Most Power In Modern Western Societies Essay Example for Free

Most Power In Modern Western Societies Essay Assess the view that most power in modern western societies is held by people who have not been democratically elected. It is believed that people who have not been democratically elected hold most power in western societys, however how true is this? Throughout history people have been born into positions of power, if your father was a lord, you would most likely also be a lord. Marxists believe that this division of power still exist in modern society today. Unlike Functionalists who believe in a fair merocratic society, Marxists believe that the social class you are born in is where youll most likely end up staying. However this theory is critised for being far to deterministic as many people from the working classes are able to make there way up the social ladder. Marxists believe that everything designed in society is there to favour the bourgeois, from the State to the legal system. Althusser believes that economic determinism needs to be rejected. According to Althusser, societies comprise of 3 levels: The economic, the political and the ideological. Although the economy is determinant in the last instance, the political and ideological levels are not mere reflections of the economy but have relative autonomy and dont have effects on the economy. Stephen Lukes identified three ways in which sociologists have approached the study of power. Each involves studying a different dimension or face of power. He argues that an understanding of power requires an awareness of all three faces. The first face of power is success in decision-making (this has been adopted by pluralists). The second face of power is managing the agenda and the third is manipulation the views of others. Weber is usually considered the starting point in the study of power. Unlike Marx he believed that power was not automatically linked to ownership of wealth. Ordinary people with little or no money could exercise power by joining parties, not only political parties but pressure groups. He defined power as the chance of a man or a number of men to realise their own will in a communal action even against the resistance of others. Weber defined 3 types of authority: Charismatic Authority (The type of authority based on charisma), Traditional Authority (The type of power based on established customs) and Rational-legal authority (The type of authority devised from impersonal rules). Weber saw rational-legal authority as the dominant form of authority in modern societies, not only armies but also political, religious and educational organisations. He believed that they were organised on bureaucratic lines with structures of authority and rational rules designed to ensure that power is used to achieve the goals of organisations. Webers work has been critised as the types of authority he described are ideal types. Ideal is a model of the purest type and in reality ideal types do not exists. Political scientist Robert Dahl developed Webers ideas into what has become classical pluralism. Classical pluralism represents the way in which many people believe liberal democrats such as the UK and USA operate. It suggests that such political systems are truly democratic and that power is distributed throughout society. Classical pluralists except that they have very little direct involvement in political decision-making however this doesnt mean that these societies are undemocratic. They are seen as representative democracies where citizens elect political leaders who are charged with carrying out the wishes of those who elected them. Pluralists see political parties and pressure groups as crucial for the democratic process, as through political parties we seek to gain power by putting up candidates into elections with the aim of forming a government and through pressure groups seek to influence those in government to follow policies which individual groups favour. Robert Dahl conducted a study of local government in New Haven and found that no-one group is seen to actually dominate the decision-making; power is therefore shared among a range of groups. The idea is rejected by pluralists that democracy is possible in a one-party state, since there must be opposition parties and a range of pressure groups to represent the views of those who disagree with the governing party. Pluralists claim to have solid evidence for their view of the distribution of power from case studies of decision-making on a local level (Dahl) and at a national level (Hewitt) There have been many criticisms of pluralism, first of all it is believed that measuring power by examining decisions ignores non-decision making. It also ignores the fact that that people may accept and even welcome decisions which are against their interests and its is shown that some groups exercise more power than others and so is an unequal representation of interests and many interests may not be represented at all. Marxists also argue that the pluralists focus on the decisions taken by local and national governments ignores the possibility that the real centre of power is elsewhere. As a result of the criticisms of pluralism many classical pluralism supporters modified or changed their positions. Robert Dahl has accepted that the unequal distribution of wealth and income in the USA makes equal political influence impossible. David Marsh describes this position as elite pluralism. Elite Pluralists accept that many political interests are under represented. However, since they constitute a significant number of voters the government will eventually be forced to take note of their interests. It is accepted that some groups have greater access to the government than others, however they point out that governments must minimise conflict by consulting with a range of interest groups. Elite Pluralism answers some of the criticisms of classical pluralism. It acknowledges the existence of under-represented interests and accepts that power is to some degree concentrated in the hands of a few elites. However there are also criticisms of this theory. Its said to undermine the pluralist position that power is widely dispersed in capitalist societies. Also the assumption that elites or leaders act in the interests of their members is also open to question. Finally Elite pluralism like Classical pluralism fails to take into account the third face of power the ability to shape and manipulate the desires of others. Elite theorists reject the pluralist view that power in liberal democracies is widely dispersed. They argue that power is concentrated in the hands of a small minority called the elite. The elite theory was originally developed as a response to Marxism, which claimed that democracy was only possible under communism. They asserted that rule by elites was inevitable in all societies, even communist ones. However not all views of elite theory are so pessimistic. Many modern elite theorists argue that rule by elites results from the way in which societies are organised, rather than being n inevitable feature of human society. Vilfredo Pareto and Gaetano Mosca rejected the idea that real democracy was possible in either liberal democracies or under communism. They argue that in all societies and elite, a minority of individuals with superior personal qualities, would monopolise power. While Pareto and Mosca saw the elite as an inevitable thing Wright Mills saw the elite rule as a result of the structure of society which allowed a disproportionate amount of power to be held by a few individuals who occupied what he called the command posts. These individuals are called the power elite. He identified 3 key institutions as the centres of power, The Federal government, the major corporations and the military. Mills believed that these 3 elites are closely related because of their similar origins, education and kinship and because there interests are in twined. Critics of Mills argue that he only showed that the elites in the USA have potential for control, he failed to show that they had actual hold control. In addition pluralist disagree with this theory and argue that there are many other elites such as pressure group leaders, religious, trade unions and so on, who can provide a counterbalance to these more powerful elites. Marxists also reject the notion of a power elite, arguing that real power in capitalist societies derives not from positions in institutions but from ownership and control of the means of production. In conclusion it seems as though there are many different approaches to the view on power in society, whether the people are in power because they were democratically elected or whether there, there because they were born into it. However many of the views tend to ignore the problems with black people and women. Why are there only 25% of women in parliament and why are there only 6 black MPs? Although functionalist believe we live in a fair merocratic society its becoming fairly obvious that we dont. Though many views have may have some truth behind them it extremely hard say that one persons opinion of power in society is wrong. It really depends if you believe in the power of the people or not.

Julius Caesar: Marcus Brutus Mistakes :: Julius Caesar Essays

Julius Caesar: Brutus' Mistakes The theme I picked for Julius Caesar essay is the mistakes made by Brutus. According to Mr. Holtz Brutus was stupid and many mistakes. The first one was him even joining the Conspirators. The second was letting Anthony live and speak at the funeral. The final mistake was his battle plan. Every one does make mistakes sometimes, but mistakes Brutus made where plainly stupid. I feel the first mistake was Brutus joining the conspirators in the first place. His mine was easily manipulated by the conspirators. They gave him the justification he needed to kill Caesar, which was â€Å"its Good of Rome.† The assumption was that Caesar would eventually take the crown, which would never less destroyed Rome according to Brutus thoughts. By making this assumption and joining the other conspirators he set him self up for many problems for him and for Rome. This was one of the fatal mistakes made by Brutus. Brutus actually made two mistakes with Mark Antony. The first was letting Mark Antony live and the second was letting him speak alone at the funeral. When Cassius first suggested that they should kill Mark Antony, which they should of, but the noble Brutus said â€Å"Our course will seem to bloody.† That was not his only mistake with Mark Antony he also let him speak at Caesar funeral. He was warned by Cassius, but Brutus ignored him as usual. When Mark Antony spoke he got crowd on his side and they killed all the conspirators except for Brutus and Cassius (they excepted the angry mob and left Rome). This was some more trouble that was caused by Brutus. In the war Brutus makes another dumb decision. He wanted to go into Rome and take it over, but Cassius wanted them to wait for the army to come. Of course they follow Brutus decision and they are defeated. This was yet another bad decision by Brutus. This final decision he lost his life. I wonder some time who is worst Brutus stupidness or Cassius ignorance.

Current debate on good governance and civil debate

IntroductionNon-government organizations are organizations that are not controlled by government and are non profit making. Their purpose is to provide a service or object in which they are formed for they offer social welfare services to workers and communities in which they operate they play a major role in the society because they determine family structures, family relation and also the education system that would produce effective man power for them and others. NGO, s has control over political power nationality and even power over borders. (Steve. Witt. (2005)They also contribute to the needs of the poor, deals with issues of the religion in a given area and hence impact heavily on the attitude and values that a given community adapts to. NGO, s helps in the contribution of the humanitarian affairs that serve the communities interests. NGO, s also deals with national and multilateral policy making and even local actions, .NGO, s provides employment to the citizens and assist in matters of dividing international authority, help to research, assess, report and publicize details on behalf of those accountable to them. (K.Rodman, (1998). They also deal with stability and security issues. Most non-government doesn’t depend heavily on the government for funding but the government may assist them partially with funds. They thus do not involve government representative within their organization and they also don't involve them in their decision making process. â™ «AREAS OF INEFFECTIVENESS, UNACCOUTABILITY AND   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ELITIST NATURE OF NGO, SNon-governmental organizations are supposed to be effective on their objectives and also accountable to those they serve. However, this non government organization have increasingly failed by being unaccountable to those they are supposed to work for, they have continually been ineffective in their performance and they have adapted to elitist nature whereby they segregate themselves from others and only work for their own selfish interest and for the interest of those whose status they consider important to their affairs and has influential power that makes them be treated preferentially this attitude can be termed as a mechanism of elite capture. (Steve. Witt. (2005) â™ «The ineffectiveness, the unaccountability and the elitist nature of NGO, s is evident among much renowned organization and this can be seen to be true when one assesses their performance with regard to the current debate on good governance and civil society. (K.Rodman, (1998).Roles of good governanceThe current debate on good governance and civil society emphasizes on peace building, democratization, quality leadership, responsibility and proper civil institutions. NGO, s should assist in helping in peace building in countries in which they are situated, they should be involved in the resolving existing issues in the country for example by  Ã‚   helping to find solutions to a countries conflic ting issues when they arise, mediating disputing groups when there are ethnic tensions caused by political instability, coming up with measures that will reduce tribalism, nepotism and corruption, help in recovering the economy when the country is experiencing economic depression, assisting the needy   in their surrounding environment for example when natural disaster arise such as flood, earthquake ,terrorist attacks among others,Stabilizing political turmoil being experienced in that particular country and many other issues. (K.Rodman, (1998).   However, the current non-government organization do not engage themselves with this issues on the contrary instead of doing this, the NGO, s have left this in the ruin of government and civil societies. Non-governmental organizations have also in some instances contributed to peace downfall by supporting one side of the worrying groups rather than being neutral.They tend to favor that group that have influential power and assumes those who are less powerful. This has made them to be unaccountable and untrustworthy and cannot be depended upon by both the government and the members of the societies who would have otherwise depended on them. The management allows political influences when making decisions which imposes a negative impact to all the organization stakeholders and employees who oppose the decision on the basis that they are not consulted and. this causes conflicts, lots of job turn over, redundancy and withdrawal and this leads to job inefficiency. (K.Rodman, (1998).They have been ineffective with regards to matters of enhancing democratization. This is because they have indulged in politics funding complains and supporting certain politicians who have influence upon them and this has contributed heavily in the reduction of democracy as they do not play their role as pressure group to pressurize the government to observe democracy.Non governmental organization have also been ineffective to help in matte rs of maturation of nation’s policy and economy other than participating in development and transformations, this organizations involve in the achievement of their own interest that is; what will benefit them other than what will be beneficial to all who are accountable to them, they pursue their own goals without incorporating the objectives of government and civil societies and this leads to lack of goals commonality hence retarding the government policies such as poverty and illiteracy eradication.LeadershipLeadership and quality management are important for any country or institution to have good governance. Non governmental organization are poorly managed because of lack of qualified staff because the recruitment of workforce is based not on technical competence and merit, but on favoritism and thus the management have no proper management skills, the employees under such management thus work with a lot of skepticism and heavy opposition and most of them resist changes a nd all the rules that the management enforces and this leads to difficulties in implementation of proper practices, policies and procedures that are fundamental in developing strategies that ensures that organizations objectives are met. (K.Rodman, (1998).This also has led to poor selection of policies and allocation of resources. The leadership style in current non-governmental organization is that of authoritative and bureaucratic which ignores human elements due to impersonality of interpersonal relations. This style of leadership imposes rules, norms and procedures to be followed. The leaders make decisions and demands everyone to follow, they do not allow the other members of staff to be involved when making decisions and they harshly react when the rules they enforces are not properly followed this causes slow development, work delays, inefficiency and frustrations to citizens, employees and any other stakeholders and this reduces the effectiveness of NGO, s as a whole. (Carri e Meyer, (1999),Corruption eradication is a key issue in good governance especially in Africa. . NGO, s are faced with issues of corruption where they demands bribery to assist in matters they were supposed to deliver to the citizens without demanding any form of payment and this makes them unaccountable to those who rightfully depended on their services. (sH.Englund, (2004) There’s also a lot of misappropriation of funds and lack of proper fund management.This causes inadequate funding leading to shortage of resources to implement their policies and this can also eventually lead to the liquidation of the organization. When organization funds are mismanaged it causes serious implications, which makes the organization unaccountable and inefficient, which leads them to a step back to transparency and accountability. This vice has passed on to civil societies and government at large.Environmental issues  NGO, s engages in activities that are harmful to the surrounding environm ent. This is by social unethical and unaccountable activities. For example, they may engage in activities that involves emissions of exhaustive gases that pollute the environment or even have technological machinery that produce disturbing noises around the environment they are situated in. They often do not take   proper measures and responsibility   to eradicate this implication arguing that since they are a non profit making organizations, members of the communities should take care of their environment and the fact that they are in needs of the organizations   services   they should allow them to deliver them respectfully without dealing with environmental issues. This causes negative impacts to the community and it has hampered the life of the society and animals especially where there is water and air pollution. They can be termed as negligence of the virtue of accountability to the society.( K.Rodman, (1998).NGO, s has turned into a mechanism of elite capture. They te nd to involve only the elite in formulation of their policies. (H.Englund, (2004) There is lack of representation of civil society as a whole and the marginalized social movements are sidelined. Regional consultative of African non-governmental organizations, s and civil society organization lay foundation for the governance forum stressed on role of women in leadership. It has been observed that there is evident gender inequality within these organizations. Few non government organizations in Africa have observed this as few women are employed or hold decision making positions in management of NGO, s. the elites in NGO, s have various skills that they can utilize in government running but they are trapped in the NGO, s. in addition, instead of involving the locals to do various jobs they subcontract them. (Carrie Meyer, (1999),NGO, s has been ineffective because of selective area of operations. They concentrate in certain areas than the others. This makes those sidelined areas not to enjoy their operations. The NGO, s may not operate in certain areas that have poor infrastructure, lack of effective communications and lack of technology. This has led to unequal distribution of resources. The NGO, s have not helped in establishment of proper running civil institutions and instead they leave this role to the governmentConclusionIn order to ensures that non-governmental organizations work effectively and successfully there is need to ensure that there is interactions of workers, formal and informal groups, government itself and any other influential factors to the organization. Democratic involvement by this organization should be considered as it is equally and critically important in enhancing the effectiveness of this organization. (Carrie Meyer, (1999),   They should be committed to implement their services to all interested stakeholders successfully. They should also avoid favoritism and avoid authoritative leadership and adapt to other ways of leading tha t will bring about motivation and morale of workers in the organization. Non governmental organizations should also ensure that they take responsibility and take the necessary actions required of them when their activities imposes harm to the surrounding environment. (Steve. Witt. (2005) They should also ensure that all non-governmental organizations are effective, efficient and accountable and are not expressed as mechanism of elitist capture. References:l Steve. Witt. (2005). Changing roles of NGO, s in the creation.l Sangeeta Kamat. (2002), development hegemony, American university pressl Carrie Meyer, (1999), The economics and politics of NGO, s in Latin American; praeger publisher.l Maha abreirahman, (2004), the politics of NGO, s in Egypt; the American university press 5H.Teegen(2003) international NGO, s as global institution; Journals of international managementl K.Rodman, (1998). Think globally; vol 12l Daniel .a. Bell and Jean Marc (2004) university pressl H.Englund, (2004 ), prisoners of freedom; human rights and Africa poor.l S, Goonahlak, (2006). Journal, foreign fundedl Lyal.s.Sunga, (2003), NGO, s involvement in international human rights monitoring

The Bourgeoisie Essay - 1503 Words

Karl Marx describes â€Å"Society as a whole [as being] more and more [split] up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other-bourgeoisie and proletariat† (Marx 124). As Marx made his distinction between upper class, bourgeoisie, and lower class, proletariats, it is important to keep in mind the societal structure at the time. To understand how classes were created and the disparity between the rich and poor, or, bourgeoisie and proletariat, it is necessary to examine how people came to be rich and poor. Exploring a time before money existed will help us to process and understand reasons why the binary between rich and poor exists and how it is reflective of low and high art distinctions.†¦show more content†¦With the commodification of natural resources, there becomes a dependency between those who control the resources and all those who need to use them. At this stage of society people are no longer self-sufficient, but rely up on the network of society to provide food, shelter and jobs (Rousseau). At this level of society, the founders most often control the resources and begin to live in excess compared to the rest of the populace. Rousseau’s final stage 4) is the state of war, which is triggered when the rich deceive the poor, and the poor begin to rebel. This state of war is rooted in the transition from a free, independent mode of living to a regulated lifestyle within the constraints of society. Someone has to establish any society and as a result, those who establish society through control of the natural resources will monopolize power (Rousseau). As we see, art does not arrive until all physiological needs or the basic needs are met as is evident by the happy savage stage. Art arrives with the improvement of manual labor and hunter-gatherer techniques in the division of labor. The division of labor in turn creates divisions within society, and we can see that evidence in the French colonial enslavement of native peoples and African slave trade throughout history. The rich and poor binary canShow MoreRelatedThe Power Of The Bourgeoisie1664 Words   |  7 Pages In reaction to the power the bourgeoisie have over the proletariat, the narrator uses her defense mechanism of acting out to get power over herself back. Acting out involves preforming external actions that mirror how one is internally feeling. This can be seen when the narrator breaks a rule in the manual, and seeks affection from her window friend in the male shelter. As she states, â€Å"Tonight, his light isn’t on and so we don’t wave, but still, I undress in front of my lit window. I can’t knowRead MoreThe Communist Manifesto On The Bourgeoisie And The Proletariats1762 Words   |  8 Pageson the bourgeoisie and the proletariats. 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These structures also enforced conformityRead MoreMarx and the Bourgeoisie Essay1908 Words   |  8 Pagesessay I plan to analyze the claim by Karl Marx that the bourgeoisie class produces its own gravediggers. I will first present a definition of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat classes along with what Marx means by his claim. After discussing Marxs claim and his support I will assert that his claim is false and was based on a false assumption. I will argue that Marx does not allow the possibility of an adaptation on behalf of the bourgeoisie. Furthermore, that Marx contradicts his claim with his