SOCIOL 1 Chapter Notes -Unemployment Benefits, Ultimate Power, Representative Democracy
12 Mar 2014
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Should the federal government give them subsidies (welfare)? political activities by oil industry - they hope to get favorable legislation. 1) democracy -competing pressure groups will present their cases. legislators have to compromise and make decisions most beneficial to the public. 2) but, these efforts to use money to influence politics means only a privileged few get their way. Small companies and individuals don"t have power compared to the wealthy elite. Models of national power structure (2) elitist model of power - pyramid of power, and people at the top control everything pluralist model of power - power is dispersed and not concentrated, distributed among voters, interest groups, organizations. The problem: people are in reality powerless, because politicians will deceive them or not tell them the. Bipartisan campaign reform act (mccain-feingold law) prevents soft money in federal elections. soft money allows individuals, corporations, unions, to raise money for candidates who are independent.
