Course Reflection Paper----social science
simbasmith
Chapter1PPT1.pptxPower, Society, and Social Science
Chapter 1
Copyright © 2017 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
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Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, students will be able to:
Explain how power is defined.
List the defining characteristics of power.
List the disciplines within the social sciences, and describe how each analyzes power.
Explain what is meant by the interdisciplinary study of social problems.
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The Nature of Power
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Elites and Masses
Power, Legitimacy, and Authority
Sources of Legitimacy
Institutional Power
The Nature of Power
Power is the capacity to affect the conduct of individuals through the real or threatened use of rewards and punishments.
A special form of influence that can rest on various resources
Is never equally distributed; for power to be exercised, the “powerholder” must control some base values
Is a relationship among individuals, groups, and institutions
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ELITES AND MASSES
Elites are the few who have power and control what is valued in society.
Masses are the many who do not, whose lives are shaped by institutions, events and leaders over which they have little control.
The division of society into elites and masses is universal; a few exercise great power, and the many exercise comparatively little.
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POWER, LEGITIMACY and AUTHORITY
Legitimacy: the belief that the exercise of power is “right” or “proper” and that people are morally obligated to submit to it.
Illegitimate governments rely on repression to exercise power.
Authority: power that is exercised legitimately.
Symbols can convey authority and legitimacy.
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Sources of legitimacy
Tradition
Established beliefs in sanctity of authority and moral need to obey leaders
Charisma
Personal heroic qualities of a particular leader
Legality
A commitment to rules that bind both leaders and the people
Rational-Legal Authority
Legitimacy conferred by rules agreed on by both leaders and followers
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Institutional Power
Power is exercised in large institutions
Governments, corporations, schools, the military, churches, newspapers, TV networks, law firms, etc.
Not all power is anchored in or exercised through institutions, but institutional positions provide a continuous and important base of power
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The Context of Power
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Power and Ideology
Power in History
Power and Ideology
Ideology: integrated system of ideas about values in general, and the ideal role of government in particular.
Ideologies rationalize and justify or legitimize power in society.
Classic liberalism: limits the powers of government and asserts the dignity, worth, and freedom of the individual.
Modern liberalism: accepts governmental power as a positive force in freeing people from poverty, ignorance, discrimination, and sickness.
Modern conservatism: urges greater reliance on family, church, and individual initiative and effort.
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Power and Ideology (cont’d)
Libertarianism: emphasizes individual freedom and strong limitations on government.
Fascism: asserts the supremacy of a nation or race over the interests of individuals, groups, and other social institutions.
Marxism: Justifies revolutionary power in overthrowing liberal capitalist systems and the establishment of a “dictatorship of the proletariat.”
Communism: Calls for the evolutionary democratic replacement of the private enterprise system with government ownership of industry.
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History: the recording, narrating, and interpreting of human experience.
Concerned with change over time
The foundations of power vary from age to age; power relationships are constantly changing.
History helps us understand the development of power relationships over time.
Power in History
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Power and the Social Sciences
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Anthropology
Economics
Sociology
Political Science
Psychology
Anthropology
Anthropology: The study of people and their ways of life; it studies all aspects of a society.
Society: A group of people who depend on one another for their well-being and share a common culture.
Archeology uses the study of both the physical and cultural characteristics of peoples and societies that existed in the distant past.
Culture is the ways of life that are common to a society.
Power is part of the culture or the way of life of a people, and is exercised in all societies.
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Political Science
Political Science: The study of government and politics.
Governments possess authority and exercise power over all individuals and institutions.
Governmental power may include legitimate use of physical force.
Political scientists have long been concerned with the dangers of unlimited and unchecked governmental power.
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Economics
Economics: The study of the production and distribution of scarce goods and services.
Economic power is the power to decide:
What will be produced and how much it will cost
How many people will be employed to produce it and what their wages will be
What the price of the good or service will be and what profits will be made
How these profits will be distributed, and how fast the economy will grow
Capitalist societies rely heavily on the market mechanism to make these decisions.
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Psychology
Psychology: The study of the behavior of people and animals.
Examines controversy over “nature vs. nurture.”
Biological psychology: examines the extent to which electrical and chemical events in the brain and nervous system determine behavior.
Behavioral psychology: examines the way in which people and animals learn to respond to stimuli.
Social psychology: studies ways in which social interactions shape an individual’s beliefs, perceptions, motivations, attitudes, and behaviors.
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Psychology (cont’d)
Psychoanalytic (Freudian) Psychology: The study of the impact of subconscious feelings and early childhood experiences on behavior.
Humanistic Psychology: concerned with the human being’s innate potential for growth and development.
Cognitive Psychology: emphasizes how people learn about themselves and their environment.
Personality: consists of all the enduring, organized ways of behavior that characterize an individual.
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Sociology
Sociology: The study of relationships among individuals and groups.
Examines social institutions, social processes, and social problems.
Social Stratification: system of classifying and ranking members of a society by how they make their living and how much power they have over others.
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Social Sciences and Social Problems
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Inequality Based on Race, Ethnicity , Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Disability
Poverty and Powerlessness
Crime and Violence
Globalization
International Conflict
Social Sciences and Social Problems
Social Problems–the major challenges facing society:
Inequality based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability
Poverty and powerlessness
Crime and violence
Increasing globalization
International conflict
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Inequality based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and disability
In some power relationships, there is inequality because of discrimination against individuals because of
Race
Gender
Sexual orientation
Disability
Racial inequality is social problem historically most challenging to U.S.
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Poverty and powerlessness
Poverty can be defined as powerlessness: a sociopsychological condition of hopelessness, indifference, distrust, and cynicism.
“Culture of poverty” a way of life of the poor that is passed on to future generations.
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Crime and Violence
A democratic society must exercise police powers to protect its citizens.
But governmental power must be balanced against individual freedom.
Individual liberty must not be unduly restricted.
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Globalization
Globalization: The development of an increasingly integrated global economy, with sweeping and increasing influence on power distribution.
The trend has broad implications in economic systems, government, culture and beyond.
Shaping both the issues that social scientists examine and the manner in which they examine them.
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International conflict
The struggle for power is global.
Nations have long struggled for power through wars and diplomacy.
Sovereignty: a nation’s authority over internal affairs, freedom from outside intervention, and political and legal recognition by other nations.
Attempts to maintain the balance of power among nations include collective security through the United nations and other alliances.
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International Conflict (cont’d)
Interdisciplinary approach: power is important concept integral to all disciplines and issues in the social sciences:
Inequality, poverty
Crime and violence
Globalization
International conflict
The origins and solutions of social problems involve complex power relationships.
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