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Book No. – 002 (Sociology)
Book Name – Sociology (C.N. Shankar Rao)
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1. DEMOCRACY AND TOTALITARIANISM
1.1. Definitions of Democracy
1.2. Basic principles of Democracy
1.3. Essential Conditions for Democracy
1.4. Forms of Democracy
2. POLITICAL PARTIES
3. VOTING BEHAVIOUR
4. PRESSURE GROUPS
5. THE TOTALITARIAN SYSTEM
5.1. Distinction between Democracy and Totalitarianism
5.2. Merits and Demerits of Democracy,
5.3. Merits and Demerits of Dictatorship or Totalitarianism
6. THE WELFARE STATE
6.1. Definition
6.2. Functions of the Welfare State
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LANGUAGE
The Political System
Sociology
Chapter – 29
Table of Contents
- Politics is an inevitable part of human existence.
- Virtually no one is beyond the reach of some form of political system.
- Citizens encounter politics through government, town, school, church, business, trade union, club, political party, and civic associations.
- Politics affects everyone, whether they like it or not, at some point in time.
- Politics is an ancient and universal experience.
- The art and science of political analysis have developed over thousands of years.
- Political analysis has thrived in cultures that inherited the legacy of ancient Greeks, Romans, and Indians.
- The Greeks achieved a high degree of political sophistication over 25 centuries ago under thinkers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
- Every age has produced great students of politics who have contributed to the development of political science.
DEMOCRACY AND TOTALITARIANISM
- Thinkers distinguish between different types of political systems.
- Aristotle introduced a six-fold classification:
- Kingship (Monarchy) and Tyranny (rule by one)
- Aristocracy and Oligarchy (rule by a few)
- Polity and Democracy (rule by many).
- Max Weber emphasized that the type of political system depends on the nature of its legitimacy, which rests on three factors:
- Tradition
- Exceptional personal qualities or Charismatic personality
- Legality.
- T.B. Bottomore distinguishes three political systems:
- Political systems of tribal societies (e.g., African societies)
- Political systems in non-industrial countries of ancient civilizations being industrialized post-colonial rule (e.g., Asia, Middle East, Latin America)
- Political systems of industrial societies, which include:
- Democratic-Capitalist or Democratic-Socialist
- Communist-Totalitarian and other forms of totalitarianism.
- Democracy as a political system is viewed as the most fashionable form of government today.
- Democracy is often considered the best and most civilized form of government, but as Burns notes, it is a word with many meanings and emotional color.
- The term democracy is derived from Greek words:
- Demos (people)
- Kratia (power) — literally meaning government where power is vested in the people.
Definitions of Democracy
- Getzell: A form of government where the population shares in exercising sovereign power.
- Maclver: Democracy is primarily a way of determining who governs and for what ends.
- Sardar Panikkar: Democracy is not just a form of government but a complex of social, economic, and political factors.
- Abraham Lincoln: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”.
- Aristotle: Democracy is a perverted form of popular rule.