Major Economic Theorists We will consider four thinkers who have made influential contributions to ideologies concerning the relation of economic activity and government. They are Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and Milton Friedman, ADAM SMITH AND “FREE” ENTERPRISE.” Adam Smith (‘2-1790), the economist who wrote The Wealth of Nations, reasoned that the strongest government was one in a country…

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Political Economics Institutions Summary Political-economic institutions are standardized ways of maintaining in the production and distribution of goods and services. Government and economics are closely interrelated, Three patterns of political-economic institutions are: (1) the mixed economy, where profit and private ownership are combined with some degree of socialism and welfare statism; (2) communism, where profitseeking is forbidden and. all important enterprises are state-operated; and (3)fascism,…

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INTERRELATIONSHIP WITH A OTHER INSTITUTIONS We have already noted’ how other institutions- family, religion, education-are interrelated with the political and economic institutions, In the simple societies, the family is the dominant institution. In modem societies, the political-economic institutions tend to be the more dominant, although perhaps not as dominant as Marx imagined. It is far easier to show where the political-economic institutions have changed…

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THE EMERGENT AMERICAN CONSENSUS: FACT OR ILLUSION? Functionalists assume that an orderly and efficient society must maintain a consensus upon basic values. Conflict theorists reply that an apparent consensus merely papers -over the deep conflicts of interest and value found in modern societies. Without trying to resolve this debate, let us ask whether there is an American consensus. . Many commonly held values…

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Judicial and Bureaucratic Activism The foregoing sections discuss powers over government which are held outside the government. This see on considers.how certain groups tuutun the government exert power of a kind not intended by the framers of the Constitution. . As stated earlier, government bureaucrats have considerable power to modify to, or to veto the intent of the legislature. This is because…

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Corection and Disruption. Civil disobedience is the open and public defiance of the law because of conscience or moral belief [Smith, 1968; Cohen, 1969; Murphy, 1971 Bay, 1975). It is atechnique of nonviolent coercion, resting on the powerful  appeal of the spectacle of people who are willing to suffer for a moral belief. Punishment therefore willingly accepted rather than evaded, in…

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Direct Political Power of Masses In a democracy the ultimate power of the masses rests in their franchise to “throw the rascals out.” Sometimes, it is true, this power is empty because both candidates hold the same values and serve the same interests. But whenever there is widespread mass discontent with the way things are going in a democracy, some party or…

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Power of Unorganized Masses In the d~ys of feudalism, government was a monopoly of the nobility’ and the ordinary person had no direct voice at all. Nevertheless, government usually operated as expected. This was because- noble and commoner shared a set of institutionalized ideas about how things should be done. The noble might make the formal government decisions, but he made them on the…

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The Power Elite Some years ago a prominent sociologist, C. Wrighf Mills (1956), developed the idea that American governmental and economic activitywas controlled by elite groups of executives who moved back and forth between governmental, academic, financial, and industrial positions. Mills viewed the corporation as either the base from which the executive elite originate or the goal toward which they are moving. He felt…

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POWER AND GOVERNMENT Definitions of power vary, usually denoting an ability to control the actions others, even against respect to government, power refers to the ability of individuals or groups to control the decisionmaking process. Organization Power The. struggle.’fl1t power is often a co ltest , tween organizatjons. A of committees (PACs) of legislators th y disk . The calls for a…

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