Power, Politics And The State

POWER, POLITIC S AND THE

STATE

Sociologist - argue that political sociology is the study According to: of POWER .

DOWSE and HUGHES :

* “ politics is “POWER

Any involv social es relationship

POWER

political

Political relationship Would extend from

PARENTS ASSIGNING DOMESTIC CHORES TO CHILDREN

TEACHERS ENFORCING DISCIPLINE TO STUDENTS

MANAGERS ORGANIZING A WORKFORCE

In TRADITIONAL STUDY :

POLITICS HAS CONCENTRATED ON : •The STATE •various institutions of Government Such as

PARLIAMENT

JUDICIARY

TWO FORMS OF POWER =

1. AUTHORITY -The legitimate therefore power -The right and just -Not as legitimate 2. COER CION -To do in force because of the

Some SOCIOLGISTS dimensions of

suggested several faces or

MAX WEBER He defined power as:

POWER

- the most influential sociological view s of

“ the chance of a man or a n of men to realize their own will in a communal action even against the resistance

WEBER – SUGGESTED THE three sources of AUTHORITY 1. CHARISMATIC AUHORITY

-the subordinate believed that leader have exceptional qualities -leaders able to sway and control followers by direct emotional appeal A belief in rightness

2. TRADITONAL AUTHORITY 3. RATIONALLEGAL AUTHORITY

Subordinates are controlled by feeling of loyalty Based on the acceptance of a set of impersonal rules Those who posses authority are able to issues commands Obeyed because they accept the legal framework of their authority

STEVEN LUKES(1974) -

a radical

view

• He argues that power has three dimensions or faces Decisi Shapin on Makin g

-Where different individuals or group express the making

NonDecision Making

Exercising power do so by preventing those who take a decision from

g Desire

* Manipulating the wishes and desire of social group. •May be persuaded to accept

Lukes‘s definition of power

PO WER IS EX ER CI SED OVER THOS E WH O ARE HARMED BY ITS U SE, WH ETER TH EY ARE AWAR E THEY ARE HAR MED OR NOT .

The STATE

Definition and development of the STATE

Weber defined - “ a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use physical force within a given From some sociologists:

State are consisting ofservices, a wider set of in Welfare include : Education ,

Health services , Government and civic

* POWER- A FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE

Most sociological theories of power fo WEBER’s definition in two important respects :

1. that those who hold power do so at the expense of others.. - some hold power but others do not 2. the power-holders will tend to use power to further their own

TALCOTT PARSONS – The Variable – Sum Concept of Power

His view of power was developed from his general theory of the nature of society Power and Collective Goals:

= that value consensus is essential for the survival of social system = from shared values derive collective goals

* AUTHORITY AND COLLECTIVE GOALS Power takes the form of authority; it is regarded as legitimate, since it is seen to further collective goals. This means that some are granted authority for the benefit

* POWER AND THE STATE – A PLURALIST PERSPECTIVE

Pluralism has important similarities *

they accept that government and state act in the interest of society and according to the wishes of members

As the most advanced systems of government yet devised ; and regard them as the most effective way for a population to exercise power and govern a country

They regard the exercise of power through the state to be legitimate rather than coercive

Pluralist do not deny the existence of class, or divisions based on AGE , GENDER , RELIGION or ETHNICITY # a democratic political system requires that individuals have a larger number of specific interests. # democracy would become unworkable if

*CLASSICAL PLURALISM-POLITICAL PARTIES AND INTEREST GROUPS

POLITICAL PARTIES :

Are organizations which attempt to get representatives elected to positions in parliaments or their local *equivalent. Pluralist claims that competition for office between political parties provides the electorate with an opportunity to select its leaders

Pluralists claim that political parties are democratic societies. for the following reasons: 1. the public directly influences party policy : must reflect the wishes and interest of the 2. if existing parties do not sufficiently represent sections of society- new party will 3. parties are accountable to the electorate 4. Parties cannot simply represent sectionalist

* PLURALISM -- A CRITIQUE

There are number of serious criticism of pluralism. These criticism are concerned both with the methods pluralists use to measure power and empirical evidence which seems to contradict their claim that

*R ea pp r ai sal of classi cal DAVID MARSH (1983) - explained the distributions of power and the operation of the state as elite pluralist theories

These theories share important similarities with classical pluralism :

1. they see Western societies as basically democratic 2. they regard government as a process of compromise

On the other hand : 1. they do not accept that all members of society have exactly the same amount of power. 2. T hey d o n ot c oncentrate exclusiv ely

3. they see elite ; as the leader of groups, as the main participants in decision making

Elite pluralism may not be satisfactory in at least three ways: 1. showing that democracies do not work perfectly 2. they fail to discuss the possibility that elites monopolize power and use in their own interests. 3. they do not discuss the power of some members of society to influence the wishes of others

* THE POWER ELITE

MILLS ( 1950) explained elite rule in institutional rather than psychological

Three key institutions 1. the Major corporati on

3. the Federal governmen t 2. the militar

*THE POWER AND THE STATE –MARXIST PERSPETIVE

Acording to MARX:

Power is concentrated in the hands of those who have economic control within a society.

MARX and ENGELS: the source of power lies in the economic infrastructure:

1. All classdivided societies 2. Communi st society

Production are owned and controlled by the ruling class. Power are equally distributed among the whole population

T he f oll owi ng r easons gi ven for the r el ativ e autonom y of the ca pi tali st sta te:

1. As a group, , the bourgeoisie is not free from internal division and conflict of 2. If the bourgeoisie ruled directly , its power might be weakened by internal wrangling 3. The state must have freedom to make concession to the subject class 4. The relative autonomy of the state enables it to promote the myth that it represents

Poulantzas did not disagree with Miliband about the importance of legitimation He used a broader definition of the state than Miliband. He divided it into : REPRESSIVE IDEOLOGICAL APPARATUS

ARMY , GOVERNMENT , POLICE, TRIBUNALS & ADMINISTRATIONS

Exercises COERCIVE POWER

APPARATUS THE CHURCH, POLITICAL PARTIES, UNIONS, SCHOOLS ,MASS MEDIA & FAMILY

CONCERNED WITH THE MANIPULATION OF VALUES AND BELIEFS RATHE THAN THE USE OF POWER

WAR OF POSITION = a kind of political trench warfare in which revolutionary elements in society attempted to win over the hearts and minds of the subject classes.

OPERATIONAL AUTONOMY = meaning it can be harmful to capitalism

Capitalism merely exercises ECOLOGICAL DOMINANCE This means that the influence of capitalist system over other parts of society is greater than the influence of the non-capitalist parts of society over capitalism.

Capitalist system does this in a number ways: 1. Capitalist can threaten to remove their capital from state which do not follow policies which favor their interest . 2. Capitalism has extended its influence into more and more areas of social life including politics, education , health and science 3. Capitalism can try to impose a “profit-seeking logic” on other systems even where there is no direct buying and selling of goods.

* TOM BO TT OMO RE – ELI TE AND According to BOTTOMORE : = The earth’s become more concentrated than ever before and as consequence, upper class and elites have become increasingly dominant = He attributes this increased concentration of power to the following factors:

1. Multinational companies have grown both in size and power.

2. New Right governments and thinking which became dominant . . . 3. Communists regimes in Eastern Europe and USSR collapsed, leaving yet more markets for capitalist to exploit.

BOTTOMOREbelieves that small groups of people, who dominate the crucial decisions in the contemporary world, act like elite, but should be seen more accurate a “upper class”

Capitalism already faces a number of problems:

1. Economic crises and instability 2. Serious environmental problem 3.Opposition to the logic of global capitalist development

To NORDLINGER ; there are many ways in which the state can enhance 1. Using secretive system of decisionits making 2. Using honours, appointments or government contracts to persuade opponents to accept proposals 3. Using the state’s resources to counter resources used by the opponents. 4. Threatening to change a range of policies in such a way as to harm the interest of opponents 5. Taking actions or using statements which cause mistrust among different groups of opponents

Transnational practices take place in three main spheres:

1. The economi c

2. The political

3. The culturalideological

These correspond to the practices of : 1. The transnation al corporation

2. The transnational capitalist class

3. The cultureideology of consumerism

Based fr om Power can take two separate forms: Distribution al Power

Collective power

MANN distinguished the two main ways in which can be exercised between the different types of power

The ability to organize large numbers of people over far-flung terrorist in order to engage in minimally stable cooperation

The ability to organize tightly and command a high level of mobilization or commitment from the participants.

MAN N’s anal ysi s of di f fer ent typ es of po wer : AUTHORITATIVE POWER - exercised when conscious deliberate commands are issue. . . DIFFUSEDPOWER - it involves power relationship , but ones which operate

FRASER

believes that modern assumption about public sphere need to be replaced by postmodern ones.

should involve: •The elimination of the inequalities

between social groups •The acceptance and encouragement of different groups having their own • The rejection of the idea that supposedly “ Private ” issues should be off limits for

“OLD and NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS “ COHEN and RAI questioned the usefulness of any distinction between old and new movement and they suggested two main reasons why the distinction is not clearcut

1. There is no clear difference between old movements concerned with class issues and new social movements concerned with 2. Humans rights movements have also existed for many decades, and they defy easy categorization into ‘new’ or ‘old’ social movements

COHEN and RAI have seen some changes in the nature of social movements: 1.Social movements have introduced tactical and organizational innovations, which have made use of the media and technological 2. The new technology has enabled many social movements to become global rather than confined to local or national arenas

COHEN and RAI suggest reasons for the development of global social movements 1. Social movements have responded to the proliferation of the international

2. Cheap communications and travel have made global organization flexible for social movements with limited 3. Political activities have adapted to the increased power of transnational corporation. 4. The environmental movements has been forced to organize globally . . . . 5. Some social movements have aims which have an

CROOK , PAKUL SKI A ND W ATE RS (1 992)- a sso cia te h e d evelopme nt o f so cial mo vements with a process they d efin e a s postm oder niza tio n.

They believed ‘new politics marks both a substantive and permanent change in the political complexion of advanced societies’.

CROOK stated that New Politics has the following characteristics: * The class basis of support for political parties declines. * Politics become less concerned with sectional interests and more concerned with moral issues that affect everyone. * The new politics move away from people relying upon elites to represent them. •The new politics is not focused on the activities of the state . . . * The new politics ‘spills over and fuses with the socio-cultural arena

The Institutional Dimensions of Modernity

The Theory of partisan alignment explained voting in the following ways:

1. That class ; as measured by a person’s occupation. 2. It claimed most voters had a strongly partisan self-image 3. This sense of identity led to voters consistently casting their votes for he party with which they

JO HN G OLD THO RPE - Neo-Weberian class scheme to distinguish five classes 1. Salariat

2. Routine Non-Manual Workers

Managers, administrators, Professionals and Semiprofessionals

Have low wages

4. Foremen and Technician More autonomy Within work

3. Petty Bourgeoisi e Farmers ,small business selfemployed manual

5. Manual Workers Skilled workers

1997 – the Conservatives were in power and by most measures the economy was doing well and people’s living standard were rising 2001 – election labour was able to persuade sufficient voters that I could manage the economy competently, to enable to win the election

Questions: Is there any power in a modern society? Based on your reflection, what is power, politics and the state? Is there any state without power and politics? Why? Are there any power and political life in a preindustrial society?

Thank you so much.