SOC 122 Spring 25 Midterm

Human Nature: Two Perspectives:

• Hobbes (1558-1679)

• Men are naturally beasts. Early life was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, + short”

• Society + civilization rescue men from their violent nature

Human Nature: Two Perspectives:

• Rousseau (1712-1778):

• “Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains”

• Society corrupts people, turning them into beasts

• People are innately good + nonviolent 

• Creation of social groups + governments + economic/political structures causes violence/discord

The Military Paradox:

• Societal norm

• From childhood, most are raised to believe killing is wrong

• Every religion says killing is wrong, legal codes say it’s wrong, etc

The Military Paradox:

• military reality

Killing becomes an expected behavior that makes one an effective soldier

Military Culture and Socialization

• all culture can be learned and therefore unlearned 

• Includes military culture

  • Intended to prepare soldiers to kill effectively in combat 

• We adjust our ideas of right + wrong as we join new institutions and/or take on different roles  

• Constantly becoming/unbecoming new people - new kinds of moral ppl - different ideas of what’s right/wrong 

Military Culture and Socialization: Dyer

• Under the right conditions literally anybody can learn how to be an effective soldier (kill)

• people are coming from communities where killing is wrong and learning new ways of living where it’s okay

Basic training

• Not about fighting in war at all

• More about assimilation 

• Really intense group activities - bonding - becoming part of a collective

• “Fog of war effect”

• Want to strip + break down

• Not as one but as one team

• Reshapes identities - no ‘you’ anymore - part of them

• Exhaustion, shaved heads, matching clothing, etc don’t teach soldiers to kill

• Sense of total cohesion w/ other unit members 

• Collective behavior, punishment, + reward produces a sense of total identification w/ one’s unit

Basic training - Physical transformation

Shaving hair + wearing matching clothes removes individuality

Basic training - Isolation

Minimal calls home + intentionally late airport pickups

Basic training - Collective behavior

Close-order drills create total cohesion w/ other unit members

Basic Training - Unit bonding

• “Symbols + slogans are not the things that sustain men in combat”

• Commitment to one another - kill for each other + die for each other

Reality of Combat

• 15% combat participation

  • Only 15% of soldiers during WWII fired their weapons when in line of fire

• 85% avoidance 

  • Most soldiers avoided both fighting + fleeing when possible

• Even when socialized military-style, really really hard to kill someone in the moment 

• Fight, flight, posture, submit

• Submit: surrender

Posture

•  firing but not directly at someone, scaring the threat off

  • Daunting uniforms, yelling, sirens, intimidation displays 

• “The history of warfare can be seen as a history of increasingly more effective mechanisms for enabling + conditioning men to overcome their innate resistance to killing” - Grossman 1995

Moral injury

 trauma experienced as a result of what oneself has done in war/violence

Civilian Military Divide

• Civilian life: Normal social norms + moral frameworks apply

• Military life: Different moral frameworks + expectations for behavior

Civilian Military Divide - Modern warfare (Sherman)

• Constant shifting between civilian + military life - restructuring + reconstituting local communities

• Modern technology interferes w/ total separation between civilian + military life

Civilian Military Divide - Transition

• Sherman: “Sloughing off civilian skin is never absolute. Nor should it be. Humanity is too bound up in the capacity to move back and forth” 

Civilian Military Divide - Drone Operators

Drone operators working from 1000s of miles away experience the same levels + rates of mental health problems as pilots who work in actual combat zones (Otto + Webber 2013)

• Same implications - watching + being responsible for deaths 

• Decreased physical distance + increased social intimacy w/ targets

  • Working totally alone - diminished sense of brotherhood/community that can sustain others in combat 

  • Individualistic task - not kill or be killed

Modern Warfare Complications

• Remote warfare

  • Physical distance doesn’t equal social + psychological distance

• Digital connection

  • Cell phones, internet, social media blur military-civilian boundaries

• Surveillance

  • Greater familiarity w/ targets as they go about daily lives

• Reduced threat

  • Less sense of immediate danger to self

Understanding State Power + Legitimacy: Max Weber

• Politics as a vocation

• Vocation: More than a career - calling 

• Politics is about leadership

• Within a particular territory: state power is geographically bounded

Weber’s definition of the state

 “The state is the only form of human community that (successfully) lays claim to the monopoly of legitimate physical violence within a particular territory” ← prof says EXTREMELY important definition/quote

Legitimacy - Weber

•  the state’s use of force must be perceived as rightful by its citizens

  • Something we’ve collectively agreed to accept as a society

  • Police regularly violent - extension of state

  • Jails treat human beings in ways that if average citizens treated humans this way they themselves would go to jail

  • State institutions allowed to do violent things that no one else can do without getting into trouble - legitimacy is key

• What is seen as a legitimate use of violence by one group of people may be seen as illegitimate by another group of people

Monopoly of physical violence - Weber

only the state has the recognized right to use force

Successfully - Weber

•  the state effectively maintains this monopoly 

  • State almost never does so successfully for all citizens at all times 

  • Politics: battles over state’s use of violence + how legitimate it is

  • Once state’s use of violence stops being perceived as successfully legitimate = internal conflict 

  • Violence is politics by other means

When Legitimacy is Questioned - Smooth operation

• When state’s monopoly on violence is seen as legitimate, social order is maintained

• Citizens accept authority and comply w/ laws

When Legitimacy is Questioned - resistance

• When state’s use of violence is perceived as illegitimate, protest arises

• Protest becomes “politics by other means” when traditional channels fail

When Legitimacy is Questioned

• resistance

• smooth operation

The legitimacy of state power is constantly being evaluated by citizens. When a state’s actions are no longer seen as legitimate particularly its use of force, people may engage in protest or even violence as a form of political expression., This connects directly Weber’s framework about the relationship between politics, legitimacy, + violence

Black Lives Matter Through Weber’s Lens

• Questioning legitimacy:

  • BLM protests challenged the legitimacy of state violence against Black Americans, particularly police violence

Ethic of Conviction

• Do whatever necessary to achieve what you believe is best

• Focuses on ultimate ends

• May be morally pure but ignores real world consequences in achieving goals

Public Good

• Responsibility to the greatest number takes precedence

• Whatever it takes to reach goal - no matter who it hurts as long as for the greater good 

• Grindelwald

Ethic of Responsibility

• Consider consequences over personal convictions

• Not enough to have good intentions - must consider outcomes of decisions especially unintended ones 

• More appropriate for people who hold political power

• If the state has the right to use legitimate force, politicians must be really careful

Moral Tension

Politicians must navigate between imagined ideals + practical outcomes

The Ethics of Political Power

“No ethic in the world can ignore the fact that in many cases the achievement of ‘good’ ends is inseparable from the use of morally dubious or at least dangerous means and that we cannot escape the possibility or even probability of evil side effects. And no ethic in the world can say when, and to what extent, the ethically good end can ‘justify’ the ethically dangerous means and its side effects” - Weber

What Makes a Good Politician

• passion

• sense of responsibility

• sense of proportion

What Makes a Good Politician - Passion

• Deep sustained commitment

• Without passion, politics become a “frivolous intellectual game”

What Makes a Good Politician - Sense of Responsibility

Willingness to take ownership of consequences of one’s actions

What Makes a Good Politician - Sense of proportion

• Ability to stay calm + balanced even when things get messy

• Without proportion the politician is “condemned to political impotence”

• Ideal political leader skillfully navigates between passion + balance, conviction + responsibility

Tilly and the Origins of States: Hammurabi’s Empire

• Hammurabi: ancient Babylon ruler (Mesopotamia)

• Cradle of civilization

  • Writing systems

  • Astronomy

  • Math

  • Early cities

Code of Hammurabi

• Earliest known legal code in entire world - 1754 BCE

• Eye for eye, tooth for tooth

• Punishment depended on social status 

  • Free victim = eye for eye

  • Enslaved victim = monetary

What happens when a ruler captures territory + must govern over people who didn’t choose him?

• Conquest challenge

• Legal authority

• Legitimacy question

• Coercion + consent

• Internal war

• External war

• Resource needs

• Resistance risk

• State formation

• Mutual exchange

• Resource extraction

• Good rulers don’t just dominate - govern

What happens when a ruler captures territory + must govern over people who didn’t choose him? Tilly’s insight

• Law alone is not enough to build a state

• State formation essentially a bargain

  • Coercion + consent

    • Leader forces conquered subjects to obey but also offers something in return

    • Citizens must choose not to rebel against authority 

    • People must accept + follow leader’s laws

    • Citizens must be willing to fight + die for the state 

Tilly and the Four Core Activities of the State

• War making

• State making

• Protection

• Extraction

What happens when a ruler captures territory + must govern over people who didn’t choose him?

Resource extraction

• Rulers extract means of war from reluctant subjects

• Organize fighters

  • Successful rulers mobile effective military forces

• Collect taxes + supplies efficiently 

• Provide something valuable in return

Tilly and the Four Core Activities of the State - Tilly’s challenge

• Protection actually tool of control

• States offer protection to extract resources + secure obedience

• Relationship = transactional, not altruistic 

Tilly and the Four Core Activities of the State - Tilly’s challenge + protection racket

• Pay for safety - Pay me and I’ll make sure no one hurts you

• Implied threat - Don’t pay me + can’t guarantee what happens

• External protection - We’ll protect you from outsiders who want to hurt you

• Internal coercion - We might be that threat if you don’t cooperate

Extraction: Coercion for Capital

• States extract resources through coercion/persuasion - take money, people for armies, weapons, + supplies

• Cycle of state power: more a state grows, more infrastructure it needs, creating a cycle of increasing extraction

Ottoman Tax Farming

• Auction tax rights

  • Auctioned right to collect taxes to private individuals

• Upfront payment

  • Tax farmers paid state in advance for collection rights

• Brutal collection

  • Collected taxes often w/ force - keeping anything beyond the quota

• State efficiency

  • Empire received revenue w/out directly managing distant provinces

Louis XIV + Bureaucratic Extraction

• Palace as power

  • Versailles wasn’t just a palace but a political weapon to control nobility

  • Forced nobility to live there

• Expanded taxation

  • Louis created extensive tax systems to fund his wars + state building

• Royal bureaucracy

  • Intendants - royal officials - managed provinces + sub territories + ensured loyalty

  • Created infrastructure so intendants could bring taxes back 

• War demands extraction, extraction builds bureaucracy, bureaucracy consolidates control

Tilly’s Argument

• Threats emerge

  • States form in response to internal + external threats

• Protection offered

  • Rulers offer protection while controlling their people

• Wars fought

  • To control people, rulers fight wars

  • Establish legitimacy + shore resources

• Resources extracted

  • To fight wars, need resources

• Institutions build 

  • Create institutions to extract resources + consolidate power

• Modern state didn’t start w/ democracy, law, or love of country - started w/ war

• Everything we can associate w/ good governance - schools, roads, newspapers, healthcare - came from rulers needing to extract more resources to win wars

what two essential elements do states need to survive?

• Internal Security: The ability to maintain order through obedience to laws

• External Security: The capacity to defend against outside threats

War Makes States: Tilly’s Theory

• Protection: rulers must protect territory, requiring resource extraction from populations

• Taxation: Citizens surrender freedoms - especially money - in exchange for security

• Coercion: States use both threats + promises to maintain control

ISIS: The Shadow State in Action

• Tax collection: Systemic revenue generation from controlled territories

• Law Enforcement: Strict implementation of rules + punishments

• Welfare Systems: Basic services provided to gain legitimacy

• Violent Control: Suppression of dissent through force

• While critics dismissed ISIS as a ‘paper state’, it actually built a functioning bureaucracy that mimicked legitimate state operations

• ISIS recognized a fundamental truth about state making: To be legitimate you must govern

• Effective governance requires control over revenue, law, + people

From Taxation to Nationalism

• War Creates Demands: rulers need resources from citizens to fight wars

• Infrastructure Development: roads, bridges, built to move troops + supplies

• Education Systems: schools established to teach common language

• Bureaucratic Growth: administrative systems created to manage taxation 

• Tilly argues that war forces rulers to negotiate w/ their people: We need your men, your food, your money to fight

• Internal Security: The ability to maintain order through obedience to laws

• External Security: The capacity to defend against outside threats

Durkheim’s Division of Labor

• Mechanical solidarity

• Organic Solidarity

• National Consciousness

• Social Integration

Mechanical solidarity

Small rural societies where people share similar jobs, religion, + language

Organic Solidarity

Urban industrial societies where diverse people depend on each other

National Consciousness

Shared experiences led to identification w/ a broader community

Social Integration

State-building required bringing diverse people together

• broadens sense of commonality

national self determination

“We are a people, and we’re not going to give our resources to a king, we’re going to govern ourselves.”

• Radical, fairly recent idea - centralization, urbanization 

• Should not be a distinction between rulers + people

• Instead of us serving rulers, they should serve + represent us 

  • As ‘us’ is broaden, ‘rulers’ are broadened as well + legitimacy hinges on how rulers can benefit ‘us’

Mann’s Critique: The Ownership of the State

• challenges the neat idea that each nation (each people) has (or should have) a bounded state (their own territory)

• The concept that every state should belong to one nation raises a critical question: Who gets to define the nation? What happens to those who don’t count?

• This distinction between types of democracy reveals how national identity can become a tool of exclusion 

• challenges the widely accepted notion that national self determination always leads to positive outcomes

• His work examines how defining ‘the people’ can become exclusionary + potentially dangerous in democratic systems

• At the heart of his argument is a critique of national self determination

Liberal Democracy

• Tolerates diversity but relies on inequality

• The poor might be exploited but they’re still considered part of the people

• Manages difference through legal frameworks

  • Ex: Institutionalized slavery, policies to suppress certain votes

• The people are diverse + difference in tolerated

• Ensures individual equality under law

• Majority still holds power, minority rights unless threatening

Organic Democracy

• The people are defined in cultural, ethnic, religious + racial terms

• Demands unity + sees difference as a threat

• Can’t have anything that disrupts being a unified whole bc corrupting + inherently problematic 

• Anyone different must either assimilate (lose everything that makes you distinct) or be physically eliminated from the territory

  • Very presence as a different other is a threat/seen as a threat to the country

how is nationalism as a principle of political legitimacy in organic democracies inherently linked to mass physical violence?

• Nationalists believe in a national essence - the idea that some people are inherently different from others

• Nationalists believe in their right to a state that will express this essence

• Nationalists believe in their right to exclude “others” w/ different essences who could “weaken” the nation

• What do you do when you have different ‘nations’ living in one territory coupled w/ the idea that territory should only be for one people? 

• Mann argues organic democracy leads us to ‘the dark side’ + violence

America’s Ongoing Identity Struggle

• US continues to wrestle w/ questions of national identity

• The Revolutionary War was about who should rule, the Civil War was about who should belong

• Confederacy seceded to preserve slavery, while the Union fought not just to preserve the country but also for the inclusion of Black Americans into “We the People”

• Same question drives contemporary American politics: Who counts as American? Who gets to claim the nation?

  • 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally w/ chants of “You will not replace us,” revealed an ongoing battle over who America belongs to 

The Promise + Problem of National Self Determination:

The Fundamental Contradiction

• Democracy claims to represent ‘the people’ but who counts?

• This question reveals democracy’s inherent tension

The Promise + Problem of National Self Determination:

Historical Exclusions: The US

• The constitution begins w/ “We the People” + was founded on the promise of govt “by the people for the people” but who counted as people?

• In 1789 only 6% of people living in the US could vote

The Promise + Problem of National Self Determination:

Ongoing Conflicts

• The Civil War, Jim Crow, + rise of the KKK

• anti-Asian violence + Chinese exclusion act

• post WWII race riots + various labor struggles

• Japanese internment + Supreme court rulings that people of Japanese heritage + Asian Indians are ineligible to become naturalized citizens

• the Civil Rights Movement + backlash

• Suffragist + feminist movements + their backlash

• The Red Scare

• Second Klan

• Today’s far right movements, including chants like “you will not replace us” + attacks on DEI etc

why is defining who the people is, necessary + sometimes dangerous?

When the people are given the right to rule - a ruler is legitimate only if they represent us, our people, our values - why would we give money resources manpower to a foreign king - must make sure our ruler represents us so defining who is the people is necessary + sometimes dangerous 

The Escalating Logic of Exclusion

• Induced assimilation - pressuring minorities to adopt majority culture

• Induced migration - creating conditions that encourage unwanted groups to leave

• Coerced assimilation - forcibly suppressing minority identities through law

• Coerced emigration - systematic harassment driving targeted groups out

• Deportation - physically removing groups from national territory

• Murderous cleansing + genocide

The Escalating Logic of Exclusion

Contemporary Case: India

Hindu Nationalism Rises:

• Modi government (BJP) promotes Hindutva ideology defining India as Hindu nation

CAA Passed 2019:

• Citizenship Amendment Act creates path for persecuted religious minorities from neighboring countries but non-Muslim only

NRC Implementation:

• National Register of Citizens leaves 2mil at risk of statelessness 

• many people especially Muslims unable to prove Indian ancestry due to poverty + lack of formal records

National Protests Erupt:

• Indians protest fundamental redefinition of Indian national identity + citizenship in explicitly religious terms - from a secular, pluralist state to a Hindu nation

The Escalating Logic of Exclusion

Contemporary Case: Hungary

Ethno-Nationalism Under Orban:

• Hungarian identity defined in ethnic + Christian terms 

• Other social groups (Jews, Roma, LGBTQ+) marginalized 

Anti-Muslim, Anti-Migrant:

• Border walls constructed

• Refugees demonized as threats to Hungarian culture, identity, + “Christian civilization”

Constitutional Transformation:

• Legal changes enshrine ethnic definition of Hungarian nation as Christian nation

• “We do not want our own color, traditions, and national culture to be mixed with those of others” (Orban 2018)

Institutional Suppression:

• Independent press, courts, + minority institutions face increasing pressure

 The Scramble for Africa

European powers divided sub-Saharan Africa without regard for existing cultural, linguistic, religious, ethnic, or political boundaries

 The Scramble for Africa results

• Ongoing tensions

• Ongoing civil conflicts

• Ongoing struggles of who belongs where

 is the Scramble for Africa conflict unique to Africa?

• No

• Colonial borders forced boundaries upon territories without those territories + their (conflicting rulers determining them through war + state making processes identified by Tilly

• The result: still sorting them out now, but, more often, within territories rather than between them

H1: Change in War Motives 1816-2001 Graph

• Traditionally, political legitimacy came from tradition - rule by dynasty/monarch OR charisma - special relationship w/ God

• Early wars about conquest - inter-state wars 1800-1880

• Then country vs country 

• Now overwhelmingly, vast majority of wars are ethnic nationalist civil wars

  • Who gets to claim the country as their own?

What Comes After the Nation State

More Breakaway States:

• Continued fragmentation along ethno-national lines

Pluralist Government:

• Post national structures embracing diversity + pluralism

Institutionalized Inequality:

• Formalized hierarchies/mass violence 

• Some populations’ votes count 100% - other populations’ votes count 66% etc etc

Reminder: Many existing democracies were built on exclusion + violence

what does Mann’s Dark Side of Democracy remind us?

democracy isn’t just about elections, etc, it is about who counts as the people

• As long as these definitions exist + people can be excluded, democracy can lead not to freedom but to violence 

UN Genocide Convention: Limitations

Legal Definition (1948):

• Requires specific intent to destroy social groups

Protected Categories:

• Racial, ethnic, religious, national groups only

Critical Gap:

• Excludes political + class based violence

• Cases not covered include Chinese Cultural Revolution, Soviet Collectivization, Cambodia, etc

Critical Challenge:

• Intent is often hard to prove, especially since most (but not all) genocides also happen during war 

• Laws of war so complex - makes it easy to target civilians if can identify those civilians w/ the enemy - not targeting civilians but the enemy 

Tilly - Protection rackets

smooth organized crime

Tilly War risking + state making = ?

legitimate protection rackets = largest example of organized crime

Tilly - Double edged protection

• Producing danger + providing protection against it = racketeer

• Governments provide protection from local + external violence

  • Threats protected against are imaginary/consequences of govs actions

  • Govts simulate, stimulate, + fabricate threats

• Racketeers operate w/out govt

according to Tilly, does the difference between illegitimate + legitimate force matter?

No bc can justify + legitimize anything

Tilly - General argument

• “ Power holders' pursuit of war involved them willy-nilly in the extraction of resources for war making from the populations over which they had control and in the promotion of capital accumulation by those who could help them borrow and buy”

  • Power holder’s pursuit of war meant they had to extract resources for war from populations they controlled + whatever else

War making, extraction, + capital accumulation = ?

 European state making

• Warred not w/ intent to make states but to check/overcome competitors + enjoy power w/in territories

• More capital = more effective war

  • Get capital short run: conquest, selling assets, coercing/stealing from others

  • Get capital long run: need regular access to capitalists who could give/arrange credit 

    • + taxes = capital

Intertwined Development

Race + national identity evolved together

The People Problem

• Mann identifies a fundamental tension: The shift from political community to “a people” raises questions about who belongs 

• Who is “the people”?

• What happens to those outside that imagined group?

Beyond Physical Harm

Ideas themselves can be violent 

Justifying Domination

Racial categories have historically been developed to justify systems of oppression + determine who deserves rights + recognition

MENA Category in US Census

Acknowledges the unique needs of Middle Eastern/North African communities, enabling more accurate representation + better targeted healthcare, education, + civil rights enforcement, thereby reflecting the growing complexity of American racial + ethnic identity, but it comes w/ risks as well

Historical Context:

• Historically, individuals of Middle Eastern/North African descent have been classified as “white”

Recent Developments:

• In March 2024 the US approved a distinct Middle Eastern/North African category for federal data collection

2030 Implementation:

• This change will be implemented in the 2030 Census + 2027 American Community Survey

Racialization

The process of assigning social meaning to physical differences by grouping people together based on the stories we tell about what those differences signify

Race

A symbolic category based on phenotype/ancestry + constructed according to specific social + historical contexts that is misrecognized as a natural category

Symbols

• created by people to organize + understand their world 

• Ex: Native American, immigrant

Phenotype

Observable physical characteristics like skin tone, hair texture, + facial features form the basis of racial categorization in the US

Ancestry

Lineage + heritage play crucial roles in racial classification here + elsewhere

• Often but not always includes tribal, regional, religious, linguistic, or ethnic affiliations

Naturalization of Race

We misrecognize race as biological fact rather than a human creation. This naturalization makes racial hierarchies appear inevitable rather than constructed

• Symbolic power: The ability to define reality 

• Symbolic violence = embedding ideas so deeply they seem natural

• Political struggle centers on controlling classification 

  • Racial categories are naturalized to legitimate exclusion + domination 

  • People are easily seen as inferior when they are already oppressed

The Second Klan

Time Period: 1910s-1920s

Definition of ‘American’: White, protestant, native-born

Methods: Physical violence but also storytelling + symbols

Peek Membership: ~4-5mil

Political Influence: Elected officials at all levels

Combined physical violence w/ powerful storytelling 

• Redefined Americanness to exclude Catholics, Jews, immigrants, + non-whites

Race as a Well Founded Fiction:

Fictional Origin: Race has no biological reality

• Story we tell about human differences

Stubborn Persistence: The fiction of race endures bc it serves powerful social, political, + economic functions 

Real Consequences: Despite its fictional basis, race profoundly shapes lives + opportunities

Human Construction: We must remember that what humans make, humans can unmake

• “If the Quell was written in law by man, surely it can be unwritten” -Beetee, Catching Fire

Hope in Symbolic Power

“To change the world, one has to change the ways of world-making. That is, the vision of the world + the practical operations by which groups are produced + reproduced”

• Bordieu’s insight suggests a path forward

  • If race is made through storytelling + classification, new stories can reshape our reality

• The power to define categories can be redirected toward more inclusive visions of community + belonging