POLS1002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Robert A. Dahl, Wield, Brad Delson
23 May 2018
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L2 POWER, AUTHORITY AND LEGITIMACY
THE CONCEPT OF POWER – ROBERT DAHL
People feel a eed to assoiate the ord poer ith soethig or soeoe
- Power as a relation among people
o Getting people do something that would otherwise not do
o Bases of power
- Properties of the power relation
o There needs to be a time lag. Where a person exerts power and the respondent responds.
o There needs to be a connection
o Amount of power varies
- Power comparability
o Differences in the basis of their power → context
o Differences in means of employing the basis
o Differences in the scope of their power → type of responses evoked
o Differences in the no. of comparable respondents
o Differences in the change in probabilities
o Power can be measure i.e. some is greater while other is lesser
Dahl’s Terms - Pluralism
- Rational persuasion: convince somebody to do something e.g. stop doing heroin
- Manipulative persuasion: mislead somebody to get somebody to do something
- Inducement: offer rewards/punishment to get somebody to do something
- Power: threaten sever punishment e.g. jail/loss of job
- Coercion: power with no way out i.e. you have to do it
- Physical force: back up coercion with use or threat of harm
LECTURE NOTES
WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT POLITICAL INTERACTIONS
1. Social construction of reality
- The Social Construction of Reality → actions become rules. These rules become our reality and the way that we act. Rule of
the game. Rules of the game are politics.
2. Anarchy
- Anarchy the orderly self-regulation. Ability to control yourself as a group of people by themselves without recourse to
external forces. Chaos can happen when anarchy fails.
- Why is it that anarchy works? Why does it not work we extend the boundaries of our social reality?
o Because certain individuals wield a certain degree of authority. Authority often applies in certain contexts and bounds
of authority.
3. Authority is the means to concentrate and wield power
- A person (or a group) has authority if there is general agreement among those involved that she has the right to control
certain decisions and that her decisions in those areas should be complied with
- Different individuals/groups/institutions have limited sorts of authority that extend over specific ranges of behaviour
o Parents have authority e.g. telling kids to go to bed. As kids grow older parents authority dwindles
o Teaher i a lassroo has the authorit to tell studets ho to prepare for assesset ut dot hae authorit to
tell students who to vote for.
4. Institutions
- We all adhere/subscribe to a set of rules of ANU (the institution).
- Institutions can give a sense of confidence through predictability. Predictability is determined by the rules of the game.
5. Power
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Document Summary
People feel a (cid:374)eed to asso(cid:272)iate the (cid:449)ord (cid:858)po(cid:449)er(cid:863) (cid:449)ith so(cid:373)ethi(cid:374)g or so(cid:373)eo(cid:374)e. Power as a relation among people: getting people do something that would otherwise not do, bases of power. Properties of the power relation: there needs to be a time lag. Where a person exerts power and the respondent responds: there needs to be a connection, amount of power varies. Rational persuasion: convince somebody to do something e. g. stop doing heroin. Manipulative persuasion: mislead somebody to get somebody to do something. Inducement: offer rewards/punishment to get somebody to do something. Power: threaten sever punishment e. g. jail/loss of job. Coercion: power with no way out i. e. you have to do it. Physical force: back up coercion with use or threat of harm. Ways of thinking about political interactions: social construction of reality. The social construction of reality actions become rules. These rules become our reality and the way that we act. Rules of the game are politics: anarchy.
