Wednesday, March 31, 1999
Announcements:

• 2^nd exam is Monday, April 5
• Students must bring blue books on Friday, April 2
• A review session will be held on Sunday at 7:30; meet at the HUB helpdesk

1. Political and Economic Power

1. Max Weber: 3 types of Authority

1. Traditional (see March 29 notes)
2. Rational-Legal Authority (Bureaucratic)

1. Power is legitimized by legally enacted rules and regulations - society agrees on and accepts law as supreme. Linked to government – all societies accept law as supreme.
2. Authority comes from organizational position – Example: Policeman’s authority is based on organizational position.

1. Charismatic Authority – legitimized by leader with exceptional qualities. Inspires people and mobilizes society; this type of leader is very rare. Examples: Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Mother Teresa, Hitler, Stalin

1. Political Power – when power is organized and controlled by the state

1. Representative Democracy – representatives are elected by citizens.

1. Constitutional Monarchy – Monarchs are symbolic heads of state – governing is done by the Prime Minister
2. Parliamentary System – Prime Minister is the legislative leader of the majority party. The leader of the majority party is the Prime Minister. Example: India has parliamentary system with no monarchy.
3. Democratic Republic – Presidential form of government; the president is popularly elected (in the US, an electoral college is used)

1. Totalitarian Governments – governments have TOTAL control under ALL aspects of life – economy, politics, education, arts…etc. They control people through the Secret Police. Examples of totalitarian leaders: Hitler, Stalin, Polpot, and Talibans. Three characteristics of totalitarian regimes:

1. One compelling ideology
2. Single party system
3. Pervasive social control

1. Authoritarian Governments – tolerates no or little pluralism – Non-governmental centers of influence such as religion, education, debate over issues, etc. are allowed. Examples of Authoritarian governments: Latin America, Saudi Arabia.
2. Three schools of thought on Political Power

1. Pluralist Perspective – Reisman

1. Political Power is dispersed and distributed among various competing interest or veto groups. Power is shared – these various interest groups work towards compromise. Decisions are a combination of negotiation, compromise, and agreement.
2. Pluralist Model – all interest groups overlap each other. No one group has uncontrolled expansion capabilities; each interest group acts as a buffer against all others.

1. Power Elite Perspective – C. Wright Mills

1. Power is concentrated in the hands of the rich. Pluralism is secondary to wealth – the power elite alone make top decisions and influence Congress
2. Power in the Hands of the Power Elite

1. Economic Elite – enormous wealth and political power – upper class people who go to Ivy league schools and become CEO’s
2. Military Elite – Top military officials are from the upper class
3. Executive Branch – Top government officials hold enormous power

1. Power Elite Model – If you are a part of the elite, it is likely you will have a top position in government, business, judicial areas, or media. All are interconnected. The elite controls the mass through the media.

1. The Instrumentalist Perspective – Domhoff wrote Who Rules America? – He said the government is the instrument of the upper class because they donate large amounts of money. The upper class is the ruling class – they control economic institutions and the government.