Power and Authority

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Exploration of the source and distribution of power and authority in social systems.

Power: This topic concerns the concept of power and its role in politics and social relations. Power refers to an individual or group's ability to influence or control others' behavior or decision-making.
Authority: This topic concerns the concept of authority and its sources in society. Authority refers to the legitimate right to exercise power, derived from traditions, institutions, or laws.
Politics: This is the study of power relations in society, ranging from local to global levels. Political sociology examines how power is exercised and contested within formal institutions and informal networks.
State: This topic concerns the role of the state in exercising power and authority over society. The state represents the institutionalized form of government and includes the legal system, bureaucracy, and military.
Social Movements: This topic concerns how groups of people mobilize to challenge established power structures, such as political parties, corporations, or the state. Social movements can be organized around various issues, such as civil rights, environmental justice, or labor rights.
Elites: This topic concerns the study of social hierarchies and the concentration of power among small groups of people. Elites can be defined by their wealth, education, or political connections and often have disproportionate influence over social and political decisions.
Democracy: This topic concerns the principles and practices of democratic governance, including voting, representation, and accountability. Political sociology examines how democracies operate in practice and how they can be strengthened or weakened.
Globalization: This topic concerns the increasing interconnectedness of societies and economies around the world. Globalization has profound social and political implications, including the rise of transnational corporations, the spread of new communication technologies, and the erosion of national sovereignty.
Gender and Politics: This topic concerns the relationship between gender and power, including how gender shapes political institutions, policies, and power relations. Gender and politics encompass a wide range of issues, from women's representation in government to the gendered impacts of global economic policies.
Race and Ethnicity: This topic concerns the relationship between race, ethnicity, and power in society. Political sociology examines how racial and ethnic inequalities are reproduced and contested in political institutions and social movements.
Legitimate Power: Power based on the approval of those being governed or led.
Coercive Power: Power exercised through the use of force or threats of force.
Expert Power: Power derived from knowledge, skill or expertise in a particular domain of activity.
Referent Power: Power derived from one's personal charisma or attractiveness.
Reward Power: Power derived from the ability to provide rewards, typically material or financial remuneration.
Charismatic Power: Power based on the personal magnetism and persuasive powers of an individual leader.
Traditional Power: Power derived from long-established cultural or political practices.
Rational-Legal Power: Power based on codified legal and bureaucratic rules, norms and procedures.
Monarchical Power: Power vested in a monarch, typically a hereditary ruler.
Democratic Power: Power exercised by representatives of the people in democratic systems of government.
Autocratic Power: Power wielded by a single authoritarian figure or clique, often without consultation or consent of the masses.
Theocratic Power: Power exercised by religious leaders, based on the interpretation of sacred texts and principles.
"Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political)."
"In modern Western societies, social stratification is typically defined in terms of three social classes: the upper class, the middle class, and the lower class; in turn, each class can be subdivided into the upper-stratum, the middle-stratum, and the lower stratum."
"Moreover, a social stratum can be formed upon the bases of kinship, clan, tribe, or caste, or all four."
"The categorization of people by social stratum occurs most clearly in complex state-based, polycentric, or feudal societies, the latter being based upon socio-economic relations among classes of nobility and classes of peasants."
"Whether social stratification first appeared in hunter-gatherer, tribal, and band societies or whether it began with agriculture and large-scale means of social exchange remains a matter of debate in the social sciences."
"Determining the structures of social stratification arises from inequalities of status among persons, therefore, the degree of social inequality determines a person's social stratum."
"Generally, the greater the social complexity of a society, the more social stratification exists, by way of social differentiation."
"For instance, the stratification of neighborhoods based on spatial and racial factors can influence disparate access to mortgage credit."
"...based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political)."
"...each class can be subdivided into the upper-stratum, the middle-stratum, and the lower stratum."
"...a social stratum can be formed upon the bases of kinship, clan, tribe, or caste, or all four."
"...each class can be subdivided into the upper-stratum, the middle-stratum, and the lower stratum."
"The categorization of people by social stratum occurs most clearly in complex state-based, polycentric, or feudal societies."
"The categorization of people by social stratum occurs most clearly in complex state-based, polycentric, or feudal societies."
"Generally, the greater the social complexity of a society, the more social stratification exists, by way of social differentiation."
"Determining the structures of social stratification arises from inequalities of status among persons, therefore, the degree of social inequality determines a person's social stratum."
"For instance, the stratification of neighborhoods based on spatial and racial factors can influence disparate access to mortgage credit."
"Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political)."
"...socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political)."
"Stratification is the relative social position of persons within a social group, category, geographic region, or social unit."