Реферат: Government and Politics

Just as the elite model has been challenged on political and methodological grounds, the pluralist model has been subjected to serious questioning. Domhoff (1978) reexamined Dahl’s study of decision making in New Haven and argued that Dahl and other pluralists had failed to trace how local elites prominent in decision making were part of a larger national ruling class. In addition, studies of community power, such as Dahl’s work in New Haven, can examine decision making only on issues which become pan of the political agenda. This focus fails to address the possible power of elites to keep certain matters entirely out of the realm of government debate. Conflict theorists contend that these elites will not allow any outcome of the political process which threatens their dominance. Indeed, they may even be strong enough to block discussion of such measures by policymakers.

Who Does Rule?

Without question, the pluralist and elite models have little in common. Each describes a dramatically different distribution of power, with sharply contrasting consequences for society. Is there any way that we can reconcile the vast disagreements in these two approaches?

Perhaps we can conclude that, despite their apparent points of incompatibility, each model offers an accurate picture of American political life. Power in various areas rests in the hands of a small number of citizens who are well-insulated from the will of the masses (elite view). Yet there are so many diverse issues and controversies in the nation’s political institutions that few individuals or groups consistently exercise power outside their distinctive spheres of influence (pluralist view). Even presidents of the United States have acknowledged that they felt more comfortable making decisions either in the area of foreign policy (Richard Nixon) or in the area of domestic policy (Lyndon Johnson). Moreover, the post-World War II period has seen increasing power vested in the federal government (elite model). But, even within the federal bureaucracy, there are a staggering number of agencies with differing ideas and interests (pluralist model).

We can end this discussion with the one common point of the elite and pluralist perspectives— power in the American political system is unequally distributed. All citizens may be equal in theory, yet those high in the nation’s power structure are "more equal."

SUMMARY

Each society must have a political system in order to have recognized procedures for the allocation of valued resources—in Harold D. Lasswell’s terms, for deciding who gets what, when, and how. We have examined various types of political authority and forms of government and explores the dimensions of the American political system.

1. Power relations can involve large organizations, small groups, or even individuals in an intimate relationship.

2. There are three basic sources of power within any political system — force, influence, and authority.

3. Max Weber provided ( e of the most useful and frequently cited contributions of early sociology by identifying three ideal types of authority: traditional, legal-rational, and charismatic.

4. The United States, as a society which values the role of law, has legally defined limits on the power of government.

5. In the 1980s, monarchies hold genuine governmental power in only a few nations of the world.

6. Today, oligarchy often takes the form of military rule, although the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China can be described as oligarchies in which power rests in the hands of the ruling Communist party.

7. Political scientists Carl Friedrich and Zbigniew Brzezinski have identified six basic traits that typify totalitarianism: large-scale use of ideology, one-party systems, control of weapons, terror, control of the media, and control of the economy.

8. The United States is commonly classified as a representative democracy, since we elect members of Congress and state legislatures to handle the task of writing our laws.

9. The principal institutions of political socialization m American society arc the family, schools, and media.

10. Only a small minority of Americans actually participate in political organizations or in decision making on a local or national level.

11. Women are becoming more successful at winning election to public office.

12. An interest group a often national in scope and frequently addresses a wide variety of social and political issues.

13. Advocates of the elite model of the American power structure see the nation as being ruled by a small group of individuals who share common political and economic interests, whereas advocates of a pluralist model believe that power is more widely shared among conflicting groups.

14. Television is having a growing impact on American political campaigns.

KEY TERMS

Authority Power that has been institutionalized and is recognized by the people over whom it is exercised.

Charismatic authority Max Weber’s term for power made legitimate by a leader’s exceptional personal or emotional appeal to his or her followers.

Democracy In a literal sense, government by the people.

Dictatorship A government in which one person has nearly total power to make and enforce laws.

Dictatorship of the proletariat Marx’s term for the temporary rule by the working class during a stage between the successful proletarian revolution and the establishment of a classless communist society.

Elite model A view of society as ruled by a small group of individuals who share a common set of political and economic interests.

Force The actual or threatened use of coercion to impose one’s will on others.

Influence The exercise of power through a process of persuasion.

Interest group A voluntary association of citizens who attempt to influence public policy.

Legal-rational authority Max Weber’s term for power made legitimate by law.