Political Systems and Social control Flashcards
1
Q
Conflict Theory
A
A theory of social stratification that aruges that society is always changing and in conflict because individuals in the upper stratum use their wealth, power, and prestige to exploit those below them
2
Q
Functions of politcal systems
A
- Maintenance of internal order
- Management of affaris with other societies
3
Q
Dimenssions of politcal systems
A
- Extent to which political institutions are disticnt from other aspects of the social structure
- extent to which authority is concentrated into specific politcal roles
- Level of political integration(size of the territiorial group that comes under the control of the politcal structure)
4
Q
Types of poltical Organziations
A
- Decentralized
- Centralized
5
Q
Characteristics of Decentralized Political Organization
A
- Generally found in small, foraging societies
- leaders have no real authority
- Decisions usually democratic
- Provides great flexibility and stablity
6
Q
Two types of Decentralized political organizations
A
- Bands
- Tribes
7
Q
What are bands
A
- Small autonomous group, with the least pcomplicated forms of political organzation
8
Q
Characterstics of bands
A
- Generally small in size
- Usually nomadic and hunters and gathers
- Usually little sense of personal ownership
- high value on sharing, cooperations and reciprocity
- Little role specialization
- Egalitarian
- Few differences in status and wealth
- Political decisions are frequently embedded in wider social sturucture
- Least amount of politcal integration
- Leadership roles tend to be informal
9
Q
Achieved status (Leadership)
A
The status (leadership) an individual acquires during the course of his or her life
10
Q
Ascribed status (leadership)
A
The status (leadership) a person has by virtue of birth
11
Q
Characteristics of Tribes
A
- Generlaly gropus of bands occupying a specific region, which speaks a common language, share a common culture, and are intergrated via descent groups
- usally found in herding or farming groups
- Means of temporarily uniting for common defense, labor, religious functions, etc
- Leadership, again, is informal
- Most often found among food producers
- tend to have populations that are larger, denser, and more sedentary
- Through different from bands, some similarities
12
Q
Pan-Tribal Mechanisms
A
Means to integrate all of the local segments of the tribe into a larger whole
13
Q
Types of Centralized politcal organizations
A
- Chiefdoms
- states
14
Q
What is is Chiedoms
A
- Ranked society in which every member has a position in a hierarchy
- Individuals status is usually determined by their descent group (more closely related to the chief, greater status)
- Power ultimately in the hands of single individual (Chief)
15
Q
Characteristics of Tribes
A
- Integrate a number of local communities in more formal and permanent way
- Chief-ships generally hereditary
- Chiefs, as politcal officials, tend to be permanent and with centralized power
16
Q
Characteristics of Chiefdoms
A
- Chief’s power seen in many ways
- Economically
- Sanctioned to use force
- Religiously
- Traditionally, chiefdoms highly unstable
17
Q
Visual organizations of chiefdoms
A
18
Q
State
A
- A hierarchical form of political organization that governs many communites within relatively large geographic area
- Most formal of politcal organizations
19
Q
Characteristics of states
A
- Has the power to collect taxes
- Can recruit labor for public projects or armies
- Monoply on the use of force
- Large Bureaucracies with permaanent instiutions that serve legistlative, administrative, and judicial functions
- Organize power on supra-kinship basis
- Tend to be unstable
20
Q
Authority of state rests on two important foundations
A
- State holds exclusive right to use force and coercion
- State maintains authority by means of ideology
21
Q
Social norm
A
Expected forms of behavior
22
Q
Social control
A
- Internalized controls
- Externalized controls
23
Q
Internalized control
A
Beliefs that are so much a part of the people that each person becomes peronally responsible for his or her own actions
24
Q
Externalized control
A
- Societal designed customs which will encourage conformity to social norms
25
Externalized controls are called \_\_\_\_\_\_
Sanctions
26
Sanctions:
Externalized social controls designed to encourage conformity to social norms
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Forms of Sanctions
* Postive
* Negative
* Informal
* Formal
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Positve Sanctions
Incentives to conform such as awards, medals, titles, recognitions from society
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Negative Sanctions
Threats of punitive actions to force conformity
30
Three forms of negative sanctions
* Imprisonment
* Corporal punishment
* Ostracism
31
Informal sanctions
Societal snactions that do not involve legal statutes
32
Formal sanctions
Highly organized, structured sanctions that are backed by legal statutes
33
Laws
A social norm, the neglect or infraction of, is met, in threat or fact, by application of physical force
34
Functions of law
* Defines relationships among members of a society
* Determines proper behavior under specified circumstances
* Allocates the authority to employ coercion in the enforcement of sanctions
* Redefines social relations and ensures social flexibility
35
Social stratification
The division of a society into two or more groups that do not share equally in basic resources that support life, influence, and prestige
36
Forms of Social Stratification
* Gender stratification
* Social class
* Caste
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Gender stratification
Men and women are regarded as unequal, with the males outranking females
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Social class
Categories of individuals who enjoy equal or nearly equal access to resources and prestige
39
Caste
Special form of social class in which membership is determined by birth and remains fixed for life
40
Race
A subgroup of the human population whose members share a greater number of physical trais with one another than they do with those of other subgroups
41
Ethnic group
A group of people sharing many of the same cultural features
42
Mobilty
The ability to change one's social class
43
Functional theories of stratification
A theory of social stratification holding that social stratification exists because it contributes to the overall well-being of a society.
44
Conflict Theory of social stratification
A theory of social stratification that argues that society is alwasy changing and in conflict because individuals in the upper stratum use their wealth, power, and prestige to exploit those below them.
