POWER AND AUTHORITY

 Power = the ability to achieve aims against authority. Power exists in all relationships.

THE NATURE OF POWER

  •  Weber said it's achieving your aims against the will f others. It's legitimate if people accept the control over them. Three reasons people accept power over them:
    •   Charismatic authority
    •   Traditional authority habit and acceptance of existing social order.
    •   Rational-legal ' ' '   means on the understanding that rules/laws can be changed by an accepted procedure. Obedience is to rules, not people.
  •  Parsons had the new idea that the amount of power in a relationship was fixed, so the more that one person has the less the others has, this is called variable sum (as opposed to fixed amount). Most writers see power in a zero-sum term.
  • Giddens critisised Parsons:
    •  Power is used to exploit, not achieve consensual goals.
    •  Apparently consensual goals may be imposed.
      •  Parsons doesn't exlain the sources of legitimacy (unlike Weber).
      •  If power covertly excercised, it canot depend on authority granted by the ruled.

 

  •  Dahl presented a pluralist view, which could be measured by observing who made the decisions and who benefited from them.

 

  •  Lukes said puralism had a limited view of power, 3 faces:
    •  Success in decision making, winning the arguements.
    •  Setting the agenda, deciding what will be argued about.
    •  Using ideology to conceal who really benefits.

 

THE DISTRIBUTION OF POWER

 

 Marxist view


  •  Power based on ownership.
  •  Consent is actually false consciousness.
  •  Hegemony is domination, based on the consent of people who accept the ideology.
  •  Power in the hands of the ruling classes.
  •  Power will oppress until the revolution.

 

 Elite theories

 

  •  Power can be based on on control of economic resources or psychological characteristics (Pareto), control of organizations (Mosca) or military resources.
  •  Power will always be in the hands of a small elite rather than a ruling class.
  •  Power will promote minority interests of the elite.

 

  •  The Pluralist View

 

  •  Power is authority, leaders rule with consent.
  •  Power can be measured by studying decision making.
  •  Power is widely dispersed between competing groups.
  •  Power is used to satisfy consensual aims and, sometimes, minority and majority interests.

Conclusion

  •  Each opinion can be pited against others, plus there are differences between them. Modern Marxists disagree over the importance of ideological control and the role of the state. Different elite theories identify different sources of power. Pluralism has been criticised by elitists who say there are weak social groups who lack organization to promote thier interests.

Extra Information


You must go beyond theories and apply knowledge to contemporary society.

Ideal type comes from Weber, meaning you make a perfect example of something which doesn't exist to measure how far reality if from it.

Pluralism is a theory which says that in a democracy, power is widely held.

 

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