Social Institutions (lecture 11&12) Flashcards
Power (Macht) (Weber)
- any ability to get your way, including violence or economic coercion, even if others oppose or are unwilling to obey
- doesn’t require any wiling consent by those who obey
Domination (Herrschaft) (Weber)
- the probability that others accept commands as valid; they go along with the command, rather than resist it
- may involve consent, position within social structures, habit etc..
- social bc entails social structures, cultural values, conscious interactions between individuals
Weber- Power and Domination
- focuses on the motives of individual actions and motives we might have for obeying someone
- people may choose to or think it’s right to obey or may do so within a social power structure (eg: army)
- obedience may be based in broad cultural value, it may be part of the structure of certain social institutions
3 types of domination (Weber)
- Rational
- Traditional
- Charismatic
(Legitimate) Authority
a ‘reason’ or motive for obedience; the justification for following the commands of a particular person
Rational (legal)- domination
- authority derives from a legal, rational process, such as voting or meritocratic system of exams to choose the best candidate
- eg: Prime Minister, Govt Officials, Professors
Traditional- domination
- traditional makes this person the authority; they can also designate officials whose authority thus stems from tradition
- eg: hereditary monarch, parents
Charismatic- domination
- this person has a ‘gift of grace’; they inspire you to obey by force of their vision of personality
- eg: Hitler, famous people
Sociologists understanding obedience and authority (3 categories)
- Critical Theories (bad): those in positions of power are usually doing it to benefit themselves of their group; those who obey are coerced or tricked
- Symbolic Interactionism (neutral): those in power have diverse motives and methods of achieving their goals; those who obey have reasons for doing so
- Symbolic Functionalism (good): institutions of power are there to benefit society as a whole by keep it stable, obedience is a sign of a harmonious society
Political Sociolgy
- empirical study of the way social and economic factors affect the operation of power
- may include quantitative analysis, but also qualitative accounts of ideology, beliefs, values insofar as they affect voting
- interested in political institutions and loos at the ways politics interacts with the rest of society
- interested in the connection between social position or group identity (shapes how you vote) and voting patterns
Base/ Superstructure (Marx)
- ‘Vulgar’- model of society claiming that legal or political institutions are just a ‘superstructure’ that depends on and is determined by the underlying economic’ base’
- he implied that politics is part of an interconnected broad social struggle
- proletariat (workers) required a political party to represent its interests as a whole; the communists
- politics is as a masked form of the class struggle
Class Politics
- broad terms to describe political behaviour based on class origin
- eg: voting for parties representing you class, choosing policies to benefit a class
- until 1979 people voted along class lines, now other factors such as ethnicity, gender and become more important
” Reagan Demorats” (Stan Greenberg)
economically disadvantaged but culturally-conservative white voters in Detroit who choose republican Ronal Reagan in 1980s (like how trump draws similar votes)
Populism
- political movements that claims to speak ‘ for the people’ often cast against elites
- commonly appeal to ethnic identity, religion, or class as sources of group identity
- “us vs them” idea where the narrative of “our values” or “ our way of life” is being under threat by “them”
- focuses on rhetoric of division and opposition, identifies individuals primarily as members of groups (the populace) and focused on assaults on ‘our values’
Political Culture (Lipset)
- idea of broad set of beliefs and values generally held in any one country or political entity, as expressed in political speeches, constitutions etc..
- US political discourse emphasizes two distinct values; political equality (all have same rights) and achievement (each should be free to pursue own happiness)
- US valued such equality most, UK last egalitarian and Canada is somewhere in between–> Americans are more concerned with equality of OPPORTUNITY, others more with equality of OUTCOME
- suggested that origins of modern American state originated from revolution and civil war, which shaped political culture of US
Modernization (Barrington Moore)
- transition from traditionally structured agrarian societies to industrial economies and centralize states
- relationship between industrialization and the future government of a nation
- class of the dominant group affected how societies turned out
- strong traditional ruling class often produced fascist govts (eg: germany)
- large peasant class led to authoritarian communism (eg: russia)
- strong commercial bourgeoisie produced lively public sphere and liberal democratic politics
- concluded “No bourgeoisie, no democracy!”
Propaganda
- simple messages aimed at convincing masses to support a party or leader
- often consists of quite direct messages about the state of the world; it tells the audience what to think
- totalitarian regimes often organize big public events to celebrate themselves, or control tv/ radio
Ideology
general worldview, consisting of a coherent set of related beliefs, ways of looking at the world, implying certain courses or types of action
• differ from propaganda in its sophistication (expresses the way you interpret world as a whole)
Dominant Ideology
expressed worldview of dominant group in society; beliefs support STATUS QUO
• tells us we’re all individuals responsible for ourselves (not for one another)
Reformist Ideology
basically accepts dominant ideology, but suggest small changes (eg: social welfare, safety nets)
Counter/ Radical Ideology
questions base of dominant ideology, and suggest alternatives
Class Consciousness (Georg Lukács)
- an individual’s awareness of their class position and corresponding interests and needs
- or the whole class’ awareness of its shared interests as a class
- suggested that communist party must raise class consciousness or help worked become aware of their position within the capitalist structure
False Consciousness (Georg Lukács)
- misguided beliefs that may be held by dominated group, which end up advancing interests of rulers
- the dominated groups takes on the ideology of rulers, undermining their struggles for power
- suggested workers suffered from false consciousness meaning that they wrongly adopted the worldview of the bourgeois class ad failed to act as a group against them
