. States tend to have more complex social stratification with both a greater degree of labor specialization and a greater degree of social hierarchy than non-states, though complex non-state societies certainly do not lack social hierarchy and often have the full suit of ‘underclasses’ (like enslaved workers) – do not mistake non-state societies’ less complex social organization for a more egalitarian one. States tend to have centralized institutions – that is, permanent social structures which are larger than and outlive their individual human members – which can impose rules on society, backed up by the use of force, while non-state societies tend to lack these institutions (or they are very weak or failing). We tend to understand states as autonomous entities with a degree of permanent, at least an assumption that the state, as an entity, is supposed to persist over generations in more-or-less its current form.”