Theories of Power and Domination essay

Theories of Power and Domination essay

The purpose of the essay is to enable you to research and reflect upon certain key issues identified in the module independently.

Choose one of the following questions:

1. ‘Every genuine form of domination implies a minimum of voluntary compliance’ (Max Weber).

Discuss in relation to Weber’s theory of power and dominance.

2. How useful is C. Wright Mill’s The Power Elite for our understanding of power and domination in Western democracies?

3. Is Robert Dahl correct in equating democracy with polyarchy? Discuss.

4. ‘The distinction between important and unimportant issues (…) cannot be made intelligently in the absence of an analysis of the “mobilisation bias” in a community’. Discuss by analysing Bachrach and Baratz’s perspective on ‘the two faces of power’.

5. To what extent is Lukes correct in arguing that the exercise of power consists in ‘preven[ting] people ‘from having grievances by shaping their perceptions, cognitions and preferences in such a way that they accept their role in the existing order of things’? Discuss.

Wordcount:

Your essay should be 3,250 words in length and word-processed, double-spaced using a large enough font (at least 11). Footnotes/endnotes are not counted as part of this total so long as they only contain reference to the source of information used. The bibliography should not be counted either. A penalty may be imposed on an essay that is 10% over or below this limit.

Referencing Style:

Harvard.