There are 4 main approaches in sociology covering politics. First one is functionalist approach, second is pluralist approach, third is elite theory, and fourth is Marxist-conflict theory.
In functionalist approach, society is evaluated in terms of basic needs. The state has emerged as a necessity within the society. These needs are: 1.
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Neoliberalism formed part of a larger, new right ideological project that sought to fuse laissez-faire economics with an essentially conservative social philosophy. Neoliberalism amounts to a form of market fundamentalism. The market is seen to be morally and practically superior to government and any form of political control.
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Liberalism is an ideology emerged in needs of bourgeoisie against the hegemony of dominant classes of feudalism which are aristocracy and monarchy.
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Authority is a particular type of domination; and it is legitimate. Max Weber distinguishes 3 types of authority:
Traditional authority: Authority based on the belief in long-running traditions is traditional authority. In other words, traditional authority is the power legitimized through respect for long-established cultural patterns. There should be a belief in the ‘rightness’ of established customs and traditions, and ‘traditional status’ of the traditional authority is inherited. In the modern world, traditional authority is increasingly replaced by rational-legal authority.
Rational-legal authority: Those who possess rational-legal authority are legitimated on the basis of legally enacted rules and the right of those with authority under those rules to issue commands.
Charismatic authority: Charismatic authority is based on the devotion of followers or subordinates to what they define as the exceptional characteristics of a leader. These characteristics are mostly seen as “supernatural, super-human, or at least exceptional compared to lesser mortals”.
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Legitimacy does not mean any power to be ruling as means of elections or utilizing force or power of sanction; legitimacy requires the recognition through consent.
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Political sociology is the “study of power and the intersection of society and politics” (Neuman, 2007: 305). Unlike political science, political sociology is a sociological branch “which is concerned with the social causes and consequences of given power distributions within or between societies, and with the social and political conflicts that lead to changes in the allocation of power” (Marshall, 1998). In other words, it is a sub-discipline that analyses “political authority’s institutional regulations, of functions of political authority and transformation of political system”.
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Absolute poverty is an individual’s or a family’s lack of income and consumption by failing to meet the basic biological needs like food, shelter and clothing. Relative poverty is an individual’s, a family’s, or a social group’s deprivation of the necessary resources to get nourishment adequately, participate in social and cultural activities (at least the common and usual ones), and live a standard life of the societies they live in. The relative poverty is usually calculated by getting a reference of a country’s average revenue.
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According to Weber, the main difference between classes is the ownership relations on financial sources. (...) According to Weber, factors that determine people’s positions of classes are people’s knowledge, skills and qualifications in the production process. Three overlapping elements of the stratification system in the modern society are class, status, and party.
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Social classes are not supported by legal inequalities. Everybody has equal rights before the law. Upper classes do not have legal authority on the lower classes.
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Inequality systems which are seen in pre-industrial societies are classified in three types as slavery, caste and property ownership. Slavery is an inequality system, which is commonly seen in agricultural societies even though it is occasionally seen in hunter and picker societies.
The caste system of India is nearly 2000 years old, and there
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Social Mobility refers to the downward or upward movements between the layers of the social stratification system. Downward Mobility is an individual’s or a group’s move to another social position which is similar to the old social position or status. Upward Mobility is an individual’s or a group’s move to another social position that is different from the older social position or status. Put differently, it expresses a movement of individuals or groups between social layers, which differ by prestige, reputation and income. Upward mobility may happen to upwards and to downwards.
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Ascribed Status expresses a social position of a person gained without personal effort, achieved by birth, and generally does not change.
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Social stratification means people’s difference and hierarchical positioning based on some inequalities like income, prosperity, power, prestige, status, age, gender, race, ethnicity etc. According to another definition, social stratum is “a human group who share similar advantages and disadvantages’’. Social stratification always requires that: Families hand over their inequal social status to their children in most societies. Social inequalities persist because families hand down their social and economic prosperity to their children by heritage and similar ways.
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A human needs to become rational to be itself.
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According to Weber, industrial societies are the models in which rational action templates are common. Producing, ruling and social life of a capitalist society are built on rationality. He explains the development reasons of the industrial capitalism in Europe with cultural factors and norms. In Europe, the development of the industrial capitalism’s cultural motives depends on Lutherian morality and its mentality. The nature of this motivation includes working, saving, and avoiding secular delight and pleasure. The cultural behaviour of saving the profit that is achieved by working caused a capital accumulation, which is one of the necessary elements of capitalist society.
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