Are we a forgiving society, or should we?

I was not aware of the Ms Ris Low saga until one day, my nine year old daughter asked me,"Mum, what is boomz?"

She was having dinner with her cousins, and they laughed and joked about that the whole dinner.

The whole episode did turn quite ugly, had brought some bitter taste of cruel reality. I cannot help but wondering,"Are we a forgiving society?"

Sure, Ms Low did her part wrongs, she should have brushed up her English; she should not have medical condition which mostly caused her to steal (??? I wonder); she should keep her mouth shut, as advised; she should be much sober, if she wants to be forgiven and forgotten her past....

However, the media easily forgot, she is anyway a 19 years old, what more for one to bear to be dragged down from the throne of glory into the mud of disgrace?

It was media to blow her up one day, then thumb her down another day...

Even after she was forced to resign from the title of Miss Singapore, the media still find "amusing" to report more on the court order "she,(Ms Low) is not allow to shop alone....and she must continue to seek medical treatment..."

At the second thought, I wonder "should our society be forgiving? to what a degree?"
Social sanction has been one of most effective deterrents to unwelcome behaviour, that is one of sociological facts. (HS101, reminds you, soci-students)

Should she, Ms Low, be treated that way only her and time will tell. I feel extremely sorry for her. I would like to give her a chance to live, to reach her dream, to changer her life.... but I, am not society.

That brings back a lot of memory of our good old Durkheim, "Does society make Ms Low that way? Will society be responsible for her future, whatever she may turn into?"

Wish you an eternal peace Durkheim, as we still seeking the answer.

My sincere wish to Ms Low is to do her part. She has to deal with her own sins. The "I don't care" attitude and vain goal of life has to be forsaken. I hope she will learn to seek some more inner meaning of life rather than to be "a shining star and center of attention" for some wrong reasons again.

From Today, Oct 7 Wednesday:

Ris Low ordered by court not to shop alone Channel NewsAsia - Wednesday, October 7Send IM Story Print

Ris Low ordered by court not to shop alone
SINGAPORE: Former Miss Singapore World Ris Low was back in court on Tuesday and ordered by a district judge not to go into a shopping mall unaccompanied by a family member.

In a review of her 24—month supervised probation, District Judge May Mesenas also reminded Ms Low to take her probation seriously.

It was revealed on Tuesday that Ms Low had to re—take her examinations at the Management Development Institute of Singapore after invigilators found revision notes in her pencil box in August.

Ms Low claimed that she had forgotten to remove them.

Her lawyer, Mr Sng Kheng Huat, assured the court that his client remained committed to serving her probation, and would undertake not to repeat the mistake.

The District Judge also told Ms Low, who stayed silent during the 10—minute hearing, to continue with her medical treatment and medication. The 19—year—old suffers from bipolar disorder.

On May 5, two months before she won the pageant, she pleaded guilty to five cheating and criminal misappropriation charges, with 60 other charges being taken into consideration.

Over two months last year, she had spent almost S$8,000 on items such as gold anklets, mobile phones, lingerie and meals in luxury restaurants using seven credit cards that did not belong to her.

Ms Low, who gave up her crown last month after the scandal over her conviction made the headlines, will appear at another probation review in three months’ time.

White Collar Crime

The empirical data clearly demonstrate a double standard between white-collar crimes and so-called street crimes. There are a number of reasons to explain why white-collar criminals are not more rigorously pursued. By virtue of their relative affluence, those accused as white-collar offenders are able to afford the fees of the best lawyers, and may have friends among senior ranks of the political elite (see Cronyism), the judiciary and the law enforcement agencies. These connections often not only ensure favourable treatment on an individual basis, but also enable laws to be drafted or resource allocations to be shifted to ensure that such crimes are not defined or enforced too strictly. It is a fact that virtually no police effort goes into fighting white-collar crime, and the enforcement of many corporate crimes is put into the hands of government agencies like the United States Environmental Protection Agency which can act only as watchdogs and point the finger when an abuse is discovered. This more benign treatment is possible because the true cost of white-collar crime, while high in nationally consolidated accounts, is diffused through the bank balances of millions either by way of share value reductions, or nominal increases in taxation, or increases in the cost of insurance. And because it can be difficult to assign blame, e.g. environmental damage may be serious but corporations cannot be sent to jail and, if those senior officers are removed from their positions, it may be more damaging to the organization itself which employs many ordinary and innocent people, and to the shareholders who had no role to play in taking criminal decision. Different public policies are at work and there are differences in the level of public interest, case complexity, and a lack of white-collar related literature, all of which has a significant effect on the way white-collar offenders are sentenced, punished, and perceived by the public.

Another reason for differential treatment might be the fact that criminal penalties tend to be more related to the degree of physical force or violence involved than to the amount of monetary loss, all other things being equal. Because white-collar crimes are committed by those with opportunities that do not require violence, they are far less likely to garner more severe criminal penalties. For example, someone who mugs a victim on the street by threatening to knife them, and steals their wallet, might very likely be punished with a more severe sentence than an inside trader who cheats shareholders out of a million dollars.

Source from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-collar_crime#Differential_treatment_for_white-collar_offenders

Deviance, Crime and social control

Deviance: the action of recognized violation of cultural norms and has the function to construct and maintain the social groups boundary.

It consists of:
1. Affirmative of positive, member have choice what to be preferred, desired and approved objects or behavior.
2. Affirmative of negative, choice of what to be forbidden objects and behavior.

Deviant behavior is violation of affirmative; Deviant act is the violation of affirmative of negative. Eg, tell you not to do, and you do.

A person becomes a deviant person when non-deviant population fail to understand deviant behavior. They will engage retrospective interpretation, such as looking at a person’s past, genetic make up or environmental influence etc. All assumption is that problem is not in deviant person himself, but something else being responsible.

Crime is one of deviance, the violation of norms a society formally enacts into criminal law.

Explaining crime and deviance

1. The classic school, which suggests that the nature of class a rational choice such as :
1) Maximize their gain
2) Be relatively sure that they will not be punished.
In response to this explanation, they suggest that server punishment, and negative publicity may help to reduce the crime.

2. Function and social foundation of deviance. All deviance as well as conformity is shaped by society.
1) Deviance varies according to cultural norms
2) People become deviant as others define them that way
3) Both rule making and rule breaking involves social power, eg, the law gives more power to a few powerful people to protect their interest;

Owners of GE have legal right to close down one of unprofitable factories, even if by closing so throws thousands of people out of jobs.

3. Function of crime and deviance, crime is normal, inevitable and useful.
1) to affirm cultural value and norms
2) deviance encourages social changes
3) reaction to deviance creates moral boundaries and promotes social unity.
Durkheim suggested that deviance and deviant people push social moral boundaries, suggesting alternatives to the status quo and encouraging changes. Today’s deviance maybe tomorrow’s norm.

How do people become deviant? (Merton’s strain theory)
Robert Merton suggested deviance is related to how well a society makes goals accessible by providing the institutional means to achieve them. By studying North American society in 1930, Robert Merton defined the following:

1. Conformity- the people pursue their goal by approved means. i.e. working hard to reach their goal of being rich.
2. Innovation – the people want to achieve the same goal but without proper means, therefore they may be motivated to use unapproved means like stealing, cheating.
3. Ritualism- for those who have means but no interests in pursuing certain goal in life, but nonetheless may under the expectation of parents or cultural norms, they perform their duty as ritual.
4. Retreatism – the rejection of both cultural goals and means, eg. Drop out, drug addicts.
5. Rebellion- like retreatist, rebels reject both the cultural definition of success and the normative means of achieving it. Rebels however go one step further by advocating radical alternatives to the existing social order, they call for social reformation.

Anomie is the state where individual behavior has not been regulated by moral and cultural norm. There is little social moral guidance and regulation imposed on individuals.

Merton focused on “goal” and “means”. His hypothesis is when there is lack of cultural and social structure, when there is unfit or strain between a culturally defined desirable goals and means, i.e. legitimate channel for people to achieve such goals, the deviance and deviant people will increase.

In modern society, those who fail to achieve such goal often will be punished as a failure, not intelligent or not working hard, cultural expectation mingled with such game. When means become goal, such as money, from a means for success to goal as make money for more money, it lost logical reasoning. Misaligning of social and cultural structure creates tension and deviant behavior.

According to this theory, it is possible to eliminate deviance by creating institutionalized mean. Policies such as welfare, job training, financial aid for education etc are helpful to change and prevent deviance.

Who defines deviance- social reaction and interaction (Becker)

Becker (1963) “Deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an offender.”

Deviant is the individual who has been labeled as such.

Therefore, he said “social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying these rules to particular people and labeling them as outsider.” Thus push them out of their social circle, that they may become embittered, even commit more such action or seek the company of others who condone that behavior.”
The labeling theory- deviance and conformity results not so much from what people do but from how others respond to those actions. i.e. social response defines crime and deviance.

Primary deviance

Edwin Lemert (1971) notes that many types of violation (norm) have little reaction from others and have little effects on a person’s self-concept.

Primary deviance refers to transitional period of norm violations which do not affect individuals’ self concept or performance of role. That is because such behavior is without public knowledge.

Secondary deviance refers to norm violation which is responsible social labeling. It is solely caused by the social reaction to the people who engage the primary deviance. Such labeling or social reaction put him out of social circle. That results that person engages more or begins to take on deviant identity.

The difference of primary and secondary deviance is original and effective cause of deviance. Primary deviance arises from many sources but only has marginal implication for the status and psychic structure of the person concerned; Secondary deviance refers to the way in which stigma and punishment can actually make crime or deviance become central facts of existence for those experiencing them, altering psychic structure, producing specialized organization of social roles and self-attitude.

Lemert argued that rather than seeing crime as leading to control, it may be more fruitful to see the process as one in which control agencies structures and even creates crime.

Stigma is a powerful negative social label that often radically changes a person’s self-concept and social identity.
Retrospective labeling: once people have stigmatized a person, they may engage retrospective labeling, that is the interpretation of someone’s past consistent with present deviance.

Conflict perspective- criminology

Conflict theory demonstrates how deviance reflects inequality and power. This perspective suggests that causes of crimes may be linked to inequalities of class, race and ethnic and gender. The social power decides what or who to be deviance.

1. The norm, especially law of any society generally bolster the interests of the rich and powerful
2. the powerful have more resources to resist deviant labeling
3. The impression of law is always fair and just that often masks its political characters. We may condemn the unequal application of the law but question little whether the law itself is fair or just.

What are the causes and consequences of racial inequality?

(When the injustice is built into the system)

Personal racism is the expression of racist attitudes or behaviors by individual people.

The racism that the belief 1). That the human beings are divided and subdivided into the distinguished groups that are different in their social behavior and mental capacities.2). Some groups are inherited, innate inferior or superior.

It can be obvious, such as name calling, hate; or subtle, like poor service, reduced eye contact, or greater physical distances. It can be in any one of the following forms.

Stereotypes, over-generalized belief that certain behavior, attitude is categorized all members of certain groups.

Prejudice, when stereotype becomes basis for the set of unfavorable attitude, belief and feeling toward members of certain racial and ethic groups, it becomes prejudice.

Discrimination is unfair treatment of people based on some characteristics of racial, ethnic groups, prejudice is attitude while discrimination is of behavior dimension.

Institutional racism consists of laws, customs and established practices that systematically produce, or reproduce racial inequalities in society, regardless of whether the individuals maintaining these practices have racist intentions. Institutional racism only work benefit and advantage towards dominant groups, it also nothing to do individual racial intention.

Institutional racism works in two ways: Accumulation of privileged group (dominant) vs. Dis-accumulation of less privileged (minority) group.
Since inequalities accumulate over generations, rather than investigating racial or ethnic inequality by focusing on individual intentions and choices, we should examine the relationship between privileged and less privileged groups.

Brown, Michael et al 2003 in Whitewashing Race: the myth of a color blind society suggested that racism is not a matter of individual prejudices, but rather a sense of group position based on the accumulation of ethnoracial advantage.

Example, the study of US house market shows the institutional racism towards the Afro Americans,

1. White flight refers to situation that when Afro American moves into a house estate, the Whites move out for fearing their property will be detracted in value. So the whites rush to sell their home even below the market price, at the same time, the blacks will have to pay higher price for their home, if they are to move into the white estate. That is one of examples of institutional racism. Even individual owner has not racial intention, their actions cause racism. In the end, the blacks’ estates are less valuable.
2. Red-lining, is the bank police practiced in USA. The banks use zip code to categorize the risk of estate. Once within redline, it is difficult for one to get mortgage loan. The redline zones are where low income, and minority groups stay. Individual bankers may not be racism, but such a policy has racism consequence.

The combination of above cause the Blacks, on one hand, to pay higher price for their property, on other hand, having difficulty to get mortgage loan, or they will have to pay higher interest rate for less valuable property, eventually, their house value devalued after more whites move out.

Racism in educational system and corporations

SAT, suppose to measure IQ (innate intelligence). These tests are cultural bound, it tests individual familiarity with specific range of white middle class groups. Therefore, other groups constantly score lower than the whites.

These tests also are used to track and divert students to different groups, on the surface, tracking allow every student to receive the education consisting with his /her ability; in reality students from less privileged family will lead to constant track into the lower level groups which leads them have little chance to go to university. That is also an institutional racism.

Other examples such as wealthy parents send their children to prestigious school that allows them to meet informal social contact i.e. to accumulate social capital, therefore cultural and economic capital. Children from less privileged find less opportunities in going to university or finding good jobs. Thus, lead further disadvantage in their life. This social stratification can persist from generation to generation.

Source of inequality between social groups lies in historical imbedded dis-accumulation of minority community, such disadvantage is not only in job, education, but in health care and warfare also. The key solution is to focus on policies that allow individual and community to accumulate wealth.

Book review on “Time Bind” – when work becomes home and home becomes work

By Arlie Russell Hochschild
Call No:HQ536 H685

After “second shift”, where Hochschild observed the working mother had her first shift at work, second shift at home, she conducted an intensive research on one of Fortune 500 companies, Amerco, a highly profitable, innovative company with reputation of “family friendly”, on its “work and life” balance programme.

The “work/life balance” polices the company offered were rather standard:

Flexible work hour arrangement
Flexible place
Part time
Share job
Maternity leave and Father’s maternity leave

Her research results were surprising. Though it was appeared that all the right policies were in place, top management also full hearted supported the scheme, there were not many people to make use of these polices. The program of work/life balance did not achieve its goal to balance their employees'work and life.

For various reasons:

1. One factor contributed the failure of program could be the company hierarchy: Top management, who had power and authority to engineer a new family-friendly work culture, may not have deep interest in doing so, in any way, it is not the chief interest of a company; the middle management who were advocated of family friendly polices, have strong interest but little power to implement; Even if the workers who could have benefited from such programs had demanded them, the resistance from their supervisors and head of department would still have stymied their efforts.
2. What about the working parents, did they fight for their “right?”

• 1) For men, there were only two father had ever applied and been granted to father’s maternity leave. The traditional mindset was rooted. One worker even complained that “why those are polices only open to working mothers, we, from traditional family, without additional income, will be prejudiced.”


• 2) For women, Part time job was the most utilized polices for minority mothers with young children.


• 3) For many women, however, they prefer work to home; “women’s uneasy love affair with capitalism; They fear losing their places at work, and having such a place has become a source of security, pride and a powerful sense of being valued


• 4) The intensified competition with globalization made people unsecured for their job. The benefits of these polices erode by the fear of demotion and loss of job.

3. These polices were not flexible to be applied, especially when child sick or other families related emergencies occurred.

The conclusion:

“People generally have the urge to spend more time on what they value most and on what they are most valued for. This tendency may help explain the historic decline in time devoted to private social relations, a decline that has taken on a distinctive cultural form at Amerco. The valued realm of work is registering its gains in part by incorporating the best aspects of home. The devalued realm, the home, is meanwhile taking on what were once considered the most alienating attributes of work. However one explains the failure of Amerco to create a good program of work-family balance, though, the fact is that in a cultural contest between work and home, working parents are voting with their feet, and the working place is winning.”

The consequences when “work becomes home and home becomes work”
1. Time bind, the evading of work to home, that leads to more families break down,
2. Children left alone, suffer from emotional asceticism. A study of nearly five thousand eighth-graders and their parents found that children who were home alone for eleven or more hours a week were three times more likely than other children to abuse alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana. This was as true for upper-class as for working – class children . Research on adults who had been left home alone as children suggested that they run a far high risk a “developing substantial fear responses- recurring nightmares, fear of noises, fear of dark, fear for personal safety.”


After reading the book, we can see, the corporate world, including global economic environment has become a powerful time sucking apparatus sucking every family, every parent’s time away from home, from their children and loved one.

Can work and life balance really exist? If the fundamental economic superstructure does not change, can any individual, any company, and any nation escape from this “time sucking apparatus”? I doubt so, the individual parent will say, I need money to give my children better living condition, better education; the company will say, we need making profit to stay competitive in order to survive, so that we can be countable to shareholders; the nation will say, we need extra economic active workforce to keep our nation GDP growing so that we can provide more benefits to the people.

The reality behind all these economic excuses is that there is an unintended consequence with every stage of economic advancement, which is of great social cost, It will be too painful for family, too costly for company and too great for a nation to pay. It is always to easier to prevent than to heal. The action needed is NOW by every conscious parent, every social responsible corporate and every long term vision the nation. If not, when these social disasters transfer into economic disasters, it will be too later.

Book review on "The two income trap"

by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren

This book is " a startling account of the elusiveness of American Dream", the subtitle of this book "why middle class parents are going broke?"

Remembering we saw the film "our house we live" talking about institutionalized discrimination, lies accumulation of wealth of the Whites and disaccumulation of the colors. The cruel reality revealed in this book, even the middle-class White families with children, are under institutionalization stress and undergoing more bankruptcies even more than before.

What are the "Two income traps":

Comparing with one generation ago, when the single income families were as norm of society, today, two income families are overtaken as majority. However, the discretionary income of a single income family a generation ago is more than two income family today. How come? where did all the money go? the answer is:

- over-consumerism, over bidding for better housing, education, health insurance, higher taxes etc.( if you have watched the above movie, you will understand why American families are willing to/ even forced to pay "premium" price for certain neighbourhood, certain school. It is all part of parcels in institutionalized discrimination, however, the side effects of it has spilled over to the Whites middle class as well)
- the risk of the two income family in financial terms are higher than single income family. The single income family on the other hand has a safety net, is relatively well protected from uncertainty and emergency, like divorce, or lose of job.

Therefore, in last ten years, many middle class two income parents have filed bankruptcy. the number increased was 662%


- Children from these two income families will be the first victims when the family went through bankruptcy
- The price for family, especially for children, seems to be too expensive, many have to make life choice, like a commercial one, simply "cannot afford", many have choice not to have children.

We see here an ironic situation, while two income certainly bring in more money than one income, yet, the collective pressure on family has causing the two income families broke.

Can we do something about it? At the end of book, She states;" So long as the costs of preschool remains a family's responsibility rather than a public duty, parents will continue to struggle. So long as colleges can get away with doubling tuition every generation to pay for sports terms and armies of new administrators, families will be stretched even further, and so long the government refuses to impose some basic interest rate regulations, credit card companies and mortgage lenders will continue to drain tens of millions of dollars out of the pockets of middle class families." "Politicians who have taken millions of dollars to protect the giant bands will pointedly ignore the book while they would loudly reaffirm that they are "pro-family". And there will be no shortage of people who will continue to denounce the financially unlucky as more failures."

What we will lost, if the state, government and institutions do not act collectively, American dream will soon smashes,

The book was published in 2003, call no. HQ 536 W287
Singaporen, are we better than it?

What does it mean to be a human?

HSS 101 Oct 1, 2007 Week 9

Symbolic interaction and the construction of reality

Symbolic interactionism, we constantly interpret what the symbols mean or what they ought to when we interact with others. This paradigm is closely related to Weber.

Definition of Situation. W.I Thomas (1928): if men define situation as real, then they are real in their consequences. People’s interpretation towards a situation will determine how they react and behave. Because the different people have different social statue, training, and experience, their perspective to the same objects will be different. Human behavior is less defined by objective facts but on how people define the situation.

The situation is not real, it is because men define them to be real and it is their response /action to these situations which lead to certain consequence.

For example, voting in Singapore election, do people think the government knows who to vote? Will it influence the voting result?

In face to face interactions:

o People from impression of others and manage impressions of themselves at the same time
o The ability to create impression is the defining feature of human interaction.
o Social group membership (i.e. gender, age, social class, occupation, race, and ethnicity) suggests culturally defined expectations of behavior and values
o Observable characteristics (i.e. clothing, appearance) verbal and non verbal communications are all taken into account.

People use stereotypes to determine first impression; we form impressions of others through stereotyping. When we ask information about certain individual, we help us to define him/her by providing unspoken backgrounds of all interactions, by looking at clothing and cosmetics and how people manage their image.

Erving Goffman’s Theatrical Model of social life “The presentation of self in everyday life (1959)”

The self is social; he categorized the interaction process as “dramaturgy” is the study of social life as theatre, people in everyday life are like actors on the stage, putting on performances.

Performances; all the activities of an individual which occurs during a period marked by his continuous presence before a particular set of observers and which has some influence on the observers.

Audience- people who observe our behavior;
Roles- image being projected or attempted
Script- communication with others
Props- objects used to present image to convince audience of the performance that is carried out

Structural elements:-

Front stage- where appropriate appearance is maintained; people maintain proper image when interacting with others.
Back stage- where preparation for performance is made and where impression management can be relaxed, people fall out of characters.
Performance team- set of individuals who cooperate in staging a performance that leads an audience to form an impression of one or all team members to achieve positive public image. i.e. married couples are socially obligated to show a cooperative image, esp. when others do not know them well.

The arts of impression management

Defensive attributes and practices:-

- Dramaturgical loyalty, the performers are structurally prevented to become too sympathetic to the audience e.g. fast food owners cannot be too sympathetic to customers if they want to sell left over food.
- Dramaturgical discipline, management of individuals face and voice and ability to control are facial and verbal expression.
- Dramaturgical circumspection, select kind of audience that will give in limited trouble, limit site of audience, (e.g. easier to teach middle class kids, more conformative, than working or upper class.)

Protective practices:

- access to the back and front stages of a performance
- audience tact, outsiders tactfully act in an uninterested, uninvolved, unperceiving fashion
- The audience may come into tacit collusion.

Impression mismanagement

Spoiled identities- when we fall at impression management, we follow different tactics to re-establish order and regain our identities. It will be problematic and discredited.

Embarrassment, emotion when one experiences the identity one tries to represent is discredited.

Aligning action often used to restore order and repair a damaged identity, an apology or an explanation; to attempt to avoid impression mismanagement, people may offer a disclaimer. “Verbal assertion given before action to restore social order.”


Stigma- permanent identity spoilage, is a deeply discrediting characteristic
Goffman defined three types of stigma:-
- Physical
- Character related
- Related to social group membership, devalue in given social groups and community.

Stigma is socially constructed and various across time eg, obesity

Stigmatized interaction within people and their behavior expectation are often under mixed context, resulting in short interaction time, either side feed inhibited, and during interacting behaviors are rigid.

Background knowledge of other stigma people helps, however uncertainty causes uneasiness in interaction. Whether intention or not, non stigmatize individuals often cause stigmatize persons to conform, so that stigmatized persons will try to hide their stigma if they can. The social consequence for that type of interacting is short, and response often lies with non-stigmatized person.

To the question that how do people construct their own minds, conversation, behavior as view of social world?

Goffman, offers social interaction theory, suggests that sociologist should not only look into the social facts, (fact can be constructed in different ways), but more importantly, social construct behavior in social reality.

Harold Garfinkel, “ethnomethodologist” – the method of revelation through the dispute. “ refers to the investigation of the rational properties of indexical expressions and other practical actions as contingent ongoing accomplishment of organized artful practices of everyday life.”

He emphasizes the key thing is process, not outcome, though the outcome is always socially contracted. Unlike Durkheim, whose suicide research was based on government statistic data, Harold Garfinkel thinks it is mistake for social scientist to use government statistic data as given facts, they need to get their own and should also describe the process how to generate the social facts. Social construction of reality, refers to the process by which people shape reality through social interaction, from where social facts emerge.

The development of modern state

We are looking the three main issues here:
1. The development of modern state
2. Three main differences between traditional and modern society.
3. Modernity and holocaust

First:-Modern State

Europe Feudal society collapsed and consolidated as Sovereign nation state. on later 19s(1848), Max Weber gave the definition of State as " that entity which possesses a monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force"

The sovereign nation state has:-

1) sole legal jurisdiction and
(which means no religious organisation can overwrite the state laws, neither can any social groups oppose state laws)
2) monopoly over legitimate violence in a specific, bounded territory.
( this is only legitimate means to use violence)

Under the modern era, citizenship has dual meanings. Political citizenship right refers to every government is accountable to its citizens and to rule over them with the citizens' consent; on the other hands, being a citizen allows one to challenge the state both legally and politically, that right also comes with duty to follow the majority rule.

In Global Era, many states voluntarily to give part of their sovereignty away in order to gain the benefits of globalization. When a state joins in the international organisations, such as EU, WTO,IMF, the notion of sovereignty is at stake. The state may not have their citizens' consent. Nominally autonomous sovereign states: powers beyond the state may have no formal status but still limit the state's capacity to act.

The history of Modern State

Feudalism: a social and political power structure prevalent in parts of Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries. Power was fragmented and enjoyed by a number of authorities including the Church, the monarchy, and local lords.

They imposed law and taxes over their subjects in their territory by monopoly forces relying on their trustees, kinship's and friends, later by administers, that was the rise of bureaucratic social structure, the authority lines with the official positions not in person. Professional lawyers became extremely important to draft the law and legal system. That formed the state superstructure.

that also paved way the introduction of newly development ownership of means of productions.
The decline of feudalism was associated with the emergence of military successful monarchies and the growth of towns as trading centers. That increased of political importance of traders and manufacturers allowed the Independence of trading towns from feudal control.

Capitalism: in Western Europe was associated with the rise of centralized, specialized state institutions, that provided administration and social control mechanism to run smoothly in capitalism society.

by 19th century, all national states helped to maintain and/or further develop capitalism society by 1) protect private property, legal contract and 2) promote trade and issue money notes. Democracy concepts became widely accepted.

Poggi, Gianfranco, 1978 in his "The development of Modern State" pointed out "there is a single national language, ....unified legal system that allows alternative juridical traditions to maintain validity only in peripheral areas and for limited purpose"

In Global ear, there are two contradictory trends:

1. Fragmentation: States into smaller states and regions.

It is no longer necessary for small countries to be self sustain and self defence. Now the small counties are able to escape the dominance from powerful neighbouring states by relying on global trading and alliance.

The danger is the militant nationalism will lead to war over territory and the unilateral declaration of the new states. Fragmentation can involve racism, ethnic cleansing and territorial warfare.

2. Integration: International governance is actually taking place through a highly complex set of overlapping and interlocking institutions (NGO). More co-operation in international level, which remove national boundary. The members of international associations can apply sanction against any state who does not comply the agreement. At the same time, NGO come together opposing the effect of WTO for example addressing many social problem rising in the globalization.

TO SUM UP

New forms of politics within societies have redefined issue and political interests on a non-class basis;
Capitalism did not erase the difference of nationalism, racial, ethic and religious, but we have witnessed a revival of forms of politics.
Global economic structures, including commercialised culture, are transcending national boundaries and increasing the the need of global politics
Globalization is giving the rise to form of power that lie beyond the effective control of national states, let alone individual citizens.

Second, Three main differences between traditional and modern society

Modernity is a term coined to encapsulate the distinctiveness and dynamism of the social processes unleashed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which marked a distinct break from tradition ways of life.

1. Social solidarity changing from mechanical to organic soliarity.
   Durkheim tried to search of laws governed the social changes, he suggested society is a complex system whose parts work together to promote social integration and social solidarity. In traditional society, social integration or social solidarity were seen by mechanical similar identity joined up people, while in modern society, people identify with each other through the difference, we specialized in different way of living, had different function in contributing society. That also can be seen in society from homogeneity to heterogeneity, and from Geminschaft ( a community based society) to Gesellschaft (an association based society)
   


2. Mode of production changed, from Feudalist to capitalist.
   In Feudalist society, power of ruling class rested on their control on farm land, and ownership of land. The social relation of exploitation was between peasants and lordship.
   
   In capitalist society, ruling class Bourgeoisie controls the mode of production, each individuals who doesn't own the mode of production will have to sell his labour power in production of goods or service to survival, the exploitation is between Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. Unit of wealth is factory and machine. Fundmentally, the mode of production determines social culture, ideology and superstructure. Religious has been used as a way to distract the Proletariat attention to their class consciousness.
   


3. Authority type shifting from traditional to rational-legal authority.
   
   In traditional society, the authority often rest on an established belief in the sanctity of immemorial traditional traditions and the legitimacy of those exercising authority under them, such as family head, village leader etc
   
   The obedience to traditional authority is a matter of personal loyalty;
   
   In modern society, the authority is lines with position not person, resting on a belief in the legality of enacted rules and the right of those elevated to authority under such rules to issue commands, such as legal officials; The obedience to legal authority is based on legally established impersonal order. It extends to the persons exercising the authority of office under it by virtue of the formal legality of their commands and only within the scope of authority of office.
   
   Furthermore, capitalism development depends on systemic advocating impersonal rules and regulations on rational, accounting, legal and trading in maximumise the capital profits.
   

Third:- Modernity and holocaust
a possible outcome of modernity?

Yes, given the right time and condition, Modernity, in the following three ways, may cause the holocaust:

1. In Hitler's Germany, the use of scapegoats (Jews, Gypsies, the mentally ill, etc) served to create the a sense of solidarity among the German public, so modernity played "difference" as "inferior" in society to justify their action;


2. The capitalism society, used the factory and mass production concept into the action of holocaust, it was a mundane extension of the modern factory system where raw materials were human beings,the final productions were their death.


3. Modernity developed the bureaucratic apparatus helped distance people from taking more responsibility for their action. Holocaust was rationally planned and carried out and sponsored by the state. People who participated the holocaust just merely following the order and commands. Their moral responsibility were blinded

"Instead of being a product of uncivilized world, holocaust is only possible outcome of modernity. It is the text of hidden possibility of modern society."

Therefore, it is no guarantee that our society's advancement is for our good, the risk and hidden problem are greater than ever.

Pluralist Model vs Elite Model of Social Development and Power

Pluralist- unlike Marxist, does not only consider economic class interest as determine force of other social relations, but suggests the social relations can be determined not only by economic force, but also by gender, religious, race and ethic group and so on.

Political is of the views as dispersed among the social groups, as long as politicians are open to multi-influence, it is possible to have democracy. The government is not only an instrument for the interest of bourgeoisie, but is a neutral and effective autonomy.

Therefore, the activist groups represent different social groups have channel to promote their own interest to the government, there is channel available to voice their concerns.

Empirical Evidence for Pluralist Model:-

• capital has had to accommodate the countervailing power of organized labour in the workplace


• The economy is increasingly political regulated, as the state plays a more interventionist through nationalization, such as water, electricity


• Owners of capital have become fragmented with the rise of joint stock companies and large corporations, and with diversified shareholding rather than concentrated ownership


• The increased scale and size of economic enterprises has required the expansion of managerial control of companies
  

Criticism for Pluralism

There are always certain institutions or individuals who are more powerful than others, which causes inequality in power relation. Particular interest groups, such as big business, multinational corporations, occupy positions of great influence and are therefore able to exercise more political muscle than others in order to influence government policy making.

Power Structure

Micael Mann: points out that there are four sources of power: Ideological, economic, military and political. While Marxists think Economic power determines the rest, Manne suggests all four types of power are playing important roles.

In modern society, there is observation that power structure changing to power networks:

Michel Foucault- Knowledge is power. "Micro-physics of power" refers to systemically exercised in everyday life on the part of all kinds of "expert" (parents, teachers, social workers, doctor, lawyers etc.)

There must be willing compliance so that people believer themselves to be making their own decision and reaching own conclusion rationally and according to the "truth"

Elite Moder- an analysis of politics that views power as concentrated among the rich, it is closely tied to social-conflict paradigm. It rejects the Pluralist assertion that various centers of power serve as checks and balances on one another.

C.W. Mill 1956 argued that the upper class holds the bulk of society's wealth, prestige and power. The elites control the economic, government and political power, and by inter-marriage, kinship and business dealings, they are able to turn national agenda towards their own interest.

Which model, do you think, can well explain the Singapore political and government system?

Globalization

The global trade increased from 380 millions US$ in 1950's to 5.89 Trillions US$ in 1997, a 1,500% increase. Marx had foreseen the global expansion of single industry or trade., companies like Nike, Coca Cola all have global presence.

The advantage of Globalization:

- less expensive goods,
- improvement of living conditions in some areas, including the less developed area.

Social problem therein:

-Higher unemployment in counties losing manufacturing
-exploitation of workers in developing countries
-eroding ability of governments to set policies to protect national economy,
-environmental problems

In global era:

Nominally autonomous sovereign states--powers beyond the states may have no formal status, nevertheless still limit the state's capacity to act.

The meaning of citizenship is very much diluted.

The characteristics of Globalization.

- shifted borders of economic transaction
- expanded communication into global network
- fostered a new, widespread global culture
- developed new form of international governance
- created a growing awareness of shared common world problem
- fostered a growing sense of risk
- led to emergence of transnational global actors who network

Global culture- globalization which initially driven by economic forces, also brings international connections involved the flow of goods, information and people.

- Global economy, flow of good, introduced many of the same consumer goods
- Global communication, flow of information
- Global migration: flow of people

Karl Marx's Social Change Theory-Marxian Class Model

Karl Marx framework on power and social development:-

He defined the social classes by ownership of means of production. In capital society, there are mainly two classes, Bourgeoisie and Proletarian. Capitalism rests on economic class relations, and these necessarily involve exploitation and domination. The economic relations shape the other social relations in society, so that class is ultimately the most powerful and fundamental political division in society. Other divisions are conditioned by class and will not be so decisive in determining the society's political development.

The conflicts as inherent and inevitable. The logic of capitalism was to exploit workers to gain more profit, the degree of exploitation increased while the forces of production developed and, to certain time, the Proletarian would gain their class consciousness and become aware of their identity as an exploited and oppressed class.

The exploitation were in three level:
1. surplus value
2. wage level to be kept at minimum
3. working condition

The class struggles between Bourgeoisie and Proletarian finally will lead to revolution.

In the transaction period, those in the power have access to means to promote a reality that justified their exploiting actions or distracts people's action away from their oppression. Dominant ideology promotes a false consciousness were people in lower classes come to accept a belief system that prevent revolution. " The ideas of ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas".

How does ruling class keep their ruling ideas among others?

1. The ruling class denies the people 's freedom of political speech, and right to express idea, controlled by coercion


2. The ruling class controls the material resources which people need for formulating ideas and thinking,


3. The ruling class can selective encourage or discourage certain ideas, eg, religious ideas, that divert the tension from realizing their true oppressed states,


4. The ruling class actually produces ideas by supporting teachers, researchers, owing the newspapers, and other publication means to advocate their ideas in mass media
   

For Marx, the engine of social development is constant class struggles. The class position decides one's political attitude and decides one's affinity.

The empirical evidence of Marx's theory:

Concentration of wealth in any given society where tends to be a dominate value system; capitalist's business interests tends to be national interests and inequality tends to be seen as normal and inevitable.

The criticism of Marx's framework:

1. When socialist revolution occurred, it was about time to enter capitalism


2. Unlike Marx's predication, the working class in fact were enjoying wage increase and better living conditions


3. Many socialism states and nations later collapsed, changed from socialism to capitalism

In the view of State, there are following model for explanation:-

Instrumentalist Marxist Models
The state is an instrument for bourgeoisie class, it is not the Parliament and government, but capitalists who really own the source of power through the owning of properties and mode of production. Even if capitalists didn't rule directly, the economic power they had can dictate the mass media in religious and military, in order to protect their interests.

Though facing the challenge on economic redistribution on social welfare and labour movement, the instrumentalist argued that those were insignificant to threaten capitalist class interests but to run capitalism efficiently.

Class reproduction (how to maintain the capitalist class exclusive):-

- intermarriage and kinship connection within bourgeois.
- interconnected economic interests such as interlocking directorships, where individuals are directors for more than one company
- exclusive education background, such as Oxford, Cambridge, or Ivy League college in the States
- cross-sphere contacts and linkages, where individuals occupy and shuttle between elite position in various spheres

Structuralists Marxist Model:-

In this model, the individual has little control over the whole capitalism structure. The corporate has a "Monster" responsibility. It is possible for the person with working class background to rise up to the top government post, but still to serve capitalist interests.

Gramscian Marxist Model:-

This model thinks that within bourgeoisie class, there can be conflicts in different levels, called power blocs, social changes and regrouping is possible through the power blocs struggles. A power bloc is "an alignment of social groups, generally under the dominance of one of them, which is able to monopolize the levels of political power in a society over a sustained period".

Power blocs are always face challenge from potential new candidate, force political concession to make, shifting of power balancing within power blocs. It is necessary for current power blocs to give Hegemony,"refers to consent or acceptance of an ideology, regime or whole social system.".

Under this model, the state has relative autonomy and does not always serve capitalists' interest. The political progress is the result of power struggles between power blocs. This model also suggests that there is a necessary separation between economic power and the formation of political programmes through the states.

Reading "Bureaucracy and legitimate authority"

By Max Weber

Three types of Authority:-

Type of authority	Authority Ground	Obedience Character
Legal Authority	Rational Ground	Owed to legally established impersonal order, by virtue of formal legality of their command and within the scope of authority of the office
Traditional Authority	Traditional Ground	Owed to person by traditional sanctioned position of authority, it is a matter of personal loyalty,within the area of accustomed obligations
Charismatic Authority	Charismatic Ground	based on personal trust in his revelation, his heroism or his exemplary quality, within the scope of the individual belief in his charisma

Bureaucracy structure has the following characters:-

• its authority is dominated by the principle of appointment, not elected, appointment is by free contract


• Technical qualification which are formalized and impersonalized by roles and procedures.


• Rational and supreme to other forms of organization, in precision, in stability, in the stringency of its discipline and in its reliability

Social consequence:

• levelling in the interest of broadest possible base of recruitment in technical competence


• Plutocracy


• formalistic impersonality

The greatly levelling of status, creating favourable situation for development of bureaucracy by eliminating the office-holder who rules by status and privilege other than technical ability

Protestant and Spirit of Capitalism

“The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism”

Max Weber

Asceticism Protestantism
Concept of wealth
Concept of labour

Division of labour leads to specialization is a calling requires systematic, methodical character; his calling is an exercise in ascetic virtue, a proof of his state of grace through conscientiousness.

Thus the ascetic importance of a calling provided an ethical justification of modern specialized division of labour.

Protestant asceticism:
o work systematic, methodical, diligently
o powerfully against the spontaneous enjoyment of possession, restricted consumption; broke bonds of impulse of acquisition, against temptation of flesh, but look forward the will of God.

[He defines "the spirit of capitalism" as the ideas and habits that favour the rational pursuit of economic gain. Weber points out that such a spirit is not limited to Western culture, when considered as the attitude of individuals, but that such individuals – heroic entrepreneurs, as he calls them – could not by themselves establish a new economic order (capitalism). Among the universal tendencies identified by Weber that those individuals had to fight were the desire to profit with minimum effort, the idea that work was a curse and a burden to be avoided, especially when it exceeded what was enough for modest life. "In order that a manner of life well adapted to the peculiarities of capitalism could come to dominate others," wrote Weber, "it had to originate somewhere, and not in isolated individuals alone, but as a way of life common to whole groups of man."

Weber showed that certain types of Protestantism – notably Calvinism – favoured rational pursuit of economic gain and worldly activities which had been given positive spiritual and moral meaning. It was not the goal of those religious ideas, but rather a byproduct – the inherent logic of those doctrines and the advice based upon them both directly and indirectly encouraged planning and self-denial in the pursuit of economic gain. A common illustration is in the cobbler, hunched over his work, who devotes his entire effort to the praise of God. In addition, the Reformation view "calling" dignified even the mundanest professions as being those that added to the common good and were blessed by God, as much as any "sacred" calling could. This Reformation view, that all the spheres of life were sacred when dedicated to God and His purposes of nurturing and furthering life, profoundly affected the view of work.]*

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber#Achievements

In summery, the ethical valuation of good works asceticism looked upon the pursuit of wealth, the attainment of it as a fruit of labour in a calling was a sign of God’s blessing. That results of capital accumulation.

However, the constant struggle with accumulated, increased wealth, with temptation of desire, pride leads the purity of religious virtue decay.

Religious roots ---economic virtue---utilitarian worldliness---in the end lost the its religious roots.

Sociological Imagination

Reading 101 Week 3
C.W Mills “The sociological perspective- The promise of sociology”

With dramatic social changes, ordinary man feel that they cannot cope with larger world, often sense the old way of feeling and thinking have collapsed and the new beginning are ambiguous to the point of moral stasis.

They need not only information, skill of reasoning, but most of all they need
“Sociological Imagination”-a quality of mind and ability to

o Help them to use information and to develop reason in order to achieve lucid summations of what is going on and what may be happening.
o To understand the large historical scenes of its meaning for the inner life, and external career of a variety of individuals.
o To understand his own experience, gauge his own fate and know his own changes in life by becoming aware of those of all individuals in his circumstances.

The fruit of it is self-consciousness. From personal troubles of milieu into public issues of social structure.

The process of sociological imagination:

Individuals troubles transcend into the institutions of an historical society as a whole, become a public matter,
The issues define value often involves a crisis in institutional arrangement. Individuals ‘experiences in various and specific milieu is often caused by structural changes.