POLS 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Biopower, Robert A. Dahl, The Power Elite
6 Sep 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Link to democracy through question of who has power? . One way of looking at that is the question whose interests prevail? . Assumption: democracy is desirable because power is shared and because people are free. Democracy expresses core values of freedom and equality in sharing of power and limitations of power. The ability of a to get b to do what b would not otherwise do. Linked to other concepts like violence, force, coercion, but also consent, authority, influence. Introduces important questions about responsibility (political, moral, legal, historical) Manipulation (misinformation, misleading, lying, deceit) (e. g. : propaganda) Threat (cut off allowance, going to go to war) The ideal of democracy to have rational decisions and rational persuasion. In every society, an elite will control the behavior of others. Main research questions is who has power? . Link to elitist theory of the state critical of a look of democracy. Major theorist: c. wright mills, the power elite.
