Theories of Power

1.  The concept of power involves the ability to control or influence people's
behavior.
 Politics and power in the 21st century has been defined through the culture
of innovation and openness
 This is in relation to how contemporary culture and politics has been
intertwined.
 Politics and power rely on content and style
 It has to be relevant and visible to the visions and how the society social
relations are structured.
 Political sociology in such respect revolves around cultural politics.
 This is to assist in understanding how social identities and relations face
consistent challenges.

2.  Empirical changes in the contemporary society have been sufficient in
defining the course of politics and power
 This is through creating new approaches.
 It is in relation to the paradigm shift away from state-centered towards the
basis of social experience.
 Pluralism makes assumptions that power and politics face disparity within
the societal settings to a specific interest group.
 Political decisions, especially in policy matters constitutes the competitive
outcome of specific groups.
 Such groups represent different interests with the state as a neutral player.
 According to the social relations that hold the society intact, political
power is dispersed and fragmented.

3. • The modern existence of political parties, classes, interest groups,
and status groups affirm the distribution of power.
• The groups ensure there is a more effective and reliable means of
representations.
• With reference to the United States political arena, public policy
has been the significant outcome of the group forces with diverse
views.
• The policies resulting from politics and power forms a product of
compromise and bargaining.
• This tends to moderate social stability.

4.  According to Elitist theory, every societal setting and political blocks
involves small classes of significant decision makers and leaders.
 They have the key political functions that monopolize power and the
larger class.
 This is with passive approaches that marginalizes political affairs.
 In power, the ruling elite comes from higher echelons, the military and
corporate sectors.
 Based on the approach of democratic elitism, there are democratic
elections involved in creating political leadership
 It involves opportunities offered to the passive masses to vote.
 The society make choices about the kinds of leaders they want to be in
power
 This defines the concept of democracy in the modern liberal capitalist
states.

5.  According to Marxism, the simple idea behind politics and
power is the policy process
 It is driven through powerful socioeconomic defined forces.
 Such force structures the choices of decision makers.
 They set the agenda and constrain implementation to ensure
power is within the reach of the interest group.
 They determine the outcomes of the political system.
 The function of the state under such assumption is to
reproduce and protect capitalism.
 The approach of the public policy reflects on the states
defined roles
 This is in trying to ensure there is political and social
stability.
 In addition, the state ensures they formulate and implement
the policies to reflect the defined interest of capitalism and
the ruling class

6. Nash, K. (2010). Contemporary Political Sociology:
Globalization, Politics and Power. Chichester: John Wiley &
Sons.
Newton, K., & Deth, J. W. (2006). Foundations of comparative
politics: Democracies of the modern world. Cambridge [u.a.:
Cambridge Univ. Press.
Pye, L. W., & Pye, M. W. (2009). Asian power and politics: The
cultural dimensions of authority. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press.