Chapter 17 Politics, Publics, and the State

1. Chapter 17Politics, Publics, and the State

2. Public • Public: A concept that encompasses both civil ideals and institutions. A public is composed of “citizens,” who are the critical audience for political events. Politicians are expected to function as the public’s “servants.” • In a political democracy, the public has an honored place.

3. Democracy • Democracy: Literally, “rule by the people.” Unlike monarchy, where political power is vested in a single individual, democracy is a political system in which power is justified and exercised by the people (or the officers they elect).

4. Personal Rule in Traditional Societies • Composed largely of private groups defined as: • Economic (consisting of lords and peasants) • Religious (priests and congregants) • Military (knights and foot soldiers) • Members acted according group-specific interests

5. Traditional society • A loosely organized territory in which power is concentrated in a kinship group or family. • Authorities earn their position not through formal mechanisms (e.g., voting) but by inheritance. • Power is exercised according to tradition rather than formal rules.

6. State • A clearly defined and impersonal political area. The sociological concept refers to the formal organization of social power—namely, political power—in society. While the term state is often assumed to be interchangeable with government or employed to indicate a particular geographical area, these usages are not always synonymous.

7. Bureaucracy • Bureaucracy: A system of formal organization in which power is allocated through a hierarchy of offices and social statuses. • In a bureaucracy, people engage in specialized tasks and abide by rules and expectations that are clearly defined.

8. Power • Power: The ability to mobilize the resources of society to attain a particular goal. • Power is concentrated in and monopolized by the state, but individuals can “have power” as well. In this sense, it is not a thing, an object, but rather an elusive idea that shapes social relationships.

9. State autonomy • State autonomy: The ability of the state to define goals that are independent of social groups, classes, and societies.

10. Theda Skocpol • Emphasizesstate autonomyas an alternative to Marxism because she disagrees with the functionalist insistence that power is necessarily a collective capability. • Argues that the Marxian emphasis on economics over politics eliminates the autonomy of the political.

11. Theda Skocpol • Argues that the great social revolutions in France, China, and Russia succeeded not only because economic conditions were poor but because the class rebellions triggered by these poor conditions faced weakened, personalistic, and inefficient bureaucracies.

12. Figure 17.1 Signing a Petition

13. Figure 17.2 Joining in Boycotts

14. Figure 17.3 Joining Unofficial Strikes

15. Figure 17.4 Occupying Buildings or Factories

16. Politics • Politics: The process by which power is generated, organized, distributed, and used in societies. • In the context of the state, politics can take the form of elections or legislative activity. • In the context of the individual, it can mean participating in a protest or signing a petition.

17. Authority & Legitimation • Authority:The ability to carry out one’s will while maintaining the respect of others. • Legitimation: The way in which authority comes to be accepted and generally supported by those whom it affects.

18. Weber on legitimate authority • According to Weber, there are three types of legitimate authority, or “inner justifications,” for the exercise of power: • Traditional • Rational-legal • Charismatic

19. Figure 17.5 How Often Do You Follow Politics in the News?

20. Smith on Charismatic Authority • Smith finds that charisma is constructed by the leader’s ability to convince the audience they are threatened, and to vividly represent this evil in symbolic terms.

21. Figure 17.6 Expenditures Breakdown: John McCain, 2008

22. Figure 17.7 Expenditures Breakdown: Barak Obama, 2008

23. Figure 17.8 The Cost of Winning an Election, 1986-2008

24. Steven Lukes’s Model of Power • The one-dimensional view of power “involves a focus on behavior in the making of decisions on issues over which there is an observable conflict of interest” (1974: 15).

25. Lukes’s Model of Power (cont.) • The two-dimensional view goes deeper into the less visible aspects of social power, into “the question of the control over the agenda of politics and of the ways in which potential issues are kept out of the political process” (1974: 21).

26. Lukes’s Model of Power (cont.) • The three-dimensional approach goes even deeper. In this dimension, hidden social powers ensure that a particular political agenda will be pursued, even while the forms of political legitimacy remain intact.

27. Figure 17.9 Total Contributions to and Expenditures by Presidential Candidates

28. C. Wright Mills • Power elite: A term that refers to the idea that American society is dominated by its elites. The power elite is made up of elites from three spheres: the economy, politics, and the military.

29. Citizenship • Citizenship: A social position with three characteristics: • First, that a citizen is entitled to civil rights, such as the right to free speech or the right to own property. • Second, that a citizen is entitled to political rights guaranteeing the right to exercise political power. • Third, that a citizen is entitled to social rights affirming the right to an acceptable standard of living.

30. Civil Society • The sphere of social life that is separate from the state, governed by legal norms, and supported by institutions.

31. Civil Repair • Civil Repair:The process by which the civil qualities of previously excluded groups (e.g. women and African-Americans) are recognized and civil membership is expanded to include the members of such groups.

32. Political Parties • Political parties: Ideological organizations that are responsible for articulating and forming political interests, developing slogans and candidates, and organizing and funding successful political campaigns in the interest of promoting a particular social order.

33. Social Citizenship • T.H. Marshall (1964) defined social citizenship as consisting of: • Civil rights • Political rights • Social citizenship

34. Figure 17.10 Voter Turnout by Age Group and Gender, Presidential Elections, 1972-2008

35. Figure 17.11 Social Expenditure as a Percentage of GDP

36. Discourse of Decline • Discourse of Decline:The frequently articulated argument that civil society and public life are in decline, that people are withdrawing from civic participation, and that society is becoming alienated and individually oriented.

37. Figure 17.12 Women in the U.S. Congress

38. Figure 17.13 Black Elected Officials in the U.S. by Office

39. Study Questions • Contrast political rule in traditional and modern societies. Describe the dominant form of power, the position of the ruler, the object of allegiance, and the kind of administration used to control territory in each case. • Explain why state power can be considered both a capacity and a threat. How did Max Weber capture this contradiction in his definition of the state?

40. Study Questions (cont.) • What is state autonomy? In what way does Skocpol’s theory of state autonomy challenge the Marxist explanation of revolution? How does Skocpol explain the success of the great revolutions in France, China, and Russia?

41. Study Questions (cont.) • Briefly explain Weber’s three types of legitimate authority. Which did he think would wither away in modern society? • Which characteristics of postmodern society have contributed to the increasing importance of charisma in contemporary politics? According to Philip Smith, what are the symbolic components that underpin the charismatic authority?

42. Study Questions (cont.) • Describe Lukes’s three-dimensional model of power. How does this model distinguish between political and social power? • Describe C. Wright Mills’s power elite thesis. How does it differ from the traditional Marxian view? What two factors bind the power elite together?

43. Study Questions (cont.) • What is civil society, and how does one become a member of it? What is civil repair? • What are the three dimensions of T.H. Marshall’s definition of citizenship? • Why did Seymour Martin Lipset describe elections as “the democratic class struggle”? How has the shift to a postindustrial economy affected party ideology and voting?

44. Study Questions (cont.) • What is the discourse of decline, and how has its main consequence been described? Is it a recent development? What evidence would suggest a deepening of the civil sphere in the American context?