Transcript Politics and Economy - Bakersfield College

Chapter 11
Politics and the Economy
Module 47
Power and Authority
• Political system: social institution
responsible for implementing
and achieving society’s goals
– Interacts closely with economic
system: social institution thorough
which goods and services are
produced, distributed, and consumed
– Politics: “who gets what,
when, and how” (Lasswell)
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Power
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Power: ability to exercise one’s will over others
(Weber)
• Sources of power in political systems
– Force: actual or threatened use of coercion to
impose one’s political dissidents
– Influence: exercise of power through process
of persuasion
– Authority: institutionalized power recognized
by the people over whom it is exercised
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Types of Authority
• Three ideal types of authority (Weber)
– Traditional authority: legitimate power conferred by
custom and accepted practice
– Rational-legal authority:
power made legitimate by law
– Charismatic authority: power made legitimate by
leader’s exceptional personal or emotional appeal to
his or her followers
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Types of Government
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Monarchy: Form of government headed
by a single member
of a royal family
Oligarchy: Form of government in which
a few individuals rule
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Types of Government
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Dictatorship and Totalitarianism
– Authoritarianism (Dictatorship):
Government in which one person has nearly
total power to make and enforce laws
– Totalitarianism: Involves virtually complete
government control and surveillance over all
aspects of a society’s social and political life
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Types of Government
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Democracy
– Government by the people
– Representative democracy: Elected
members of legislatures make laws
– Direct democracy: direct participation by all
citizens
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War and Peace
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War: Conflict between organizations that
possess trained combat forces equipped
with deadly weapons
Legal definition typically requires
formal declaration of hostilities
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War
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Global view studies how and why nations
become engaged in military conflict
Nation-state view stresses interaction of internal
political, socioeconomic, and cultural forces
Micro view focuses on social impact of war on
individuals and their groups
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Peace
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Peace: Absence of war and proactive
effort to develop cooperative relations
among nations
– Global Peace Index: U.S. ranked 97 on list of
121 nations
– Since 1990s, 90% of armed conflicts occurred
within states
Module 49
Economic Systems
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Industrial society:
Society that depends
on mechanization
to produce its
goods and services
– Capitalism
– Socialism
The Industrial Revolution
• Brought five changes to the economy
– New sources of energy
– Centralization of work in factories
– Manufacturing and mass production
– Specialization
– Wage labor
• New laws banned child labor, set minimum
wage levels, improved workplace safety, and
extended schooling and political rights to a large
segment of the population
The Information Revolution and
Postindustrial Society
• Postindustrial Economy
– A productive system based on service work and
high technology
• Driving economic change: third technological
breakthrough
– Computer
– Three important changes
• From tangible products to ideas
• From mechanical skills to literacy skills
• From factories to almost anywhere
Sectors of the Economy
• Primary Sector
– The part of the economy that draws raw
materials from the natural environment
• Secondary Sector
– The part of the economy that transforms raw
materials into manufactured goods
• Tertiary Sector
– The part of the economy that involves
services rather than goods
Capitalism
• Four distinctive features:
– Private ownership of the means of
production
– Pursuit of personal profit
– Competition
– Lack of government intervention
(Laissez-faire)
Socialism
• Three distinctive features:
– Public ownership of the means of
production.
– Pursuit of collective goals.
– Centralized decision-making.
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The Informal Economy
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Informal economy: Transfer
of money, goods, or services
is not reported to the government
– Difficult to measure
In developing nations, informal
economy represents 40% to
60% of total economic activity
Conglomerates and Corporate
Linkages
• Conglomerate
– Giant corporations composed of smaller
corporations
– Form as
• Corporations enter new markets
• New companies spin off
• Mergers
• Conglomerates are linked because they own
each other’s stock
• Corporations are linked through
– Interlocking directorates
• Networks of people who serve as
directors of many corporations
• Linkages encourage illegal activity
– Price-fixing
• Companies share information about their
pricing policies
General Motors Board - Interlocking
Directorates
Interlocking Directorates
Interlocking Directorates
Interlocking Directorates
Corporations: Are They
Competitive?
• Monopoly
– The domination of a market by a single producer
– Forbidden by federal law
• Oligopoly
– The domination of a market by a few producers
– Legal and common
• Federal government regulates to protect the public
interest
– Often too little, too late, resulting in harm to
millions
Corporations and the Global
Economy
• Corporations now account for most of the planet’s
economic output
• Biggest are based in U.S., Japan, and Western
Europe
– Their marketplace is the entire world
• Know that poor countries contain most of the world’s
people and resources
– Modernization theory – raises living standards
– Dependency theorists – increase inequality
Module 50
The Changing Face
of the Workforce
• U.S. workforce is constantly changing
– Sociologists and labor specialists
foresee workforce increasingly composed
of women and racial and ethnic minorities
• 54% of new workers expected
to be women from 1984 to 2014
– More diverse workforce means
relationships between workers more likely
to cross gender, racial, and ethnic lines
Module 50
Deindustrialization
• Deindustrialization: systematic,
widespread withdrawal of investment
in basic aspects of productivity
– Can take the form of corporate restructuring
– Downsizing: reductions in a company’s
workforce as part of deindustrialization
– Social costs cannot be overemphasized
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The Globalization of Capitalism
• A New Global Structure and the Global
Oppression of Workers
• Stagnant Paychecks
– Trends in Leisure
– Telecommuting
• The New Economic System and the Old
Divisions of Wealth
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The Globalization of Capitalism
– High insecurity with layoffs, plant closings,
and the prospect of more of the same
– Half of the entire country’s income goes to
the richest fifth of Americans
– Only 3 percent goes to the poorest fifth
• The Global Superclass
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The Inverted Income Pyramid: The Proportion of Income Received by
Each Fifth of the U.S. Population
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