Todays Class

1
Todays Class

• Domination
• Stratification
• Democracy and Bureaucracy
• Comparing Weber and Marx
• In-class Writing
• Discussion of Espeland article
• Film clip/discussion

2
Domination

• Webers definition
• Legitimate and Illegitimate Domination
• Types of Legitimate Domination
• Based on personal authority
• Traditional
• Charismatic
• Based on normative authority
• Rational

3
Legitimate Domination

• Traditional Authority
• Domination through tradition
• Charismatic Authority
• Domination through miracles
• Rational Authority
• Domination through knowledge

4
Stratification
5
Stratification

• Ideal Types independent dimensions of
  inequality
• Interrelated
• Cultural stratification as basis for economic and
  political stratification
• Economic and political stratification translated
  into cultural stratification

6
Bureaucracy and Democracy

• Bureaucracy inevitably accompanies mass
  democracy . . . (E S, p. 983)
• Passive democratization
• Tension between bureaucracy and democracy
• Bureaucracy as indestructible
• the discipline of officialdom
• Bureaucracy as a tool

7
Political Limitations of Bureaucracy

• Increasing power of state bureaucracy
  (government)
• Civil service mentality

8
Robert Michels

• Political Parties (1911) Iron Law of Oligarchy
• Who says organization, says oligarchy.
• Roots of oligarchy
• Technical expertise
• Tendency to dependence on leaders
• Special qualities of leaders

9
Webers Politics

• Rejection of fascism and socialism
• Politics as a Vocation (1918)
• Qualities of political leaders

10
Comparing Weber and Marx

• Similarities
• Comparative-historical approach
• Concerns about impact of modernization
  (alienation the iron cage)
• Concerns about materialistic values under
  capitalism (commodity fetishism Protestant
  ethic)

11
Comparing Weber and Marx

• Differences
• Optimism vs. pessimism
• Class struggle vs. rationalization
• Materialist account vs. complex causality
• Class vs. Class, Status and Party

12
In-Class Writing

• Explain the title of Espelands article,
  Bureaucratizing Democracy, Democratizing
  Bureaucracy.
• (In what way does her case study show how
  democracy can be bureaucratized and bureaucracy
  democratized?)

13
Class Discussion of Espeland

• What is this article about?
• Who held power within the Bureau of Reclamation?
• What was the chronology of the Orme Dam decision?
• How was public involvement incorporated into the
  decision process?

14
Class Discussion of Espeland

• What were the procedures of the PVA?
• What kind of rationality was built into the
  design of this process?
• Who counted as a political actor in the PVA
  process?
• How was bureaucracy democratized?
• How was democracy bureaucratized?

15
Class Discussion of Espeland

• What does Espeland mean when she states that .
  . . a narrow view of democracy limits our
  understanding of power?
• In what way does this case suggest that Weber was
  partially wrong about bureaucracy?

16
Film Clip In the Light of Reverence

• What are the parallels between the case depicted
  in the film and the case described by Espeland?
• How can we describe these conflicts in terms of
  Webers distinctions about different forms of
  rationality?
• Why are seemingly rational decision processes
  irrational from the perspective of some social
  actors?