NAME- AKASH. R.

HOGADE
ENROLLMENT NO – 2021 005
SUBJECT- Political Science- End Semester

Q.1 Discuss the ‘crisis of legitimacy ‘in capitalist societies (Habermas)

Ans. Legitimacy means the power or the authority perfectly mixed with the people’s
consent. Power reflects consent of the government. Legitimacy is very important for any
state authority to rule as it enables the state to govern it gives authorities to impose rules and
regulations on the masses. The state is legitimate when the masses won't protest against the
government, if there are any protest against the government the authority is proven to be
illegitimate. The state will seldom need to employ force as long as its legitimacy is
recognised. The legitimacy of the state, on the other hand, is jeopardised if it is openly
questioned. If the people feel the military is illegitimate, the police are brutal, and the courts
are biased, the dictatorship is doomed. Despite massive opposition, it may be able to carry out
its directives, but it lacks legal power.
According to Rosseau " even the strongest man is not strong enough”, he said that power
is not only good parameter to get the rule of any authority a legitimate power and a legitimate
authority is all needed to govern the state it in a proper manner.
Legitimacy can be gained in different ways to have a proper rule the authority should have a
legitimate rule and to gain that there are different factors demonstrating legitimacy like
system of rights, freedom of press, compulsory voting, judicial independence, free and fair
elections, social welfare schemes.
Legitimacy crisis mean when the authority is not able to rule in a structured manner. A
legitimacy crisis is a theory given by Habermas, he says that welfare state is only a
temporary solution and it is inevitable that the welfare state cannot be held intact. The welfare
state with a utopian rule is bound to face crisis in future, crisis in the form of protests by civil
societies in the west, civil riots, mass disapproval of the policies made by the authority etc.
The crisis of any authority is varied in nature, the state is not able to fulfil the needs of the
masses the state supports privatization of every public sector, the state imposes heavy
taxation. The events leading to this crisis is when the state fulfils the main social objective of
progressive taxation it privatises the industries, it introduces the social program and the
funding of this huge program is from the taxes paid by the masses and this leads to the crack
in legitimacy of the government. This is how Habermas devised a theory where he predicted
and analysed the future prospects of Legitimacy crisis of the government.

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Q.2 Discuss the relationship between base and superstructure in Marxist theory.
Ans. Marxist theory explains two important structures known as base structure and
superstructure, it explains that base structure as the economic foundation of any society, a
base structure is all about the mode of production of a country or a society as a whole. The
theory explains the superstructure as the political, the legal, the religious and the various
other structures of the societies. The theory devices direct proportional relationship
between the base structure and the Super structure of the society. It tells that if the base
structure is having any cracks or is faltering then it directly impacts negatively on the
superstructure of the society.
The phrases "base" and "superstructure" were used by Karl Marx, one of sociology's
forefathers, to express two related theoretical notions. The productive forces, or materials and
resources, that create the things that society requires are referred to as the foundation. All
other features of civilisation are referred to as "superstructure." The culture, ideas,
conventions, and identities that people occupy make up society's superstructure. It also refers
to social institutions, political structures, and the state—or the ruling machinery of a society.
According to Marx, the superstructure emerges from the base and reflects the interests of the
ruling class. As a result, the superstructure explains the base's operations and defends the
elite's control. Neither the foundation nor the superstructure is natural or static. They're both
social inventions, or the result of people's continually changing social relationships.
The mode of production was Marx and Engels' 'foundation,' and the ‘state' was a part of the
‘superstructure.' As a result, the state was hardly deserving of inspection from a third party.
Furthermore, the capitalist state was based on a struggle between the bourgeoisie (the owners
of the means of production, the ruling class) and the proletariat (the working class) (the
landless workers who formed the dependent class). Because there could be no such thing as
the "common good" in a capitalist society, the state could not represent it. In the tradition of
Marxist theory, there are two layers of superstructure: (a) political society, which represented
state authority and exercised dominance via force; and (b) civil society, which was closer to
the base and exercised dominance by consent.
Marx also argued that no single class could rule both structures under Bonapartism. As a
result, the state cannot be ruled by a single state. The equilibrium-maker will be one class,
and it will be up to the state to pick who it wants to partner with in order to win power. The
one class that works with the state will have the most power over the structures.
Marx was a firm believer in historical materialism and the causal link between the base and
the superstructure. Marx reframed the link between base and superstructure as dialectical as
his theory became more complicated, implying that each influences the other. As a result, if
the base changes, so does the superstructure, and vice versa. Marx predicted that the
working class would ultimately rebel, believing that once they recognised how they were
exploited for the benefit of the ruling class, they would decide to alter things. This would
result in a substantial shift in the base. The way commodities are made and under what
conditions they are made would change.

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Q.3 Discuss the key features of pre-Marxist socialist theory.
Ans. The concept of a socialist society is as old as the concept of class society. Socialism is a
working-class philosophy. It's termed meta-ideology since it comes in a variety of country-
and person-specific variants. Socialism existed long before Capitalism, but it arose as a
response to Capitalism as a political doctrine. Socialism and capitalism both share the advent
of industry, science, and modernity as tools for achieving human development, but it is
opposed to the social and economic structure built by capitalism in the process. Socialism
holds that a more just and equitable society is not only possible, but also desirable.
Many socialists proposed social control over public property before Karl Marx published
writings on workers' rights. They advocated this policy because they were outraged by how
employees were treated throughout the industrial revolution. They were dubbed utopian
socialists to distinguish themselves from Karl Marx since, unlike Marx, they could not
provide any substantial arguments regarding the viability of Socialism. Utopian Socialists in
England, such as Robert Owen, and in France, Charles Fourier and Henri de Saint-Simon,
had already sown the seeds of Socialism. They felt that poverty was at the root of all social
problems, and that private property was the primary source of poverty. They symbolised a
societal regeneration as well as a reduction in current inequalities. They thought that by
appealing to the reason and feeling of justice of influential members of the community, they
would be able to achieve the necessary changes. Utopian Socialism challenges the
mainstream economic concept of rational choice — the belief that individuals try to
maximise their own advantage. Individuals will put their own interests aside in utopian
Socialism to consider the greater good.
Features of Utopian Socialism
1. They felt that Socialism could be achieved via willpower; this was a huge
miscalculation. These socialists imagined a paradise in which racially homogenous
tribes lived in peace, harmony, and collaboration. Utopian socialists advocated for
ethical perspectives over scientific or even economic ones.
2. Although Utopian Socialist philosophers portrayed their work as articulating a really
objective grasp of the laws of human nature and industrial society, they also seemed
to assume a religious tone. Because these laws of human nature were also the laws of
God, their utopian science became an articulation of true religion. As a consequence,
they were able to merge science and religion, prophecy and sociology.
3. Appeal to the Capitalist's conscience and reason: St Simon believed that socialist
communities should be established, and that all society actors, including capitalists,
should be made participants in this activity. Utopian Socialists thought that a perfect
society could be achieved without a revolution, and that a utopia could be achieved
without violence.
4. The Socialism Scale: While Robert Owen did not advocate for societal
transformation, he did advocate for increasing worker participation in workplace
decision-making and making them the only beneficiaries in the end. This mental
process was dubbed the "new harmony experiment" by him.

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 5. There is no correction, only criticism: Before Marx, socialists couldn't do much
more than contrast what is with what should be since the material circumstances for
realising their theories didn't exist.
The Utopian scholars were chastised by subsequent socialists such as Engels and Marx. St.
Simon was criticised by Marx of being a bourgeois thinker. Marx believed that the concept
of socialism was insufficient. It's impossible to simply replace what is with what should be.
One had to demonstrate how it might be changed into the other using the materials available.
Engels believed that the division of society into exploiting and exploited classes was a natural
result of earlier periods of weak and constrained productive development. The earlier
envisioned Socialistic society can be realised in actuality, thanks to new scientific procedures
that will increase production.

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