ucsp 2

• Power is an entity or individual’s ability to control or direct others, while authority is the influence predicated on perceived legitimacy
• Types of authority:

  • Charismatic: stems from an individual’s extraordinary personal qualities and hold over followers
  • Traditional: rooted in long-standing beliefs and practices of a society
  • Rational-legal: derives from law and belief in the legitimacy of a society’s laws and rules
• Social stratification involves hierarchical ranking based on categories like ethnicity, class, educational attainment, and gender
• Social differentiation distinguishes between social groups and persons based on psychological, biological, and sociocultural factors
• Social differences can lead to problems like discrimination, inequality, and superiority complexes
• Types of societies based on social differentiation:

  • Egalitarian societies: no great difference in status or power between individuals
  • Rank societies: substantial differences in wealth and social status based on relation to the chief
  • Stratified societies: large differences in wealth, status, and power based on unequal access to resources and positions of power
• Political organizations:

  • Bands: smallest unit, few families, no formal leadership
  • Tribes: larger populations, organized around family ties
  • Chiefdoms: large political units with a chief in a formal position of power
  • States: most complex, characterized by central government, bureaucracy, formal laws, and military force
• Modern political systems:

  • Monarchy: appoints a person as head of state for life or until abdication
  • Democracy: allows people to choose leadership for fair representation
  • Communism: centralized government led by a single party, aiming for a classless society
  • Federalism: significant government powers shared between Federal and Regional/State Governments
• Participatory governance emphasizes democratic engagement through deliberative practices
• Inclusive citizenship focuses on empowering marginalized groups and individuals in political processes
• Social movements are collective actions taken by groups to tackle social problems
• Types of distribution systems:

  • Reciprocity: generalized, balanced, negative
  • Redistribution: transfer of income and wealth through social mechanisms
  • Market exchange: goods and services produced, distributed, and exchanged by price, supply, and demand
• Non-state institutions:

  • Banks and corporations: banks take in funds and lend them, corporations are legal entities operating for profit
  • Cooperatives and labor unions: different responses to improving working conditions
  • Civil society and advocacy groups: diverse social spaces, actors, and institutional forms advocating for causes
• Overview of the development of the economy:

  • Agricultural revolution: cultural transformations allowing shift to agriculture
  • Industrial revolution: change from agrarian to industrial economy
  • Information revolution: significant change driven by computer technology
• Economic systems:

  • Capitalism: private ownership of means of production, labor paid wages
  • Socialism: government makes decisions on production, distribution, and pricing
  • Communism: goal of creating a classless society with state control of property and wealth