Ideas of Power

What was John Stuart Mill seeking to understand? What were his conclusions?

He sought to understand the justifications for interfering with the liberty of another person. Led him to the harm principle: the only justification for interfering is to prevent harm to others.

What were the dual revolutions?

The industrial revolution and the french revolution. These were catalysts that created the modern bourgeoisies society and the class antagonisms Marx sought to overthrow.

What is the slave revolt in morality?

The way in which the weak use resentment (anger towards those who have power) to take imaginary revenge by inverting morality (weakness becomes “goodness of heart”, cowardice becomes “patience”)

What is the “death of god”? What does it lead to?

The belief in god became unbelievable, causing a cultural shift driven by society’s move toward reason, science, and secularization. It leads to nihilism, in which the social structures that are all built on religion become meaningless.

What are the 10 themes of 19th century bourgeoisie modernity?

individualism, industrial capitalism, science, nationalism, urbanization, secularization, morality, public/private spheres, education/mediocracy, religion vs progress.

What was the question W.E.B DuBois framed?

How does it feel to be a problem?

What is the veil? Who mentioned it? What 2 themes correspond?

W.E.B DuBois described the veil as something that shuts out black Americans from white society. Second sight: allows them to see the whole fabric of the US. Double-consciousness: being oneself while also being looked at with pity and discontent.

What issue does Alexander Walters bring up?

The color-line that divides races and determines who gets privilege rather than striving for globalization.

What are Ida B Wells’s 3 truths? What is her technique?

Lynching is color-line murder, women are the excuse, and it requires a national remedy. She uses facts and statistics to argue her point.

What was Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s piece modeled after?

It mirrors the Declaration of independence to include usurpations of women’s rights by men (the tyranny over women)

What does Elizabeth Cady Stanton want?

She urges for immediate admission to all rights and to expand suffrage. She is urging for white women over all.

What was Susan B Anthony’s piece modeled after?

It mirrors the US Constitution and argues that all “persons” should be allowed to vote (oligarchy of sex).

What is swaraj?

self-rule by drawing out the British but also transforming it into something new (must be individually actualized)

What were the 2 eras of European imperialism in India?

1) Free trade era with the East India company ruling

2) New Imperialism era when the British Crown takes over

What are social facts according to Durkheim?

Ways of acting/feeling/thinking that exist externally but have a coercive force. Thus, the sum of society is greater than the individual parts.

What is the correlation of suicide to sociology according to Weber?

Suicide is a study in sociology as expectation of happiness are paired with general isolation creating anxiety (anomie).

What is power for Max Weber?

The ability to carry out ones will despite resistance (monopoly of the legitimate use of violence)

What are the three grounds under which a rule can be legitimized according to Weber?

tradition, charisma, legality

What does Weber say about rationalization?

it is peoples tendency to reduce human enjoyment to a means to an end

What does Weber say of domination vs disipline?

domination is the probability of being obeyed, discipline is the process by which prompts receive automatic obedience.

What is the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

The tendency of protestants to accumulate wealth without enjoying it to ensure salvation in the afterlife.

What is hysteria?

A gendered term to explain women fainting.

Who did Freud work with using “the talking cure”?

Bertha Pappenheim. He learned that anxiety comes from repressed feelings.

What 3 things make up the unconscious according to Frued?

1) The Id: pleasure principle present from birth

2) The ego: finds realistic ways to manage the id

3) The superego: internalized moral/social rules

What did Wilfred Owen write about WWI?

“It is sweet and right to die for your country,” contrasted with deep cynicism about the glorification and nationalism

What was Vladmir Lenin’s view of the state?

The state is an organ of class rule, and communism should be the end goal. However, he argued for a proletariat dictatorship as a temporary state on the way to a stateless society

What was Langston Hughes’s point?

The racial mountain is the urge among Black Americans toward whiteness

caused by the rise of the black middle class (Great Migration) that has stifled black authenticity that is found in the lower classes

What does Virgina Woolf say about the mind?

The best one is an androgynous one, that is productive, resonant, and unbiased.

What was different about Hitler and Mussolini’s view of fascism?

To Hitler, the state is a means to preserving the Aryan race. To Mussolini, the state is an end in itself (religion of fascism).of

What does Primo Levi say about history?

It seeks to simplify the world into black and white, us vs them.

What does Carl schmitt have to say about politics?

It is the distinction between friends and enemies

What is William Buckley’s critique?

The mainstream conformism is caused by the liberal consensus dictated by an overbearing class of intellectuals (arising from new deal, post-war order, liberalism, etc)

What is Russel Kirk’s main point?

He argues for neoliberalism (Not all change is good variety over uniformity, equal rights not equal things, checks and balances, slow change, wisdom of the past)

What does Frantz Fanon say about decolonization?

It is a violent phenomenon that calls for total replacement. Criticizes Europe for trying to remake the world in its image. Suggests that the 3rd world has power in numbers to potentially solve societal problems.

What does MLK say?

The rising tide of racial consciousness is due to 5 factors: urbanization, educational advance, economic improvement, Brown v. Board, and global awareness of communal struggle.

What are the 2 methods of action for Black Americans moving forward according to MLK?

To dismantle segregation and improve personal standards of black Americans (appeal for more than mediocrity)

What is the main frustration among the SDS in the Port Huron Statement

Student apathy

What does Stokley Carmicheal criticize? What are the 4 pitfalls?

White liberalism for trying to play to both sides. 4 pitfalls of liberalism: maintains the status quo, avoids confrontation, fear of alienation, influence rather than power.

What is power to Stokley Carmicheal?

Power is the amount of violence you can bring to your enemy.

What is Hannah Arendt’s definitions for power, strength, force, authority, and violence?

Power: the ability for a group to act in concert

Strength: singular ability to prove oneself amongst others

Force: energy released by social/physical movements

Authority: the ability to hold power over another

Violence: an instrument of power

What is Arendt wary of?

Bureaucracy emerged as a new form of tyrannical rule (rule by nobody) and was why the 60s were so turbulent (no one to blame).

What is Arendt’s paradox of submission

Those who are likely to be ruled are just as likely to submit.

What is the difference between power and violence for Arendt?

Violence can be justified but never legitimized. Power requires legitimacy and doesn't need justification.

What does Foucault say about the prison schedule vs public execution?

Both are examples of the desire to control others and the economy of power being redistributed.

What does Foucault say about power?

Soul is the prison of the body because punishment no longer targets the body but the mind. There is no outside of power.

What part of feminism is bell hooks critical of?

It seeks to simply put women into the existing, flawed power structures rather than ending domination

What 2 ways can the powerless exercise their power?

1) organized consumption

2) power to disbelieve

What is Milton Friedman critical of?

The way liberalism has turned: 19th century liberal was focused on freedom, 20th century liberal was focused on welfare in which economic freedom is viewed as less moral.

What was Reagan’s administration founded on?

Christian fundamentalism, Reaganomics, greed is good. Emergent leader due to the crisis of confidence in the US.

Who is Martin Treptow?

Mentioned in Reagan’s inaugural address: died in WWII for sacrifice, courage, country (work ethic of the American spirit).

What is David Harvey critical of?

That neoliberalism is returning wealth to the upper class rather than improving the lives of everyone.

What was Karl Polyani mentioned in reference to?

The dangers of neoliberalism as exploiting the public via emphasizing freedom but not good freedom. Good freedom is the freedom of speech, assembly while bad freedoms are the freedom to exploit, get ahead.