SOCI 1002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Liberal Democracy, Noam Chomsky, Structural Functionalism
22 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
The driving force of capitalist societies (the accumulation of capital) The social construction of knowledge and ideas. One thing that ties them altogether: the state. What is a government: usually refers to the executive branch (i. e. , who you elect) What is a state: usually refers to an organized political structure or community that has a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. Hasn"t always existed: early societies had loosely organized and shifting leadership. In greek and roman societies, the state was more or less embodied in the oligarchs that ran them. Within feudal societies the state (what existed of it at least) was the embodiment of the. In previous eras the ruling class was directly in control of the state and could use its institutions to extract surplus. Under capitalism, however, the ruling class is separated from direct control over the state.
