Soc Chapter 15 Questions
Jim Crow laws were racially based efforts to limit the participation of blacks in American society through segregation. Beginning in 1890, a "separate but equal" status took effect in all public facilities in the southern states. Why might we view this as a form of domination authority?
An implicit threat of violence against blacks who defied the system undergirded it. FEEDBACK: A constant threat of violence existed for blacks living in the South following the Civil War. Thus, while the status of separate but equal depended on the obedient behaviors of black Americans, their actions were guided, not simply by signage and custom, but also by the realization that defiance could lead to injury or death. Domination authority operates by the implicit existence of physical force, and while it is usually expressed through the same body that holds the authority position, that is not always the case.
Suppose you are stopped for speeding and it turns out that the police officer is a friend from high school. He recognizes you but still gives you a ticket. In the realm of legal-rational authority, rules and procedures are central. The police officer's actions reflect what important facet of legal-rational authority?
Authority is attached to roles, not individuals FEEDBACK: Legal-rational authority is highly routinized, as it must be if the police are to do their job. What matters is that the authority is attached to specific roles, not to the individual carrying out the actions so defined. Thus, the office carried out the action appropriate to his role by ticketing you.
In the United States, the social security system is designed to assist people over the age of 65. In conjunction with the thesis of the logic of industrialism, why does this identify the United States as a welfare state?
Industry does not depend on the elderly for work, so the state takes care of them FEEDBACK: The logic of industrialism thesis posits that economic growth is the cause of welfare state development. States develop social welfare to satisfy the social needs of those not needed in the labor market, like children or the elderly.
As defined by __________, the state is "a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory."
Max Weber FEEDBACK: It was Max Weber who defined the state as "a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory."
Why has the nation of Somalia offered a glaring exception to Weber's definition of a state?
Somalia does not have a monopoly of the use of force within its territory FEEDBACK: The chaos in Somalia is punctuated by rounds of armed violence as various factions declare themselves the legitimate government of the region, even though Somalia recently elected its first president in decades, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo. Weber defined the state as an entity that does have a monopoly on the use of force within the defined territory.
How does Taylorism (scientific management used to streamline mass production) resemble a bureaucracy?
Specialization is a characteristic of both an assembly line and a bureaucracy FEEDBACK: A bureaucracy is a legal-rational mode of administration that governs using formal rules and roles and emphasizes meritocracy. It is characterized by hierarchy, specialization, impersonality, meritocracy, and efficiency. Assembly lines may or may not be hierarchical, routine, or require fixed roles.
Which of the following is an example of hard power?
The United States enforced trade sanctions with North Korea. FEEDBACK: Hard power is the use of military or economic force to influence behavior. It is contrasted with soft power, which is attained through cultural attractiveness.
In which of the following examples is coercion used?
Your neighbor tells you that he's going to break down your door if you don't stop playing music so loudly FEEDBACK: Recall that coercion is the use of force to get others to do what you want. Notice that the force may or may not apply directly to the individual being dominated and may instead be indirect.
Which of the following groups is most likely to have a collective action problem?
a city trying to fight efforts by Walmart to build a new store FEEDBACK: A collective action problem is the difficulty in organizing larger groups rather than smaller ones because of the tendency of some individuals to freeload or slack off and the city is the largest group among the choices.
The text discusses two approaches to understanding why some states are more democratic than others. Moore suggests that the fate of each nation is determined by a struggle between different social classes. Acemoglu and Robinson, using game theory, suggest that citizens can induce change through the credible threat of revolution. The primary difference between these two approaches is Moore's emphasis on the
bourgeoisie FEEDBACK: According to Barrington Moore, in order for democracy to take root, the business-owning class, or bourgeoisie, must be strong enough to attenuate the control of the land-owning feudal lords. Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, on the other hand, clearly suggest that all the citizens are part of the process.
In 1969, Charles Manson and his followers murdered Hollywood actress Sharon Tate and six other people. Manson's "family" was comprised primarily of women whom he had befriended during his travels. That his followers were so easily persuaded to commit violence is an example of
charismatic authority FEEDBACK: Charismatic authority is based on the personal appeal of an individual leader, and need not be based on any rational characteristics of that leader.
The Milgram experiment shed light on people's
inclination to obey an authority figure even when asked to do something unconscionable FEEDBACK: Stanley Milgram's experiment was designed to explore how far individuals would go to obey an authority figure. His results illustrated that most people obey an authority figure even when asked to do something unconscionable, like shock someone at lethal levels.
Sociologist T. H. Marshall defined three types of citizenship rights:
political rights, social rights, and civil rights FEEDBACK: Sociologist T. H. Marshall defined three types of rights: political rights (guaranteeing the right to participate in politics), social rights (guaranteeing protection by the state), and civil rights (guaranteeing personal freedom from interference).
In her interview with Dalton Conley, Zephyr Teachout draws attention to the fact that elected officials spend a considerable amount of their time in office
raising money for their campaigns FEEDBACK: Fordham Law School professor and former candidate for the governor of the State of New York Zephyr Teachout states in her interview with Dalton Conley that most people who are in Congress spend between 30 and 70 percent of their time raising money. She argues that this gives undue political emphasis to those who can provide the funds these politicians are seeking.
Suppose you believe your supervisor at work is jeopardizing a current project through incompetence, but you don't say anything because it won't improve anything and could result in you being removed from the project. This scenario is an example of which dimension of power, according to Steven Lukes's definition of the concept?
second dimension FEEDBACK: The second dimension of power occurs when power is so formidable that resisting it seems pointless. Steven Lukes also discusses the first dimension of power, in which conflict results and one side prevails, and the third dimension of power, in which conflict is averted because wants and desires have been influenced.
Suppose you have been invited to a big party by a good friend. When you text your friend to cancel, she issues a few veiled threats about how she might be getting too busy to hang out in the future. What is the difference between your friend's attempts to persuade you and what the text calls "domination by authority"?
the absence of a threat of physical force from your friend FEEDBACK: Domination is a specific type of power. Domination by authority is the willingness of the ruled to obey the commands of legitimate authority, and it carries with it an implied use of force.
Think about the last time you shared a holiday dinner with your family. Many holiday dishes are served year after year. What kind of authority might be displayed through these dishes and other practices at the holiday meal?
traditional authority FEEDBACK: According to Max Weber, traditional authority is based on appeals to the past or a long-established way of doing things.
In 2011, an Occupy Movement demonstration took place at the University of California at Berkeley. Demonstrators set up tents in a campus plaza and police used riot batons to force the protestors to disperse. The campus community passed a resolution condemning the police actions. Is this an example of the paradox of authority, and if so, in what way?
yes, because the police department used physical force to enforce its will and lost its legitimate authority FEEDBACK: The paradox of authority is that even though a state's authority derives from its implicit threat of physical force, resorting to physical coercion strips the state of legitimate authority. In this case, the police lost the ability to manage demonstrators by virtue only of their vested authority after the use of force was put into play.
