SOSC1850/Fall2023

Topic 7: Power and Politics

I. POWER

-Politics: the process of deciding “who get what, when & how”
-Politics occurs when there are differentials in power
-Focus: the nature & distribution of power in society - Who hold power? How is power used?

2 Forms of Power:
⚫ authority (legitimate power) – perceived as just and right
⚫ coercion (illegitimate power)

(1) The Weberian Conception of “Power”

-“the chance of a man (woman) or a number of men (women) to realize their own will in a
communal action even against the resistance of others who are participating in the action;”

(a) Those who hold power do so at the expense of others (constant-sum concept).
(b) Power holders will tend to use power to further their own interests.

3 Types/ Sources of Authority

(a) Charismatic authority
– based on a belief in the exceptional qualities of a leader

(b) Traditional authority

– based on established customs & traditions

(c) Rational-legal authority

– “legal”: based on the acceptance of a set of impersonal rules (e.g .the legal framework);
– “rational”: The rules are rational in the sense that they are created to achieve a particular
goal (e.g. justice) and they specify the means by which that goal is to be achieved.
– e.g. the Chief Executive, the President, the Prime Minister

-In reality, the 3 types of authority may not be clearly distinguished.

(2) Lukes - A Radical View

Power has 3 dimensions of faces:

a) Decision making (the Weberian measurement)
-If the collective decision is to follow the policies advocated by X, it shows X has power.

b) Non-decision making
-action taken before the decision (e.g. agenda setting) – the prevention of certain issues from
being discussed (e.g. the possibility of changing the required credits for Common Core subjects,
of changing the required credits for the major subject, or of changing the major subjects etc.)

-action taken after the decision – the prevention of certain decisions from being taken (e.g. delay,
lack of commitment, lack of resources)

c) Shaping desire (ideological power)

-power can be exercised by manipulating the wishes and desires of social groups (e.g. ideology)
[This is a highly arguable point.]

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II. STATE THEORIES (Focus: Western Democracies)

[The notion of the state embraces much more than the popular notion of government. It refers to
the whole apparatus of rule or the realm of supreme authority within society including the
administration, legislature, police, army, judiciary, constitution etc.]

Who have political power? What is power for? Role of the state
Pluralism
Elitism
Marxism

1. Pluralism

• Power: constant-sum concept (conflicts of interest)

• Dispersion (vs. Concentration) of Power in Western Democracies

- Freedom of the individual

- Existence of numerous interest groups
(e.g. professional associations, workers’ trade unions, Friends of the Earth, women’s groups,
religious groups)
- Overlapping memberships of groups

Dispersion of Power (Democracy: rule by the people)

(a) Power is in the hands of the people (vs. the elite), especially the numerous interest groups
& political groups which seek to exert power or influence on or through the government;

(b) Power is dispersed among different people/groups in the sense that different groups have
the chance to compete for power - some win at one time & others win at other times

(c) Power is dispersed among multiple interests (vs. single interest of a permanent majority e.g.
workers’ interests) - since each person has divergent interests which may overlap with
others’ interests, there won’t be a permanent majority with single interest (e.g. worker vs.
capitalist) but changing majorities with multiple and overlapping interests (e.g. some
workers are also property-owners, religious people, anti-discrimination activists, &
members of parents’ association...) If there is a permanent majority, it could lead to the
tyranny of the majority at the expense of the minority.

Democracy would become unworkable if one division in society comes to dominate all
others. For example, in Northern Ireland, the population is split between a majority of
Protestants and a minority of Catholics. Most individuals identify very strongly with their
religious groupings such that other interests are seen to be of secondary importance.

(d) Within the state, power is dispersed among different institutions - balance of power.

(Where there is institutional balance of power within the state, it should be for the executive
branch to propose and execute policies, the legislature to make law, and an independent
judiciary to interpret the law as well as adjudicate on legal cases.)

• Ways of exercising power & influence by political & interest groups: election, protest, public
opinion campaign, donations to parties, bribery, lobbying, advisory committee membership etc.

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• Political parties in democratic societies are representative because the parties in power are elected
by and hence accountable to the public (the electorate).

• Decision-making: a complex process of accommodation, bargaining & compromise among the

demands of various political parties & interests groups attempting to influence the government

• Role of the state: like a neutral “broker”, negotiating among the different political groups, and
ensuring that all of them have some influence on government policy at different times

Evidence (measurement of power: first dimension – decision-making)

-showing that a government’s policies reflect a compromise between the wishes of the different
sectional interests in society by studying the stated policies of different groups & also public
opinion polls

Criticisms
a) overlooking unequal distribution of resources among different groups → unequal competition

[Neo-pluralists recognize that particular interest groups e.g. big business, exercise greater
political influence on government policy; yet they also maintain that there exist a significant
number of diverse interest groups influencing the political process. This is a debatable point.]

b) overlooking unrepresented interests (unorganized interests e.g. unemployed people, housewives)

– assuming that political parties, through elections, are representative of the public

c) little involvement of the majority of the people in the decision-making process – usually there
are a limited number of leading persons taking an active role within a group

d) one-dimensional conception of power, overlooking the second and the third faces of power
-second face: e.g. social issues being kept off the public agenda or decision-making process
-third face (ideological power) – e.g. power of the mass media, social values …..

e) assumption about an open power structure with a neutral state open to influence – it is true?
-Does the state have interests of its own, & some common interests with certain groups?

2. Elitism

• Concentration of Power (ruling elite)

A. Classical Elite Theory [Pareto (1915-19); Mosca (1939)]

-elite rule: inevitable

-basis of power: superior personal qualities of the elite
-basis of power: the ability of the elite to form a united and cohesive minority
-the mass - apathetic, passive, unorganized, fragmented, and easily manipulated by the elite

B. Mills: The Power Elite (1956)

Research focus: American society in the 1950s

Elite rule: -not inevitable, but a fairly recent development in the USA
-based on the exploitation of the masses

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An institutional (not psychological) explanation:

-the elite hold power not because of their exceptional personal qualities but because of their
institutional position

Those occupying the command posts in the critical institutions:

⚫ the major corporations
⚫ the military
⚫ the central government

The state: part of the power elite, who have political power and who have their own interests to take
care of

Formation of the Power Elite (as a cohesive group):

- interests
- socio-economic background (e.g. ethnicity, religion, educational, kinship and marital ties,
social life)
- interchange of personnel among the 3 groups of elite (e.g. a corporate director becoming a
politician and vice versa)

Evidence of Elite Self-Recruitment

- Studies in Britain by others: those occupying in elite positions are recruited among people
with similarly privileged socio-economic backgrounds. It's very likely that children of elite
members are themselves recruited to elite positions.

Elite Dominance
- a power elite of "unprecedented power and unaccountability"

C. Criticisms

(a) Assumption of the ordinary people as a passive, apathetic & unorganized mass

(b) Assumption & measurement of “power”:

- assuming that elites have political and cultural power over the mass who can consistently
make political decisions in favor of their own interests

- scholars measuring power in terms of surrogates of power - the social position of the elites -
rather than the actual process of decision-making [critique from the pluralists]

Dahl (1973): Mills has shown that the power elite had the "potential for control" without
showing whether these people or who have "actual control." Actual control can be shown to
exist "by examination of a series of concrete cases where key decisions are made."

- Critique from the Marxists: The elite theory fails to identify the underlying basis for power,
which is ownership of the means of production

3(A) Classical Marxism

-Concentration of power (ruling class/ capitalists)

-Power: used to further the interests of capitalists

Superstructure - political & ideological relations e.g. state, education, law, religion
Infrastructure - (economic) relations of production

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-The state (as part of the superstructure) is determined & conditioned by the economy
-The state serves to consolidate the economic structure

[Example: High Land Price Policy before 1997 – the state had control over the supply of land; the
idea & scheme of homeownership promoted by the government; the process of privatisation of the
public housing estates.]

-Role of the State in Capitalist Society:

 to preserve the existing economic (property) relations
 to further the interests of the capitalists
 to control the proletariats & to dampen working class activism

Q: How do the government’s land and housing policies help further the interests of the capitalists
and dampen working class activism?

-the capitalists - the ruling class

-the state actors - the governing elites

-Engels: democracy in a capitalist society is an illusion

Unanswered Questions:

(1) What explain the existence of welfare provision in capitalist societies?

(2) Does the state have autonomy vis-a-vis the ruling class? Does the state have its own interests?

(3) Why do the working class accept a state which acts against their interests?

3(B). Contemporary Marxism

(a). Instrumentalist View (Miliband 1969)

The state acts as the direct instrument of the capitalists - the state is used to preserve the latter’s
economic dominance, maintain their political power and stabilize capitalist society by preventing
challenges from the working class.

[Evidence: (i) business background of many of the cabinet members in the US – direct
interference by the capitalists; (ii) state action benefits the ruling class etc.]

-State: some degree of autonomy --- serving the capitalist interests on behalf of the capitalists but
not working under their direct command or control.

Q: Why would the majority of the people accept the state which works in the interests of capitalists?
[the third face of power] --- the process of legitimation

-Legitimation as a disguise - workers’ challenges prevented

(a) Ideology - the capitalist class seeks to “persuade society not only to accept the policies it
advocates but also the ethos, the values and the goals which are its own, the economic system
of which it is the central part, the ‘way of life’ which is the core of its being.”

Example: advertising (e.g. private residential estates, banks) --- appealing to the values of
material comfort, love and concern, reliability & economic security etc. while disguising the
exploitative and oppressive nature of capitalism

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(b) Welfare provision by the state (e.g. public housing)

--- In HK, the provision of public housing in the 1960s & 1970s had enhanced the legitimacy
of the government. In effect, it helped keep wages down among the working class, which
helped maintain a competitive economy at that time and which worked in the interests of the
capitalists.

(b). Structuralist View (e.g. Poulantzas 1969)

-structural predetermination - the maintenance of the capitalist system

Criticisms about instrumentalist view:

The ruling class need not occupy elite positions within the state in order to exercise power: “the
capitalist state best serves the interests of the capitalist class only when members of this class do
not participate directly in the state apparatus, that is to say when the ruling class is not the politically
governing class.”

Relative Autonomy of the State

The state requires a certain amount of freedom and independence to serve ruling-class interests:

(a) for the state to act in the common interests of the capitalists by mediating among them in case
of internal conflicts of interests among them;
(b) for the state to act in the long-term interests of the capitalist system as a whole (vs. the short-
term interests of individual capitalists)
(c) for the state to present a united front of the general interests of the capitalists vis-à-vis the
workers
(d) for the state to stand ready to make concessions to the workers to defuse working-class
resistance
(e) for the state to appear to work in the interests of the general public – the creation of myth

Functions of the Capitalist State

(1) To unite an otherwise fragmented capitalist class (relative autonomy)

(2) To dampen the unity of the working class

[Example: with a highly differentiated and stratified housing sector
-creating differences among the working class (e.g. those who are on mortgage vs. those not)
-motivating people to work harder to clear the mortgage & to move up the “housing ladder”]

(3) To get the support of the other classes for capitalistic development
[Example: encouraging the middle classes to buy apartments through loan & subsidy]

(4) Ideological function: disguise its partisan role in the name “public interest” or “unity” etc.

Criticisms
(a) “structural super-determinism” - unable to explain differences in state forms – e.g. between a
democratic and an authoritarian state – within capitalist systems

(b) not backed by empirical evidence; impossible to prove or disprove (the difficulty: any action of
the state can be interpreted one way or another as benefiting the capitalists – if it’s directly in
the interests of the capitalists, or if it’s so indirectly by means of concessions to the workers)

General Criticisms on Marxism

-other important sources of power other than economic power?
-differences among different states within the capitalist systems?