Politics & Social Movements – Comprehensive Study Notes lecture

Politics: Core Definitions

  • Politics (text, p. 348): “The process by which individuals and groups act to promote their interests, often in conflict with others.”
    • Also an arena where interests & values are discussed, debated, transformed.
  • Power (text, p. 348)
    • “The ability of a person or group to achieve their objectives, even when opposed.”
    • Reflects how resources both constrain and enable action.
    • Includes the capacity to shape others’ values & beliefs.
  • Authority: Power exercised without using—or threatening—physical force.
    • 3 classic Weberian types and 1 contemporary addition (see next section).

Four Sources of Authority

  • 1) Traditional Authority
    • Obedience because “that’s the way it’s always been.”
    • Chiefs, elders, priests, a patriarch in patriarchal society.
    • Heightened when believed to derive from a sacred source.
  • 2) Charismatic Authority
    • Followers believe an individual has exceptional, almost super-human qualities.
    • Able to “solve problems” beyond ordinary people.
    • Examples: Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, Oprah Winfrey.
  • 3) Rational-Legal Authority
    • Legitimated by formally established rules, procedures, expertise.
    • Characteristic of bureaucracies: the higher in the chain, the more authority.
    • Examples: CEO, economist, electrician, medical doctor, movie critic.
  • 4) Assertive Authority (added)
    • People who sound confident in groups are often believed or followed.
    • Expert political or economic “predictions” are only marginally better than chance, yet are influential because of assertive delivery.

“Everything Is Political” – Three Lessons

  • Lesson 1: Claiming to be “apolitical” = letting others think & decide for you (Rebecca Solnit quote).
    • Echoed by J. M. Keynes: “Practical men … are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”
  • Lesson 2: Most people do politics daily—often unconsciously.
    • We practice micropolitics through personal resource investments:
    • Financial capital (\$).
    • Social capital (networks, trust).
    • Cultural capital (skills, credentials, taste).
  • Lesson 3: “The personal is political.”
    • Modern activism (BLM, feminism, LGBTQ+, abortion rights, anti-racism) situates private experiences inside larger power structures.

How Government Shapes Daily Life

  • Higher Education
    • Tuition with funding: \$10{,}000.
    • Tuition without funding: \$30{,}000.
  • Private Transportation
    • Level of infrastructure, cost of fuel, and road safety vary by public spending.
  • Public Transportation
    • Frequency, coverage, & fares directly tied to subsidies.
  • Environment
    • Air quality with regulation versus without.
  • Social Mobility
    • Upward mobility is higher where governments invest in education, healthcare, unemployment insurance, social welfare, and small-business development.
    • Trade-off: higher progressive taxes on wealthier citizens.
  • Innovation
    • Mariana Mazzucato: Government is an “investor, risk-taker, innovator” (e.g., Internet, GPS, mRNA vaccines).

Is Politics Dead? The Debate

  • Pessimistic Theses
    • Consumerism as distraction:
    • “Enlightenment as Mass Deception” – Horkheimer & Adorno.
    • “Society of the Spectacle” – Guy Debord.
    • “Opium of the Masses” – Marx.
    • “End of History” – Francis Fukuyama (1992).
    • Structural roadblocks to civic engagement (Dave Meslin TED Talk).
  • Events that Revived Politics
    • 2001 terror attacks (clash-of-civilizations narrative).
    • 2008 global financial crisis (state rescued markets).
    • 2020/21 COVID-19 pandemic (state-led response & recovery).
    • Climate change → global “Build Back Better” agendas.
  • Proof of Life
    • BLM (2020), Me Too (2020), Idle No More (2012-), Anti-Lockdown protests (2021), U.S. Capitol storming (2021).

Nations, States, and Nation-States

  • State (Weber 1922): “A human community that claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.”
    • Requires resident acceptance and rule-of-law.
    • Operational definition: institutions & procedures that create, administer, enforce rules (elections, courts, police, military, bureaucracy).
  • Nation
    • A cultural / imagined community (Benedict Anderson).
    • Constructed via media; can marginalise certain groups.
  • Nation-State
    • Modern idea where nation justifies the state, and the state protects the nation.
    • Some nations lack states (Palestinians, Québécois).
  • Contemporary Tensions
    • Immigration and global media challenge tight nation–state linkage (e.g., “Coca-colonization”).
  • Historical Cost of Nationalism
    • WWII deaths: 60{-}78\text{ million}.
    • Financial cost: \$11\text{ trillion}.

Social Movements

  • Definition: Large, informal groupings aiming to advance, resist, or undo socio-economic-political-cultural change.
    • Located in civil society.
    • Exert pressure on state & market; increasingly create policy & provide services themselves.
  • Old Social Movements (OSM)
    • Rooted in economic deprivation.
    • Examples: Cuban Revolution (1953-59), labour movement.
    • Goal: overthrow or drastically alter state/corporate power.
  • New Social Movements (NSM)
    • Rooted in identity, culture, non-economic grievances.
    • Examples: LGBTQ+, women’s, minority, peace, environmental movements.
    • Goal: transform governmentality—how power shapes behaviour through beliefs, habits, laws.
    • Strategy: accumulate social, cultural, and financial capital rather than seize the state.

Perspectives on Democracy

  • Liberal-Pluralism (L-P)
    • Free & fair elections = adequate representation.
    • Policy serves majority interest.
  • Critiques of L-P
    • Tyranny of the majority.
    • Marxist: state captured by capitalist class.
    • Neo-Marxist: structure, not direct control; ideology of individualism masks collective problems.
    • Feminist & Ethnocentric critiques: overlooks gendered & racialised power.

Contemporary Political Labels (Canada-centric examples)

  • Conservative / Neoliberal (Conservative Party)
    • Status-quo democracy; small government, low taxes; markets allocate resources.
  • Liberal / Social-Democratic (NDP)
    • Acknowledge elite capture; sceptical of unregulated markets; favour redistributive social programs.
  • Socialist (Marxist-Leninist Party)
    • Large state owns most of economy; nominal democracy often becomes authoritarian; limited real-world examples (North Korea, Cuba).
  • New Socialist (emergent)
    • Radical decentralisation: community groups hold power, coordinate with weaker regional/federal states.
    • Pragmatic use/regulation of markets.
    • Seen in Brazil, Venezuela, evolving in Cuba; linked to participatory democracy & community development.

Key Illustrations & Miscellaneous Examples

  • Misattributed “revolutionary” quote: Actually about Ottawa Senators hockey officiating—demonstrates how context reshapes meaning.
  • “Learn to Fly – Rockin’ 1000” video: 1000 musicians in Cesena convinced Foo Fighters to perform → harmless pastime vs. mobilising power of collective action.
  • Slogan wall (page 1): “Black Lives Matter,” “No Justice No Peace,” “Respect Existence,” etc.—visual reminder of multi-issue activism.
  • Road-blocks to participation: Complexity, cynicism, elitism, media spectacle—yet social movements persist.

Ethical & Practical Takeaways

  • Opting-out is itself a political stance that sustains current power.
  • Democratic legitimacy is contingent, not guaranteed; authority must be continually scrutinised.
  • Effective citizenship requires understanding power structures and engaging through voting, advocacy, community action.
  • Social change operates on multiple scales:
    • Macro (state policy, global crises).
    • Meso (social movements, civil society).
    • Micro (daily choices, micropolitics of capital).