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Summary SANT105: concepts and definitions
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For the course SANT105 Power: its articulations and disguises, a list with all important concepts from the readings with an explanation and definition.
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Concepts SANT105• Power = the influence or ability, the option, to influence others (this is just one type
of power)
o Many definitions, power is different to different anthropologists
• Sovereignty = the authority of a state to govern itself or another state.
• Legitimacy = acceptance of power by others (who have no power) and so it is the
right to exercise the power
• Hegemony = leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over
others.
• Ideology = a way of thinking with attached norms and values (system of belief).
Ideology might be described as an articulate system of values, beliefs, meaning, a
worldview of a social group. It is carried around in everyday values, popular styles,
fashion, images.
• Discourse = a formal debate in speech or writing or a topic, or political discourse:
looking at something through a political perspective.
o Foucault: something we take for granted although it’s not necessarily true
▪ ways of constituting knowledge, together with the social practices,
forms of subjectivity and power relations which inhere in such
knowledges and relations between them. Discourses are more than
ways of thinking and producing meaning. They constitute the 'nature'
of the body, unconscious and conscious mind and emotional life of
the subjects they seek to govern
▪ For modern/western societies: constituting knowledge through
science
• Embodied power = wolf, power as an individual attribute, capability, e.g., strength,
knowledge, energy, the sorts of things that enable us to do things in the world.
• Relational power = wolf, the ability of one individual to impose their will on another.
In Weber's terms, it's the ability to carry out one's will despite resistance. Relational
because involves at least two individuals. Examples: physically dominating another
person; parent-child relationship where parent directs child to behave in certain
ways.
• Organizational/tactical power = wolf, the power an individual or unit has over
another individual or group of individuals in relation to their control over a social
setting. Not just two individuals, but a social space with multiple individuals.
Examples: teachers over students (teachers control content and grades); boss over
workers (control wages and access to employment). So here the power is in the
social organization, it is enacted through a hierarchical social arrangement where a
person or group of people are perceived to have power over others and so people in
the organization act accordingly to this social arrangement.
• Structural power = wolf, the power to organize (i.e., structure) social settings in
which actions take place. Not necessarily directed by an individual person or group
of people, but a more pervasive system with a history. Examples: capitalism; nation-
states; imperialism. For Wolf, structural power is a way of explaining human actions
, in ways that are attentive to the interconnectedness of human societies around the
world as well as remembering that human behaviours are always situated within and
shaped by histories. The power that structures the political economy, emphasizing
power to deploy and allocate social labour.
• Charismatic authority = weber, Charismatic ground, resting on devotion to the
exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual person, and on
the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him (charismatic authority)
Charisma as applied to a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue
of which he is considered extraordinary and treated as endowed with
supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or
qualities. Not accessible for a regular person, often seen as divine qualities.
What is important is how the individual is regarded by those subjected to
charismatic authority, by his followers:
Recognition on the part of those subject to authority which is decisive for the
validity of charisma.
If proof and success elude the leader for long, if he appears deserted by his
super special qualities, it is likely that his charismatic authority will disappear,
the genuine meaning of the divine rights of kings.
An organized group subject to charismatic authority will be called a
charismatic community, which is based on an emotional form of communal
relationship. The administrative staff does not consist of officials. There is no
hierarchy, a definite sphere of competence, no such thing as salary and no
appropriation of official powers on the basis of social privileges.
Pure charisma is specifically foreign to economic considerations but more a
‘spiritual duty’. In the pure type it disdains economic exploitations of gifts etc.
In traditionalist periods, charisma is THE great revolutionary force. Charisma
may affect a subjective or internal reorientation born out of suffering,
conflicts or enthusiasm. In pre-rationalistic periods, tradition and charisma
between them have almost exhausted the whole of the orientation of action
• Traditional authority = weber, Traditional grounds, resting on an established belief in
the sanctity of immemorial traditions and the legitimacy of those exercising
authority under them (traditional authority)
This is traditional if legitimacy is claimed for and believed in by virtue of the
sanctity of age-old rules and powers, so primarily based on personal loyalty
which comes from common upbringing. Obedience is not owed to enacted
rules but to the person who occupies a position of authority by tradition or
who has been chosen. The commands of that person are legitimized in 2
ways:
Partly in terms of traditions which themselves directly determine the content
of the command and are believed to be valid within certain limits; sphere of
action which is bound to specific traditions
Partly in terms of the master’s discretion in that sphere which tradition leaves
open to him; sphere of action which is free of specific rules
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