EXAM 2 SOC POWER IN SOCIETY
QUIZ QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED
ANSWERS
Constitutional foundations-Nazi Germany
• Absence of constitutional and legal foundations
• Outwardly, Nazi Germany seemed to be an extension of the government
inaugurated by the Weimar Republic in 1918
• In reality, the National Socialist Party committed a legal revolution by overthrowing
the Weimar constitution by employing the constitutions own provisions
• Decrees in 1933 and 1934 declare Hitler as Chancellor and President of Germany
• Initially a façade of democratic procedures consistent with the Weimar Republic
• Elections were held resulting win widespread support for National Socialist Party
but party manipulated media and mass rallies. - ANSWER-• Hitler fashioned a
system where the national socialist Party and the state bureaucracy had parallel
offices (looked like equal power but party and Hitler were actually dominant)
o Competition among occupants of parallel offices served to strengthen his own
leadership
o Unquestioning obedience to the commands of Hitler
o Gestapo (secret police) and SS troops under the authority of Heinrich Himmler-in
charge of eliminating the enemies of the state.
Ideological foundations
• Ideology based on myths that Hitler set out in his autobiography (Mein Kampf)
• Aryan race as saviors of the world
• Jews as scum of the earth
• Gained widespread acceptance of this doctrine
• After 1938 these principles were transformed into actual practices, first as random
terror against Jews in Germany then as organized concentration camps and wartime
hostility against other nations.
Social foundations
• Through practices of terror, sought to eliminate the many diverse social groups that
existed during the Weimar Republic
o Trade unions were eliminated and replaced by the Labor Front-just a tool of the
National Socialist Party
o Independent news media were destroyed or taken over
o Nazi youth groups socialized young Germans into the new official system of
thought
o Mass rallied of people mesmerized by Hitler.
Economic Foundations
• In totalitarian economies-command economy.
• In Nazi Germany, two different sectors: the command sector controlled by national
Socialist party and state administrators and a large private sector involved in
manufacturing and other forms of industry
,• All conventional features of a capitalist economy were supplanted by an
administration driven by national and racial dogma
Authoritarianism:
Edward Shils- in many parts of the developing world there was a tendency for the
leadership to rule in an authoritarian fashion, partly because for such nations to
advance economically required almost absolute political control by their leaders.
• According to Shils, two special features of many of the regimes in the developing
world - ANSWER-• 1. Tendency for leaders to govern in a dictatorial fashion
• 2. Effort by these leaders to promote the economic development of their countries.
Juan Linz invented the concept of authoritarianism
Not democratic but also lacking the characteristics of totalitarianism such as a reign
of terror and a single party.
Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Evelyne Stephens and John Stephens- those regimes that
lack regular, free, and fair elections of representatives with universal and equal
suffrage, and a state apparatus which is responsible to an elected parliament.
Can be populist with mass popular support-Juan Peron in Argentina
Guillermo O'Donnell
Bureaucratic authoritarian regime:
1. The exercise of political rule by a small group if leaders often backed by the
military
2. The reliance of political rulers on a large group of technical personnel who
exercise much of the day-to-day control over the operations of society
3. Effort to promote the economic growth of society, partially as a response to a
period of economic stagnation - ANSWER-4. Extensive repression of the various
classes in society especially the expanding middle class. (represses civil society in
face of rapid economic growth)
• Leaders seek to exercise very tight control of government policy as well as the
expression of citizens.
o In Latin America and four little dragons-Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong
Kong- experienced considerable economic success but did so at the expense of civil
liberties and freedom.
o Considerable inequality with wealthy accumulating gain while lower classes
suffering immense hardship.
Transitional forms
• Success of authoritarian regimes lies with the charisma of leaders. Once they are
gone, regimes can fall. Spain and South Korea became more democratic.
• Can also swing in opposite direction-totalitarian
Nations, nationality and Nationalism:
When speaking of the state today, most sociologists refer to the nation-state
• Nation can be defined as a group of people who share a common identity,
traditions, history, aspirations, interests, language, religion and culture.
, • According to Eric Hobsbawm, in most instances a nation or people are linked to the
territory because the structure and definition of a stat is essentially territorial, nation
can also be linked to ethnicity.
• Nationalism-according to Hobsbawm- refers to the belief that the political and
national unit should be congruent. - ANSWER-• Nationalism is a form of
consciousness-an awareness of a particular national history and culture. The term
includes four shades of meaning
1. Nationalism as sentiment
a. Fed by romanticism argues that each nation has a unique place in history
2. As an historical process
a. Promoted the liberation movements that sparked the creation of independent
nation-states (ex. Greece from the Ottoman empire-1830), also Germany, Italy,
Serbia, Poland)
3. As a theory
a. Attempts to explain why some people and nations develop a high sense of
national identity , sometimes ethnic identity, while others do not
4. As an ideology of political activities
a. Employs myths, ideas propaganda, and courses of action that promote the
creation of a nation-state (Israel)
The modern nation state:
The origin of a specific nation state is defined with respect to territory and the people
who occupy it.
In most cases, state emerged after the nation.
• Develops through a process of institutional differentiation-can be internally imposed
or externally imposed
o Stateless society becomes a state in process that begins in military conquest or
external force
o At first the conquerors define the emerging state as a territory - ANSWER-o The
history of the new state begins and its territory is associated with its corresponding
society.
o The militarily and politically dominant group extends its control over people and
resources using symbols such as myths, flags, anthems, ideologies to manipulate
the populace.
o Civil administration and military control the territory and the people
o Process of democratization may or may not follow and involves three principles
1. Sovereignty-independent exercise of political or moral authority over its own
territory and people ( by a people in democracy)
2. Bureaucratization - hierarchy of administration guided by rules, regulations and a
system of rewards and punishment
3. Rationalization-greater standardization, consistency and coordination of means
and ends
The Liberal Constitutional state:
Resembles the present capitalist democratic state
1. Has a centralized monopoly over its territory defended through the use of force
2. Legitimization of authority over that territory based on legal or bureaucratic
authority which is a reflection of the relationship between rulers and ruled -
ANSWER-a. Consent is central
QUIZ QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED
ANSWERS
Constitutional foundations-Nazi Germany
• Absence of constitutional and legal foundations
• Outwardly, Nazi Germany seemed to be an extension of the government
inaugurated by the Weimar Republic in 1918
• In reality, the National Socialist Party committed a legal revolution by overthrowing
the Weimar constitution by employing the constitutions own provisions
• Decrees in 1933 and 1934 declare Hitler as Chancellor and President of Germany
• Initially a façade of democratic procedures consistent with the Weimar Republic
• Elections were held resulting win widespread support for National Socialist Party
but party manipulated media and mass rallies. - ANSWER-• Hitler fashioned a
system where the national socialist Party and the state bureaucracy had parallel
offices (looked like equal power but party and Hitler were actually dominant)
o Competition among occupants of parallel offices served to strengthen his own
leadership
o Unquestioning obedience to the commands of Hitler
o Gestapo (secret police) and SS troops under the authority of Heinrich Himmler-in
charge of eliminating the enemies of the state.
Ideological foundations
• Ideology based on myths that Hitler set out in his autobiography (Mein Kampf)
• Aryan race as saviors of the world
• Jews as scum of the earth
• Gained widespread acceptance of this doctrine
• After 1938 these principles were transformed into actual practices, first as random
terror against Jews in Germany then as organized concentration camps and wartime
hostility against other nations.
Social foundations
• Through practices of terror, sought to eliminate the many diverse social groups that
existed during the Weimar Republic
o Trade unions were eliminated and replaced by the Labor Front-just a tool of the
National Socialist Party
o Independent news media were destroyed or taken over
o Nazi youth groups socialized young Germans into the new official system of
thought
o Mass rallied of people mesmerized by Hitler.
Economic Foundations
• In totalitarian economies-command economy.
• In Nazi Germany, two different sectors: the command sector controlled by national
Socialist party and state administrators and a large private sector involved in
manufacturing and other forms of industry
,• All conventional features of a capitalist economy were supplanted by an
administration driven by national and racial dogma
Authoritarianism:
Edward Shils- in many parts of the developing world there was a tendency for the
leadership to rule in an authoritarian fashion, partly because for such nations to
advance economically required almost absolute political control by their leaders.
• According to Shils, two special features of many of the regimes in the developing
world - ANSWER-• 1. Tendency for leaders to govern in a dictatorial fashion
• 2. Effort by these leaders to promote the economic development of their countries.
Juan Linz invented the concept of authoritarianism
Not democratic but also lacking the characteristics of totalitarianism such as a reign
of terror and a single party.
Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Evelyne Stephens and John Stephens- those regimes that
lack regular, free, and fair elections of representatives with universal and equal
suffrage, and a state apparatus which is responsible to an elected parliament.
Can be populist with mass popular support-Juan Peron in Argentina
Guillermo O'Donnell
Bureaucratic authoritarian regime:
1. The exercise of political rule by a small group if leaders often backed by the
military
2. The reliance of political rulers on a large group of technical personnel who
exercise much of the day-to-day control over the operations of society
3. Effort to promote the economic growth of society, partially as a response to a
period of economic stagnation - ANSWER-4. Extensive repression of the various
classes in society especially the expanding middle class. (represses civil society in
face of rapid economic growth)
• Leaders seek to exercise very tight control of government policy as well as the
expression of citizens.
o In Latin America and four little dragons-Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong
Kong- experienced considerable economic success but did so at the expense of civil
liberties and freedom.
o Considerable inequality with wealthy accumulating gain while lower classes
suffering immense hardship.
Transitional forms
• Success of authoritarian regimes lies with the charisma of leaders. Once they are
gone, regimes can fall. Spain and South Korea became more democratic.
• Can also swing in opposite direction-totalitarian
Nations, nationality and Nationalism:
When speaking of the state today, most sociologists refer to the nation-state
• Nation can be defined as a group of people who share a common identity,
traditions, history, aspirations, interests, language, religion and culture.
, • According to Eric Hobsbawm, in most instances a nation or people are linked to the
territory because the structure and definition of a stat is essentially territorial, nation
can also be linked to ethnicity.
• Nationalism-according to Hobsbawm- refers to the belief that the political and
national unit should be congruent. - ANSWER-• Nationalism is a form of
consciousness-an awareness of a particular national history and culture. The term
includes four shades of meaning
1. Nationalism as sentiment
a. Fed by romanticism argues that each nation has a unique place in history
2. As an historical process
a. Promoted the liberation movements that sparked the creation of independent
nation-states (ex. Greece from the Ottoman empire-1830), also Germany, Italy,
Serbia, Poland)
3. As a theory
a. Attempts to explain why some people and nations develop a high sense of
national identity , sometimes ethnic identity, while others do not
4. As an ideology of political activities
a. Employs myths, ideas propaganda, and courses of action that promote the
creation of a nation-state (Israel)
The modern nation state:
The origin of a specific nation state is defined with respect to territory and the people
who occupy it.
In most cases, state emerged after the nation.
• Develops through a process of institutional differentiation-can be internally imposed
or externally imposed
o Stateless society becomes a state in process that begins in military conquest or
external force
o At first the conquerors define the emerging state as a territory - ANSWER-o The
history of the new state begins and its territory is associated with its corresponding
society.
o The militarily and politically dominant group extends its control over people and
resources using symbols such as myths, flags, anthems, ideologies to manipulate
the populace.
o Civil administration and military control the territory and the people
o Process of democratization may or may not follow and involves three principles
1. Sovereignty-independent exercise of political or moral authority over its own
territory and people ( by a people in democracy)
2. Bureaucratization - hierarchy of administration guided by rules, regulations and a
system of rewards and punishment
3. Rationalization-greater standardization, consistency and coordination of means
and ends
The Liberal Constitutional state:
Resembles the present capitalist democratic state
1. Has a centralized monopoly over its territory defended through the use of force
2. Legitimization of authority over that territory based on legal or bureaucratic
authority which is a reflection of the relationship between rulers and ruled -
ANSWER-a. Consent is central
