SOC 103 Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Social Inequality, Proportional Representation, Macmillan Publishers
1 Feb 2014
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Document Summary
Over the past few decades, indicators of political participation, such as the percentage of people who vote in elections, has been declining, and many canadians, particularly young people, seem to feel that politics is irrelevant to their lives. However, as this chapter notes, politics gives us social order, protection, and laws to define what is good and bad. This chapter is concerned with the nature of politics, the distribution of power in society, and the role of ideology in politics. Politics always involves power, which was extensively studied by max. Weber also identified three types of authority: traditional authority, based on respect for custom; charismatic authority, based on a leader"s exceptional qualities, and rational legal authority, based on law or written rules and regulations. The chapter makes the point that although canada is a representative democracy, not all. For instance, most major political figures are middle- and upper- middle class males.
