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
(Ideological) hegemony (Antonio Gramsci)
- terms of intellectual and ideological control of society by the dominant class, such that everyone adopts their worldview
- not overt; doesn’t rely on explicit use of power or force; uses traditional intellectuals to exercise leadership
- intellectuals= trusted figures whose opinions are valuable bc of their social role, but they promoted the interests of bourgeois paymasters (eg: priests, professors, journalists)
Descriptive
the way things are; an objective, scientific, non-judgemental approach
Normative
the way things SHOULD be; a value judgement on whether current circumstances are ‘good’
Social Exchange Theory (George Homans)
- best understand society as the product of a series of calculations of cost and benefit by individual members
- in this theory, state is the consequence of a calculation of best interest
- argues that people create and sustain States bc it is of benefit to them
Liberalims
- belief that government is authorized by the consent of the individuals governed by it
- protection of rights of those individuals against the state and other individuals or the majority
- focuses on equal individual rights and ignores social obstacles for members of certain groups (gender, race etc.)
- defends and advances personal rights
Democracy
- belief in rule by ‘ the People’ or the whole nation or state
- the will of the People is supreme- and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or individuals
- may rely on the friction of a single, homogenous united ‘people’
Discourse Ethics (Jurgen Habermas)
- combination of sociology and philosophy; establishes moral norms by examining preconditions of all communication
- ideal is free, open, uncoerced discussion
- only free, open, honest discourse fulfills all the basic conditions and should the the basis for deciding on all social moral norms
- decisions made in public sphere are valid bc made under ideal conditions
Lifeworld (Habermas)
- common beliefs and values people in a community draw on when they communicate
- lifeworld-oriented interactions are free, spontaneous and creative
System (Habermas)
- impersonal social structures that ease social interaction (eg: money, power) by automating it
- system-oriented interactions are limited by strict rules
- reduces the scope for free debate and make it impossible for us to control our society
Cybernetics (structural functionalists)
- study of society’s conscious mechanism of control (eg: state)
- important in structural functionalism and systems theory (Niklas Luhmanm)
The State
- the most prominent social body responsible for setting rules that govern us as a whole, and the whole networks of institutions it involves
- a society’s way of administering itself as a whole
Nation
idealized image of society as culturally, ethnically or linguistically unified whole; you inherit national identity, it’s part of who you ‘are’
Nation-State
a ruling state institution that identifies itself as the state of a particular ethnic/ cultural group. not just as an impartial governing institution
Politics
from a sociological perspective, politics is a struggle for control of the State, so as to be able to make decisions that affect all of society
• struggle to control the state as a tool
State
the overall centralized political and social apparatus of decision-making and administration
Government
- the specific branch of State tasked with making decisions and setting policy
- the ‘political’ part
State Institutions
- carryout policy, keep peace, maintain law and order
* eg: police, health service, bureaucracies
Civil Society
- the rest of society, considered as a broad whole
- (usually) includes economy, religion, media etc..
- not centrally-administered; more spontaneous
Separation of Powers
principle that different branches of government should be in hands of different people, to reduce the possibility of abuses of power
Executive
power to carry out the law with force and conduct foreign relations
• eg; prime minister, president
Legislative
power to make the law, to decide broad policy direction
• eg: parliament, MPs
Judiciary
power to interpret and apply the law to particular cases
• eg: judges and juries
Totalitarianism
state controls ALL aspects of social and political life; signs of political power are everywhere; no rule of law
• eg: nazism, stalinism
Authoritarianism
strong central leader, little public opposition; may rely on force to ensure compliance
• eg: putin
Liberal Democracy
open public sphere theoretically governed by citizens with protection for rights of free speech etc
• eg: canada
Pluralism
- pluralist societies have no single or unified ruling ideas; they try to include many different voices
- government protects this diversity
- in the past, societies were more homogenous (same values, religion, language, history); now societies are heterogenous (risk that majority group will force their values on a minority) and multicultural
Public Sphere (Jurgen Habermas)
- third space between private home life and political state, in which free debate takes place to form the public voice and influence the powerful
- emerges in press and coffee houses of 18th century
- public able to influence gov even though they aren’t part of the gov
Polyarchy
- decisions emerge from multiple different sources of power, not necessarily from a single state controlled by tight-knit group
- state itself may be unitary, but it does not exercise power in one-directional way
- not purely ‘democratic’ but not authoritarian
Power Elite
small group at the top, including wealthiest businessmen, political leaders, old ruling classes who have effective control over power
Closure (Weber and Parkin)
- term fr the way elites maintain position by monopolizing opportunities to members of own group
- eg: limiting country club membership to one ethnic group/ gender
Citizenship
- political membership in a State, granting rights and liberties protected by the institutions of government
- legal status, distinct from cultural ‘belonging’
Civil Liberties
freedom of speech, assembly, movement, press which protects us from the government
(gov leaves you alone)
Civil Rights
Positive rights guaranteed to every member of state
• eg: right to vote
(gov empowers you to do)
Bureaucracy
- trained professional officials, operating by set of rules and procedures to administer organization
- for weber, official government bureaucracy an inevitable part of complex society
- bureaucrats are professionals, selected and promoted on basis of expertise
- Weber suggests that such bureaucratic domination can end up trapping us in an ‘iron cage’ of rigid procedures
Governmentality (Foucault)
- terms for the techniques of power by which state creates ‘good citizens’
- from childhood, we are ‘disciplines’ to act in certain ways and to conform
