SOCI 210: Sociological Perspectives Oct. 27 1. The state 2. State - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

SOCI 210: Sociological Perspectives

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• Oct. 27
• 1. The state
• 2. State behavior
• 3. Political participation

Administrative

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Mid-term peer review exercise due this week

⦙ Every student should have received an email with a Microsoft Excel attachment ⦙ Please enter a number (0–10) into each of the yellow cells marked with an ‘X’ and save the file ⦙ Upload to MyCourses by 8pm on Friday, Oct 30 ⦙ Results will be aggregated and sent to group members (no individual scores will be shared) ⦙ This round will not affect final marks for the class ⦙ Completion is required, and will contribute an automatic 2.5% to your final mark for the class

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The State

The state

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What is ‘the’ state?

⦙ The existence of a state is usually taken for granted ⦙ The state is a powerful


Law enforcement; incarceration; military deployment

⦙ The state has final authority in most matters ⦙ The state is distinct from government


Government is the institution that organizes state behavior

The state

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Max Weber on the state

⦙ State is compulsory ⦙ State represented by a centralized government ⦙ State maintains a monopoly on the legitimate use of force ⦙ State has jurisdiction within a certain territory

E.g. Canada and Wet’suwet’en

⦙ Monopoly


No such thing as multiple states

⦙ Territory


States’ reach is geographic

⦙ Compulsory


No “opting out”

⦙ Government


Omits social organization without formal government institution

⦙ Legitimacy …

RCMP helicopter lands at gates of Wet’suwet’en Unist’ot’en Village

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Statelessness

Images of statelessness

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“State of nature” Three visions of human society without a state

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All against all 2 Natural law 3 Social institutions

Images of statelessness

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“State of nature” Three visions of human society without a state

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All against all 2 Natural law 3 Social institutions Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651)

⦙ Hypothetical (rhetorical) human history ⦙ State of nature is chaos ⦙ Interpersonal violence only resolution to conflict—
 ‘war of all against all’ ⦙ “continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

Images of statelessness

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“State of nature” Three visions of human society without a state

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All against all 2 Natural law 3 Social institutions John Locke, Two Treatises of Government (1689)

⦙ Refers to empirical “states of nature” in human history ⦙ Human reason exists without formal state ⦙ Mutual respect for life, liberty, and property is rational and natural (natural law) ⦙ State of nature not chaotic— governance emerges naturally

Images of statelessness

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“State of nature” Three visions of human society without a state

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All against all 2 Natural law 3 Social institutions Social anarchism
 (e.g. Peter Kropotkin)

⦙ Proposed as ideal state of society—reject the idea of a natural, primordial “state of nature” ⦙ Human society can organize itself without a formal state ⦙ State is inherently problematic ⦙ Instead: voluntary institutions, mutual aid, norms of collaboration

Images of statelessness

11 The Road Warrior (a.k.a. Mad Max 2)
 (1981)

Images of statelessness

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Hobbes Locke Social anarchist

Dominance by strongest
 All against all
 No lasting social order All humans equal
 Subject to universal, natural law
 Order from rational ideals of justice Social structures exist without state
 Communities enforce norms Order from voluntary cooperation

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Image credit

Photo by Roberto Catarinicchia Photo by Michael Toledano The frontispiece of the book Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes; engraving by Abraham Bosse Photo by Luke Stackpoole Bobby Seale Checks Food Bags Photograph by Howard Erker The Road Warrior (1981)

• fficial poster

Still from
 The Road Warrior (1981) Still from
 The Road Warrior (1981) Still from
 The Road Warrior (1981)