Political Sociology II- The State and its Institutions

Question 1

Cybernetics

Answer 1

Study of society’s conscious mechanism of control

Question 2

Talcott Parsons

Answer 2

Uses this to place state on his AGIL framwork

Question 3

The State

Answer 3

the most prominent social body responsible for setting rules that govern us as a whole and the whole network of institutions it involves

Question 4

Nation

Answer 4

idealised image of society as culturally, ethnically, or linguistically unified whole

Question 5

Nation-State

Answer 5

a ruling state institutions that identifies itself as a state of a particular ethnic/Cultural group, not just as an impartial governing institution

Question 6

Politics from a sociological perspective

Answer 6

a struggle for control of the state, so as to be able to make decisions that affect all of society

Question 7

Power of the STATE

Answer 7

the overall centralized political and social apparatus of decision-making and administration

Question 8

Power of the GOVERNMENT

Answer 8

the specific branch of state tasked with making decisions and setting policy

Question 9

Power of the STATE INSTITUTION

Answer 9

Carry out policy, keep peace, maintain law and order .

Question 10

Power of the CIVIL SOCIETY

Answer 10

The rest of society considered as a whole.

Question 11

2b.

Answer 11

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Question 12

Separation of powers

Answer 12

principle that different branches of government should be in hands of different people, to reduce the possibility of abuses of power

Question 13

Executive power

Answer 13

power to carry out the law with force and conduct foreign relation

Question 14

Legislative power

Answer 14

Power to make the law, and to decide broad policy directions

Question 15

Judiciary Power

Answer 15

power to interpret and apply law to particular cases

Question 16

Who developed separation of power?

Answer 16

John Locke

Question 17

Totalitariianism

Answer 17

state controls EVERY aspect of social life; signs of political power are everywhere

Question 18

Authoritarianism

Answer 18

strong central leader, little public opposition, may rely on force to ensure compliance

Question 19

Liberal Democracy

Answer 19

open public sphere theoretically governed by citizens, with protection for rights of free speech

Question 20

Pluralism

Answer 20

pluralist societies have no single or unified ruling ideas: they try to include many different voices

Question 21

Direct Democracy

Answer 21

entire body of citizens make all decisions on state affairs. everyone is part of the government

Question 22

Representative Democracy

Answer 22

citizens vote for representatives to make decisions for them in parliament

Question 23

Proportional representation

Answer 23

MP’s chosen on party’s national share of vote

Question 24

First-past-the-post System

Answer 24

MP’s chosen individually by local riding/constituency

Question 25

public sphere

Answer 25

third space between private home life and political state in which free debate takes place to form the public voice and influence the power

Question 26

Jurgen Habermas

Answer 26

Suggests society participates indirectly in shaping government by way of broader institution of civil society

Question 27

economic CLASS

Answer 27

possession of material WEALTH

Question 28

social STATUS GROUP

Answer 28

attribution of HONOUR, prestige or privilege

Question 29

political PARTY

Answer 29

control of legal or political POWER

Question 30

Polyarchy

Answer 30

decisions emerge from multiple different sources of power, not necessarily froma single state controlled by tight knit groups.

Question 31

Power Elite

Answer 31

small group at the top, including wealthiest businessmen, political leaders, old ruling classes who have effective control over power

Question 32

Vertical Mosaic (Porter)

Answer 32

porter’s term to describe power hierarchy in Canada: a vertical hierarchy of racial or ethnic groups

Question 33

Closure (Weber)

Answer 33

Weber’s term for the way elites maintain position by monopolising

Question 34

Ideological power

Answer 34

power over culture, values, beliefs

Question 35

Economic power

Answer 35

power over the things people need to survive and prosper

Question 36

Military power

Answer 36

power over weapons, soldiers, armies and territory

Question 37

Political Power

Answer 37

power over state apparatuses, to set law that people must obey

Question 38

Citizenship

Answer 38

political membership in a state, granting rights and liberties protected by the institution of government

Question 39

Civil liberties

Answer 39

freedom of speech, assembly, movement, and press which protect us from the government

Question 40

Civil rights

Answer 40

positive right guaranteed to every member of state

Question 41

bureaucracy

Answer 41

trained professional officials, operating by set rules and procedures to administer organization

Question 42

governmentality

Answer 42

Foucault’s term for the techniques of power by which state creates ‘good citizens’

Question 43

Micheal Foucault

Answer 43

individual who believed that the modern state and it bureaucratic institution are everywhere, shaping everything we do