SOC 2280 Lecture Notes - Mixed Economy, State Ownership, High Tech
28 Jan 2013
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Document Summary
Politics is the social institution that controls and distributes resources and power, as well as organizes decision making. According to harold laswell, politics is who gets what, when, and how. Power refers to the capacity of one party to carry out his or her will despite the opposition and resistance of others. Power also involves controlling resources that others do not have; powerful groups control most of the resources, while powerless or marginalized groups have less or no resources. The nature of politics has much to do with the operation of the economy, the social institution that organizes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Because economic and political institutions influence one another, many analysts use the term political economy to refer to the economic and political life of a nation or a region of the world.
