SOC 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: National Labor Relations Act, Carl Von Clausewitz, National Security
Document Summary
Politics: the arena in which societies make collective decisions about priorities and policies. Power: the ability to bring about an intended outcome, even when opposed by others. Government: the organization that exercises authority and steers decision making in a specific community. Weber: noted that politics is about power- how it is maintained, distributed, challenged and transferred. Noted that governments/the state has one specific feature that distinguishes them from other powerful organizations: they hold a monopoly on the legitimate use of force in a given territory. A government can authorize military personnel to kill on its behalf on wars, police can arrest and shoot, prison guards keep people in jail, etc. Monarchy: system of government headed by a single person, the monarch, who typically inherits the position as a member of a ruling family. Traditional/absolute monarchies: a single royal leader enjoys essentially unconditional power. Constitutional monarchies: democracies that recognize a limited and often only symbolic role for the royal family uk/britain.
