Soc 2100: Classical Sociological Theory - Lecture Notes PDF

SOC 2100: CLASSICAL Tuesday December 3, 2024 Class Twelve SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY Lecturer: Dr J Thomas RECAP Suicide (Durkheim) Weber’s life The Ideal Type Defining power Class and status Class, Status and Party Class Divisions Consequences of high correlation (class, statu...

SOC 2100: CLASSICAL Tuesday December 3, 2024 Class Twelve SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY Lecturer: Dr J Thomas RECAP Suicide (Durkheim) Weber’s life The Ideal Type Defining power Class and status Class, Status and Party Class Divisions Consequences of high correlation (class, status and party) OVERVIEW Power Rational legal authority Characteristics of rational legal authority The bureaucracy and politics Traditional authority Charismatic authority Weber on conflict The movement towards revolution POWER IN SOCIETY POWER AND ACTION The struggle for power is continuous in all societies. Parties act strategically through military force, co-optation, patronage, political alliances and many other tactics to maintain power. As tensions mount in a society, charismatic leaders may emerge and then change the system. If the leaders are successful then they may set up traditional domination – or they can institute a rational-legal system. POWER AND THE LAW Political parties are the way in which groups struggle for power in rational legal societies. They attempt to get their way through the law – to direct the bureaucracy through that law. ‘The political process in Western societies, then, reflects basic cultural values: economic and social success are to be achieved through competition under the rule of law, and the process is rational in the sense of being pursued in a methodical manner’ (Turner et al., 2007, p. 185). RATIONAL LEGAL AUTHORITY RATIONAL LEGAL AUTHORITY Rational Legal authority – emphasizes rationally purposeful action. ‘The authority of individuals derives from the fact that they are officials with clearly defined rights and duties who uphold and implement rules and procedures impersonally. Perhaps the best example of rational-legal authority is bureaucratic authority. RATIONAL LEGAL AUTHORITY Bureaucratic officials are organized according to a carefully defined hierarchy; they implement written rules and record their decisions; furthermore their authority stems not from their personal qualities but from their offices’ (Ashley & Orenstein, 2001, p. 235) RATIONAL LEGAL AUTHORITY This is based on law. Procedure is important. Laws are legitimate if they are created and enforced in the correct manner. Leaders are legitimate if they obtain office in the correct fashion. The administrative apparatus is the bureaucracy. Its purpose was to create and enforce rules in the public interest. CHARACTERISTICS OF RATIONAL LEGAL AUTHORITY 1. People obtain positions based on knowledge and experience. 2. Obedience is owed to rules uniformly applicable to all. 3. Personal and official affairs are kept separate. 4. Lines of authority are explicit. 5. Task specialization is great. CHARACTERISTICS OF RATIONAL LEGAL AUTHORITY Ritzer (2010, p. 40) has the following: 1. A series of official functions become offices in which the behavior of those who occupy those positions is bound by rules. 2. Each office has a specified sphere of competence. CHARACTERISTICS OF RATIONAL LEGAL AUTHORITY 3. Each office has obligations to perform specific functions, the authority to carry them out, and the means of compulsion to get the job done. 4. The offices are organized into a hierarchical system. CHARACTERISTICS OF RATIONAL LEGAL AUTHORITY 5. People need technical training in order to meet the technical qualifications for each office. 6. Those who occupy these positions are given the things they need to do the job; they do not own them. CHARACTERISTICS OF RATIONAL LEGAL AUTHORITY 7. The position is part of the organization and cannot be appropriated by an incumbent. 8. Much of what goes on in the bureaucracy (acts, decisions, rules) is in writing. THE BUREAUCRACY AND POLITICS This is ideal, of course. This type of organization is historically new – only in the last few hundred years. There is also a source of conflict within this system – who is to make laws and who is to administer them? THE BUREAUCRACY AND POLITICS Political parties are the forms through which persons fight for power. A political party fights for the economic interests or values of the group it represents – under the guidance of statutory regulation. Generally, the fight is for control of the bureaucracy (Turner et al., 2007, pp. 184- 185). THE BUREAUCRACY AND POLITICS There is of course a negative side to bureaucracy. BUREAUCRACY: NEGATIVE ASPECTS It has difficulty dealing with individual cases. It also transforms humans into parts of a ‘machine’. BUREAUCRACY: WEBER AND MARX Weber’s views on this are similar to Marx’s. However, unlike Marx Weber did not see a future where human beings could escape from this process. TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY ‘Traditional authority, on the other hand, is legitimated by individuals’ acquiescence in a system of political rule that has become habitual or customary. Typically, traditional authority is hereditary, although this is not always the case. CHARACTERISTICS OF PATRIMONIALISM ‘Patriarchalism is a type of traditional domination occurring in households and other small groups where the use of an organizational staff to enforce commands is not necessary. Patrimonialism is a form of traditional domination occurring in larger social structures that require an administrative apparatus to execute edicts’ (Turner et al., 2007, p. 182). CHARACTERISTICS OF PATRIMONIALISM There is normally a set of retainers loyal to the leader. Either the leader has appointed them and also rewards them, or they have pledged loyalty – and the relationship is also a customary one. 1. People obtain positions based on custom and loyalty to the leader. CHARACTERISTICS OF PATRIMONIALISM 2. Officials owe obedience to the leader issuing commands. 3. Personal and official affairs are combined. 4. Lines of authority are vague. 5. Task specialization is minimal. CHARACTERISTICS OF PATRIMONIALISM Decisions are made on the basis of what will benefit officials and the leaders. Officials appropriate the means of production for themselves or are granted them by the leader. A sheriff may both collect taxes and catch criminals. Much is subject to whim – the law does not control what happens. WEAKNESSES OF PATRIMONIALISM Weber argued that it hindered the development of capitalism ‘primarily because rules are not logically established, officials have too wide a range for personal arbitrariness, and they are not technically trained. Modern capitalism requires an emphasis on logic, procedure, and knowledge’ (Turner et al., 2007, p. 183). GROUP DISCUSSION What type of system would you say we have in Guyana’s public service? CHARISMATIC AUTHORITY CHARISMATIC AUTHORITY ‘Such authority results from an individual’s personal appeal. A charismatic leader – who is most likely to emerge during a period of crisis – will appear to have supernatural or superhuman power. The mission of such a leader is very often revolutionary. CHARISMATIC AUTHORITY Because charismatic authority stems from the personal qualities of particular person, however, Weber points out that if the program that this leader has implemented is to be sustained, the leader’s charisma will have to be “routinized” in some form’ (Ashley & Orenstein, 2001, p. 236). WEBER ON CONFLICT WEBER ON CONFLICT There needs to be specific empirical conditions One of these is the emergence of ‘charismatic leaders’ who could mobilize subordinates (therefore systems of inequality could last for a long time). Weber spoke about the transition from societies based on traditional authority to those based on rational-legal authority. MOVEMENT TOWARD REVOLUTION Conditions when the situation might change. 1. Large numbers of people must perceive themselves to be in the same class situation. 2. They must be ecologically concentrated, as in urban areas. MOVEMENT TOWARD REVOLUTION 3. Clearly understood goals must be articulated by an intelligentsia. Here Weber suggested that people had to be shown that the causes and consequences of their class situation resulted from the structure of the political system itself. 4. The opponents must be clearly identified. RECAP Characteristics of rational legal authority The bureaucracy and politics Traditional authority Charismatic authority Weber on conflict The movement towards revolution