RBSE Class 12 Political Science Notes Chapter 2 Power, Authority and Legitimacy

Rajasthan Board RBSE Class 12 Political Science Notes Chapter 2 Power, Authority and Legitimacy

Power:

  • Power is the basic concept of political science.
  • Politics is the field in which rules are made by the opinion of everyone considering their rights and duties.
  • In ancient Indian concept, power is accepted in the form of “ punishment.” Manu, Kautilya and Shukra etc. have highlighted various elements of power.
  • In European thought, Machiavelli is considered the first thinker in the favor of power.
  • The chief propounder of morden political science, Charles Merriam has explained various aspects of power.

Difference Among Power, Force and Influence:

  • Generally power and force are considered to be the same, but in reality there is a difference between the two. The power is the disguised force and force is the power to appear.
  • Power is an undisclosed element but force is a manifest element.
  • Power and influence also have many similarities and dissimilarities.
  • Both strengthen to each other and both become effective only after being justified.
  • But, Strength is oppressive and behind it harsh physical force is used, whereas the influence is psychological.

Kinds Of Power:

  • Broadly there are three types of power namely- Political Power, Economic Power and Ideological Power.
  • Political power is used by different parts of government like legislative, executive and judiciary which can be called as the formal organ of power.
  • Economic power means ownership on the means of production and wealth. Economic power affects the political power in many ways.
  • Ideology means the group of ideas on the basis of which our approach develops. It affects the ways of people’s thinking and understanding.

Structure of Power:

  • There are four main theories of power. They are :
    • Theory of class dominance.
    • Specific class theory.
    • Feminist theory
    • Pluralistic theory.
  • The principle of class dominance which is the result of Marxism, has a basic belief that on an economic basis the society is divided into two opposing classes- economically powerful class and financially weak class.
  • Specific class theory divides the society in two groups- the specific class which is powerful and the general class.
  • Feminist theory holds that the basis of division of power in the society is genderistic. All the strength of the society is with men and they use their power over women.
  • Pluralistic theory states that all the power in the society is divided into many groups, not in the hands of any one class.

Authority:

  • Power is an important concept since ancient times in political science.
  • Authority is such a virtue of an individual, organization, rule or order, due to which it is obeyed and voluntarily followed its instruction.

Basis of Following the Authority:

  • There are four main grounds of obeying the authority. They are
    • Belief
    • Uniformity
    • Public interest
    • Pressure.

Kinds of Authority:

  • The famous sociologist Max Weber has given the following three forms of authority :
    • Traditional Authority
    • Charismatic Authority
    • Legal and Rational Authority.
  • Authority has to work with constitutional laws of the country and its culture and values related to its traditional and moral concept etc.

Legitimacy:

  • Legitimacy is a consensus between the ruler and the ruled. In the form of a concept in political science, legitimacy does not imply to be a law, instead, it is related to the values and trust of the governance and the ruled, which make the governance lawful.
  • In modem democratic system of governance, participation (share-holding) of the people is regarded a proof of legitimacy of a state.
  • Legitimacy is actually a link between the power and authority.
  • The concepts of power, authority and legitimacy are closely connected. In the event of lack of power, it is impossible to establish peace, system, justice and happiness in the society.

RBSE Class 12 Political Science Notes Chapter 2 Important Terms:

  • Power : Power is the basic concept of the political science. It indicates that the people who have the power can make other’s behaviors and ideas according to them.
  • Authority : Combination of validity and power is called authority. It is the right to give orders and power to enact them.
  • Legitimacy : It is the consent of the people given to a system, institution or political agency by which the system gets authority to rule.
  • Force : It is the active form of power which is seen when someone having power insists people to work accordingly.
  • Political Power : It is the allotment of important social resources like post, prestige, tax, reward, punishment etc. among different groups or departments.
  • Economic Power : If refers the ownership on the means of production and wealth.
  • Resource : Any thing (person, material, element etc.) present in our environment that is capable to fetch some need of human society is called resource.
  • Manu : He was a man of multi dimensional personality and was bom in the beginning of human civilization. He wrote the book ‘Manusmirit’. This book contains rules and essentials of human society. Manu was a king, a teacher, a Rishi or scholar.
  • Mahatma Gandhi : A lawyer, a freedom fighter, a social reformer and a man of poor. Famous by the name ‘Bapu’ and his thoughts are known as Gandhism.
  • Nationalism : A kind of love and respect towards own country.
  • Marxism : Advocated by Karl Marx. It is supporter of labour class and wants to form a society based on equality, justice and development of all.
  • Ideological Power : A kind of power developed in a group of persons because they believe in a particular ideology like communism, socialism, etc.
  • Pressure Groups : The group of people having common interest is called pressure group. These put pressure over government to meet their demands.
  • Political Party : Such type of group of people which contests election and tries to get political power.
  • Integral Humanism : This ideology was developed by Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay. According to this ideology, human must be the centre of our all efforts and our all activities should be for the welfare of human. We should not let the physical things rule over human.
  • Maoist : Followers of the way told by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao. These peole adopt offensive way to gain political power.
  • Public Opinion : It is the opinion of public asked by government on a particular subject
  • Traditional Authority : The authority based on tradition or history and has no place for logic and intelligence. For example, king’s authority.
  • Charismatic Authority : The authority based on the personality, qualities and miracles of a person. Narendra Modi is an example of it.
  • Class-Struggle : The tension, resistance or struggle between powerful and powerless people’sgroups is called class struggle. .
  • Kautilya (Chanakya) : A famous ancient economist, an ideal teacher, the founder of Maurya empire and Prime Minister of Chandra Gupta Maurya. He wrote ‘Arthshastra’, a famous book of economics.

RBSE Class 12 Political Science Notes