SOC 104 Lecture 7: week 7

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 104
• Professor: Lock Rebecca

Document Summary

Soc104: week 7 the role of the state: chapter 8. An organized political structure that carries out tasks required by more complex societies as their population and geographic size increase, as warfare and trade expand, and as social inequalities become more extreme. Weber: the state has monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. The government is only one aspect of the state. The concept of the state is more inclusive and allows us to appreciate the element of force that is a key part of this social institution. Leaders used personal influence to encourage others to undertake activities, but there was no structural means of coercing anyone into following directions: with an increase in surplus and the subsequent unequal allocation of resources, increasingly formalized leadership developed. As agrarian societies with large surpluses and social classes developed, more formalized state structures arose. Along with the growth of the state apparatus, an ideology developed that supported and legitimized such a structure.