In any society, someone or some group makes important decisions about how to use resources and how to allocate goods.
• It needs the exercise of power and authority.
• It involves politics: who gets what, when, and how?
• Power lies at the heart of a political system.
• According to Max Weber, power is the ability to exercise one’s will over others.
• In the early 1900s, power is on the nation-state.
• Today, in the era of globalization, power is exercised on a global stage as well as a national stage by countries and multinational corporations.
• There are three basic sources of power within any political system.
(1) Force is the actual or threatened use of coercion to impose one’s will on others. (e.g. A leader execute opponents.)
(2) Influence indicates the exercise of power through a process of persuasion.
(3) Authority refers to institutionalized power that is recognized by the people over whom it is exercised.
Authority
• In sociology, “authority” is commonly connected with those who hold legitimate power through elected or publicly acknowledged positions.
• A person’s authority is limited.
(e.g. a referee of a football game)
• Max Weber classified authority into three.