IS429 - Power and Resistance (Midterm) Flashcards
Robert Dahl on Power
A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do
Example of power “over” others
Hannah Arendt on Power
power is something that is generated when actors come together to express shared views of the world; a capacity to change the world.
*involves acting together
“The ability, not just to act, but to act in concert”
“Power springs up between men, when they act together, and vanishes the moment they disperse”
Example of power “with” others
Gaventa - First dimension of Power
Control over jobs, important resources, votes, etc.
Effectiveness or skill in using resources
Gaventa - Second dimension of Power
Direct Forms of Power:
Threat of sanctions
Intimidation
Mobilization of bias - within every political system there will be “biases”. The use of established systems/rules to oppress/push political goals.
ex. Making it difficult for minorities, poorer, or younger citizens to vote.
Manipulation of symbols *including symbols as a threat.
ex. The term hippie - used to discredit people refusing to conform to failed systems.
or CANVAS’s use of marketing/ branding -
Creating an image of heroism to encourage youth to participate. * Made activism look “cool”.
Indirect Forms of Power:
Institutional inaction. ie. Setting up policies to undercut their implementation
Ex. oil spill regulations to do environmental report but allowance to bypass it if not considered a risk or using tools to prolong a decision while the problem persists.
Anticipation of defeat - rationally calculating your likelihood of loss relative to your powerful opponent.
Ex. having a lack of resources to go to court.
Gaventa - Third dimension of Power
Direct Forms of Power:
The use of power to shape people’s beliefs or perceptions. Very efficient, because it can
normalize the status quo “it is what it is”.
Ex. General ideology of “progress” - “work hard!” and get what you want? * Spreading the Culture of Capitalism
Control of information, Control of mass media - used to shape perceptions.
Controlling institutions * Socialization by controlling important institutions that exist in a society, which “socialize” individuals
ex. Schools and (indirectly) churches)
Indirect Forms of Power:
The anticipation of defeat manipulated overtime, in which there is an adaptation to defeat - “unconscious pattern of withdrawal”. Ie. acceptance or complacency.
Deprivation of Political Participation - Participation is part of what shapes your consciousness *may make you more aware of inequalities and systemic issues *fuels resistance.
Ex: Isolation.
Gaventa - What were some of the mechanisms/dimensions of power used by the company to maintain control in Power and Powerlessness?
First Dimensional:
Control of the local government
*power of taxation and power of law enforcement
Control of Votes/Politics
*They used money/resources in order to get their desired candidates elected - Local leaders became partial through bribery
*brought in candidates from outside that were sympathetic to their views to run in the election and they defeated respected local figures
Second Dimensional:
Manipulation of symbols
*actively stigmatized the traditions and values of local peoples, while glorifying all the things that represented “progress”, luxury, and modernization through the media.
Mobilization of bias
*using laws (which they controlled) in their favour.
Threat of sanctions
*blacklisting workers, including blacklisting family.
There were holdouts - the company used force, intimidation, fraud and forgery
Third Dimensional:
Socialization - by owning all of the land in the valley they controlled its use.
*what institutions, businesses, etc.
*who wants to use the land (money for schooling, etc.)
*who worked in these institutions
ex. they brought in a pastor from outside who preached about their views (and if they didn’t they would be silenced), which gave them indirect control over what local children were taught and what local adults were allowed to learn and share in their religious lives.
Control of Information/Media
*newspapers described locals as lazy, ignorant, unsanitary, etc.
What was Gaventa’s core argument about why and how the company was able to gain and maintain power over the people. The manufacturing of compliance and quiescence.?
The company played a significant role in all aspects of their lives; supplied shelter, churches, school, which created dependency. The succeeded in achieving “unitary control” over virtually the whole land and its resources.
Encouraged compliance through the threat of blacklisting workers, including blacklisting family.
dependency and unitary nature is important and isolation helps give them that.
Identify the techniques of how second dimensional power is being used. Consultative relationship 185-187.
Extract the key points.
International convention (held every 4 years) In theory was a forum for expression of consensus and grievences In practice provides a classic study of agenda control
Deprivation of political participation - miners’ convention being held far away
Mobilization bias - subsidizing transport for favorable delegates.
Manipulation of labels - “white hats” glorifying the leaders - stigmatizing descendants
Intimidation -
Genovese - Why were slave uprisings so infrequent in the US?
They existed in greater isolation than other areas in the caribbean/south america.
Were not aloud to practice their own religious beliefs (which in other areas was used as a means/forum of uprising); forced into christianity.
*by 1830s, southern Christianity became a mechanism to control the slaves
*Southern Christianity was not conducive to inspiring a transformative movement in society, rather, it helped the slaves merely cope
Cultural Hegemony - Ruling class in the American south was not as divided. There was a homogeneity in the slave-owning class in the US so no opportunity for slaves to take advantage of the differences between slave owners
Genovese - The ideology of paternalism (A exercises power over B for Bs own good)
Paternalism is at the core of the slave-master relationship
Described as a form of reciprocal obligations
Rests on the idea of an inferior race; slaves ‘needed’ their masters.
For slaves, paternalism allowed them to twist the ideology to suit their own needs and improve their living and working conditions
For slave owners, paternalism was a means to justify appropriating their slave’s behavior and consider themselves as well-meaning. Paternalism also downplayed the impact of the slave trade and provide a moral cushion for slave owners.
The plantation is like a family and the landowner is like the parent. Provides shelter, teaches them. In return, the slaves “owed” the slave owners to be obedient, work hard, etc.
Genovese - “The dialect of accommodation and resistance”
Forms of slave resistance (and their dual effects)
Running away - was not necessarily effective. Limited in that it made no changes to slavery as a whole
*unless resistance is challenging the system itself, it is working within it.
Ex. The underground railroads as a “safety valve” to the slave system. “brain drain”. - can be compared to Marxist view of ‘trade unionism’.
However..
It was not physically possible for slaves to form an effective uprising that would challenge the status quo due to religion, isolation, media spreading slave-ideology.
One of the few forms of resistance available - slaves running away and disrupting productivity could be a cost they could inflict on the slaveholders and overseers.
*The example of runaways kept alive the knowledge/awareness that there was an alternative where “freedom” existed.
Genovese - Stealing vs. taking
Is it stealing when it remains in the hands of the master? If a slave was to “steal” an apple, it remains with the slave who belongs to the slave owner.
Genovese - Collective vs individual resistance
Collective resistance is stronger. Example (pg. 656): temporary group runaways. These practices demonstrated the power of collective resistance.
Believed in Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony to the slave south
Genovese - Political vs apolitical resistance
“Strictly speaking, only insurrection represented political action, which some choose to define as the only genuine resistance since it alone directly challenged the power of the regime. From that point of view, those activities which others call “day to day resistance to slavery ‘ - stealing, lying, dissembling, shirking, murder, infanticide, suicide, arson - qualify at best as pre-political and at worst as apolitical.”
Apartheid in South Africa
& Factors Contributing to the Anti-Apartheid Movements’ success
13% of the land in south-africa was set aside by the government for blacks (who comprised of 80% of the population). - The land designated for blacks was generally infertile.
Inter-racial marriage and relations were prohibited.
These policies were enforced in a variety of ways.
“Banning” - the use of banning against organizations and individuals from speaking publicly or other forms of resistance.
Violence played a large part in the success of the anti-apartheid movement.
The violence that the state used against black SA played a major role by encouraging government sanctions and international allies to pull back support
