SOC101Y1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Relative Deprivation, The The, Power Balance
Document Summary
O the ability of an individual or a group to impose its will on others, even if they resist: if raw power. People who occupy the command posts of institutions are seen as authorities. Pluralist theory: to change part or all of the social order, organizations that seek to control state power. Power: no one group of people is always able to control the political agenda or the outcome of political conflict, democracy is guaranteed. Elite theory: elites are small groups that occupy the command posts of a society"s institutions, usually corporations, military, executive branch. Elitist critique of pluralism: most political sociologists today question the pluralist account of democratic politics because research has stablished the existence of large, persistent, wealth-based inequalities in political influence and political participation. Marxist critique of elite theory: marxists known as instrumentalists, deny that elites enjoy more or less equal power. Elites form a ruling class dominated by big business.
