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Chapter 15 sociology-authority and the state

Terms in this set (41)

Politics
power relations among people or other social actors.
Authority
the justifiable right to exercise power
Charismatic authority
authority that rests in the personal appeal of an individual leader. ex. Ghandi, Hitler
Traditional Authority
authority based on appeals to the past or traditions. example: British royal family.
Legal-rational authority
a system of authority based on legal, impersonal rules; the rules rule. example: police officers.
Routinization
an ever-expanding process of ordering or organizing. making it more efficient and often has unintended consequences.
Bureaucracy
a legal-rational organization or mode of administration that governs with the reference to rules and roles and emphasizes meritocracy. Characterized by hierarchical structure, specialized positions and a clear division of labor. well-established formal rules.
Specialization
the process of making work consist of specific, delimited tasks.
Taylorism
the methods of labor management introduced by Frederick Winslow Taylor to streamline the processes of mass production in which each worker repeatedly performs one specific task.
Meritocracy
a society that assigns social status, power, and economic rewards on achievement, not ascribed, personal attributes or favoritism.
Milgram experiment
an experiment devised in 1961 by Stanley Milgram, to see how far ordinary people would go to obey a scientific authority figure.
Power
the ability to carry out one's own will despite resistance.
Domination
the probability that a command with specific content will be obeyed by a given group of people.
State
a human community that claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory. A nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government.
Coercion
the use of force to get others to do what you want.
Paradox of authority
although the state's authority derives from the implicit threat of physical force, resorting to physical coercian strips the state of all legitimate authority.
International state system
a system in which each state is recognized as territory sovereign by fellow states.
Welfare state
a system in which the state is responsible for well-being of its citizens
Citizenship rights
the rights guaranteed to each law-abiding citizen in a nation-state.
Civil Rights
the rights guaranteeing a citizen's personal freedom from interference, including freedom of speech and the right to travel freely.
Political rights
the rights guaranteeing a citizen's ability to participate in politics, including the right to vote and the right to hold an elected office.
Social rights
the rights guaranteeing a citizen's protection by the state.
Soft Power
power attained through the use of cultural attractiveness rather than the threat of coercive action. example: hollywood movies making america look good.
Democracy
a system of government where the power lies with the people. Direct democracy- all citizens fully participate in their own governance.
Representative Democracy- citizens elect representatives to govern them
Dictatorship
a form of government that restricts the right to political participation to a small group or even to a single individual.
Game theory
the study of strategic decisions under conditions of uncertainty and interdependence.
Collective Action problem
the difficulty in organizing large groups because of the tendency of some individuals to freeload or slack off.
Political party
an organization that seeks to gain power in a government, generally by backing candidates for office who subscribe to the organization's political ideals.

the US has a two party system.
Interest group
an organization that seeks to gain power in government and influence policy without direct election or appointment to office.
Political participation
activity that has the intent or effect of influencing government action.
Political Sociology
studies questions related to power and authority. examines the relationship between the "state" (governing body) and
"civil society" (the people).

examples: how do states form? how do politics and the economy intersect? How do citizens challenge political institutions? How do political institutions change?
Authoritarian
ordinary members of society are denied right to participate in government.
Totalitarian
government controls everything.
Weber's Theory of Rationality
western world changed drastically with he rise of two great forces-capitalism and bureaucracy. Instead of tradition, values, or emotions, modern society used laws and regulations to make decisions. tells people the most efficient means to an ends.
Ritzer's view on rationality
formal rationality is now best exemplified not by bureaucracies but by fast-food restaurants ( the "McDonaldization" of society.
characterized by :
efficiency, calculability (emphasis on quantity rather than quality), predictability, control through substituting nonhuman technology for human judgement.
Politics in Democratic Societies
in democracies, politics is structured around competing political parties whose purpose is to gain control of the government by winning elections.
Political Polarization
our political leaders have become more polarized. makes a middle course less likely.
Collective behavior
occurs when a group of people establish new forms of behavior in response to a situation. example: leggings as pants.
Collective Action
action that takes place in groups and diverges from the social norms of the situation. example: social protests
Social Movement
a large group of people organized to promote or resist some social change.

Alterative Social Movements-seek the most limited social change, target a narrow group of people. Redemptive Social Movements- seek more radical change, but also target specific groups. Reformative social movements- seek limited social change.
Revolutionary social movements- seek radical change across an entire society.
Why do people join social movements?
they know others in the movement, to relieve feelings of isolation, to address grievances, out of concern for justice
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