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Chapter 1 Overview
• Sociological imagination and power
• A key concept of political sociology: power
• New and old theoretical frameworks

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What Is the Sociological Imagination?
• A quality of mind for people to use
information to develop reason to make
connections between what is going on in the
world and what is happening to themselves.

• TROUBLE & ISSUE

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What Is the Sociological Imagination?
(Cont’d)
• The ability to understand that…
– things that are largely outside our control affect
our everyday lives in ways that are sometimes not
immediately apparent.
• The ability to accurately analyze how…
– our personal biographies are a function of social
history.

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TROUBLE & ISSUE 2018

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 Politics and Power
• Politics – “the generalized process by which
the struggle over power in society is
resolved.”
• Power – “individual, group, or structural
capacity to achieve intended effects as a
result of force, influence, or authority.”

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 Early Roots of Power: Karl Marx and
Max Weber
• Karl Marx
– Power is intimately connected with economic structures
and is manifest in economic structures such as capitalist,
owners of capital, and corporations.
• Max Weber
– Power is connected to both economic and noneconomic
structures and is manifest in everyday social spaces and
social institutions such as modern bureaucracies, religion,
and political parties.

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 Political Sociology
• Focuses on any social phenomenon that deals
with the state and institutions, power, conflict
and competition among stakeholders, and
political associations.
• This differs from political science’s focus on
the state and its many different
manifestations

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 Metaphors and Paradox
• Metaphors are analytical tools that offer both a way
of seeing and thinking about complex issues in a
simplified manner (e.g., car as society, power as
obligation or duty, or the state as a parent).
• A paradox is a tool that highlights contradictions and
uncovers patterns of social behavior (e.g., promise of
equality for all American citizens or every vote
counts).

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 Types of Power
• Coercive and dominant power involves one
party’s control of valuable resources that in
turn forces another party into submission
(e.g., authoritarian and totalitarian
dictatorships or sheer military might).

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 Types of Power (Cont’d)
• Authority and legitimate power surfaces and is
maintained through a group or individual’s
adherence to a sense of duty and obligation to
law, tradition, or custom.
• Three types of authority:
– Charismatic
– Traditional
– Rational-legal

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 Types of Power (Cont’d)
• Interdependent power sees power as a
reciprocating relationship. Power is not only
held by those with the most resources, but
also by those who are embedded in the social
system and who, without their cooperation
with authority and submission to coercive
power, would lead to potential system
collapse.

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 Theory
• To see
• Theatre

• Under/stand

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 Classical Theoretical Frameworks: The Pluralist
Approach
• The pluralist perspective
• The elite/managerial perspective
• The social class perspective
• The rational choice perspective
• The political cultural perspective
• The institutionalist perspective
• The postmodern perspective

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 Classical Theoretical Frameworks: The Pluralist
Approach
• The pluralist approach suggests power is:
– distributed widely throughout society;
– not centralized;
– fragmented and housed in a broad area of “power
centers” found within society (e.g., interest
groups, voters, voluntary associations, political
parties); and
– delegated through the political process and
changes hands regularly.

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Classical Theoretical Frameworks: The Pluralist
Approach (Cont’d)
• Early accounts of the pluralist approach –
Alexis de Tocqueville claimed democracy in
the United States was held together by the
country’s unique arrangement and reliance on
many diverse and often competing private
voluntary civic and trade associations.

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 Classical Theoretical Frameworks: The Pluralist
Approach (Cont’d)
• Later accounts of the pluralist approach –
Robert Dahl suggested American cities
exemplified the pluralist ideal because they
have various groups and coalitions competing
for elected representation and joining forces
with one another to realize victory on local
issues of concern.

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The Pluralist Metaphor of Power

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 Classical Theoretical Frameworks: The
Elite/Managerial Perspective
• The elite/managerial perspective suggests
power is:
– consolidated in society among the elite;
– connected with the control and distribution of
valuable resources as dominated by elite power
centers (e.g., social groups, social networks, and
organizations).

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 Classical Theoretical Frameworks: The
Elite/Managerial Perspective (Cont’d)
• Traditional elite perspectives – concerned
with the use of bureaucratic organizations to
control and distribute valuable resources.
• Early contributors to the elite/managerial
perspective included Max Weber, Vilfredo
Pareto, Gaetano Mosca, and Robert Michels.

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 Classical Theoretical Frameworks: The
Elite/Managerial Perspective (Cont’d)
• Weber – complex organizations and
bureaucracies are at the center of elite rule in
modern society.
• Pareto – power is exercised through the use
of force by large social institutions (e.g.,
military) as well as fraud (e.g., education).
• Lions&Fox-Force&Fraud

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 Classical Theoretical Frameworks: The
Elite/Managerial Perspective (Cont’d)
• Mosca – examined the role specific elites
played at the apex of power and how these
individuals relied on their areas of expertise to
shape society. Expertise
• Michels – elite take control of and drive the
direction of powerful organizations and
groups. Iron law of oligarchy

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 Classical Theoretical Frameworks: The
Elite/Managerial Perspective (Cont’d)
• C. Wright Mills – work largely has contributed to
contemporary elite/managerial perspectives.
• “Power elite” – interlocking elite rule among
politicians, military leaders, and corporate
executives.
• Areas of research include role of the social upper
class, the corporate community, financing of
electoral politics, and policy groups.

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The Elite/Managerial Metaphor
of Power

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 Classical Theoretical Frameworks: Class
Perspectives
• The social class perspective views power as:
– concentrated in the hands of the few;
– defined by the economic interests (i.e., capital,
labor, markets, raw materials);
– founded in the control and distribution of
resources based on social class, specifically the
capitalist class.

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 Classical Theoretical Frameworks: Class
Perspectives (Cont’d)
• Marx – economic structures and the relations
to the means of production (i.e., establishing
and meeting basic human needs, submission
to authority, and ownership of means of
production) shape society.
• The economy is the “substructure” of society.
• Oppression and elite domination.

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 Classical Theoretical Frameworks: Class
Perspectives (Cont’d)
• “Superstructures” (e.g., religion and politics)
emerge from substructure and perpetuate
system of working-class oppression and elite
domination.
• Weber – saw the importance of social class
and the control of economic resources (or
class) as a crucial part of class dominance.

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 Classical Theoretical Frameworks: Class
Perspectives (Cont’d)
• Weber also observed the importance of status (i.e.,
education, leisure activities, occupation) and party
(i.e., political power founded in groups and
associations around common interests).
• Many times class, status, and party work in tandem,
where those of the economic upper class tend to
hold high social esteem and control important power
centers.

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 Classical Theoretical Frameworks: Class
Perspectives (Cont’d)
• Class conflict and political structures –
research in this area tends to view class
dominance resulting from the ruling class
preserving power through the state, interest
groups, and policies.

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 Classical Theoretical Frameworks: Class
Perspectives (Cont’d)
• The nature of class consciousness and views
of power – research in this area tends to focus
on the importance of class dominance
through shaping and controlling ideology.

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 Contemporary Theoretical
Frameworks: Rational Choice
• Rational choice approaches examine power in
society as it relates to maximizing benefits
related to specific outcomes.
• The underlying assumption of rational choice
theories is that individuals act by weighing
risk/cost versus reward/benefit of a given
action.

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Contemporary Theoretical Frameworks: Rational
Choice (Cont’d)
• Political cultural approaches examine power
embedded in culture (e.g., values, beliefs, customs,
traditions, symbols, and knowledge).
• Institutionalist approach - views power as
embedded in political and cultural structures and
processes and how these possibly lead to public-
policy outcomes and political movements.

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The Institutionalist’s Metaphor
of Power

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 Contemporary Theoretical
Frameworks: Postmodern
• Postmodern approaches view power as
insidious and hidden (e.g., language, ideas,
and narratives) due to changes in
contemporary society.
• The institutionalist approach
• The postmodern approaches

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 Conclusion
• Power is concentrated.
• Power operates in direct but also indirect
ways.
• Politics is not just about the state but imbues
all social relations.

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 Contents of the Course
• Introduction & Theories/Perspectives
• Power
• Role of the State
• Ibn Khaldun, The Nature of Umran
• Politics, Culture, and Social Processes
• The Politics of Everday Life: Political Economy
• Political Participation
• Elections and Voting
• Social Movements
• Violence and Terrorism
• Globalization
• Understanding the “Arab Spring”.

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