Political Power, Authority, and the State

Power

Equated with coercion

Authority

Equated with cosent

Traditional authority

Derived from traditional customs and values (monarchies)

Charismatic authority

Derived from the personality traits of an individual (dictatorship)

Legal-rational authority

Authority derived from the status of an office (Weber argued that the world exibits a greater tendency) (democratic rule)

The pluralist definition of power (first dimension)

‘A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do’. Empirically observable.

Modified pluralist definiton (second dimension)

Power is ‘also excercised when A devotes his energies to creating or reinforcing social and political values and institutional practices that limit the scope of the political process to public consideration of only those issues which are comparatively innocuous to A’. Non-decision making.

Third Dimension of Power

‘A may exercise power over B by getting him to do what he does not want to do, but he also exercises power over him by influencing, shaping or determining his very wants’ 'False-consciousness’

Elitist argument from the left

Assumes that people from certain social backgrounds, with broadly shared interests, hold a dominant position in all significant policy areas

Elitist argument from the right

Assume that people with the correct beliefs hold dominant positions

Marxist argument

Political power in every society is wielded by representatives of the dominant economic group. Power lies with the bourgeoisie.