#Pluralism politics definition free#

Also, instead of focusing on actors within a system, the emphasis is on the leadership roles itself. While a structuralist may argue that power distributions have a rather permanent nature, this rationale says that power may in fact be tied to issues, which vary widely in duration. There are also costs involved in taking action at all-not only losing, but expenditure of time and effort. Pluralists also believe that there is no one particular issue or point in time at which any group must assert itself to stay true to its own expressed values, but rather that there are a variety of issues and points at which this is possible. That said, actual involvement in overt activity is a more valid marker of leadership than simply a reputation. The reason for this is that they believe human behavior is governed in large part by inertia. To determine this, pluralists study specific outcomes. The question then is not who runs a community, but if any group in fact does. The pluralist approach to the study of power, states that nothing categorical about power can be assumed in any community. A particular resource like money cannot automatically be equated with power because the resource can be used skillfully or clumsily, fully or partially, or not at all. But by using resources such as his forceful personality, organizational skills, and especially the legitimacy of his cause, he had a greater impact on American politics than most wealthy people. Martin Luther King Jr., for example, was certainly not a rich person. Cash, one of many resources, is only a stack of bills until it is put to work. Actual power means the ability to compel someone to do something potential power refers to the possibility of turning resources into actual power. Pluralists also stress the differences between potential and actual power as it stands.

#Pluralism politics definition free#

The list of possibilities is virtually endless: legal authority, money, prestige, skill, knowledge, charisma, legitimacy, free time, experience, celebrity, and public support. Politicians become powerful because they command resources that people want or fear or respect. Resources are assets that can be used to force others to do what one wants. Rather, people are powerful because they control various resources. Pluralists emphasize that power is not a physical entity that individuals either have or do not have, but flows from a variety of different sources. Dahl, who wrote the seminal pluralist work, Who Governs?, and Seymour Martin Lipset. Important theorists of pluralism are Robert A. This is not necessarily undesirable: political issues require continuous and expert attention, which the average citizen does not have. On the other hand, since the participants in this process constitute only a tiny fraction of the populace, the public acts mainly as bystanders. Pluralists stress civil rights, such as freedom of expression and organization, and an electoral system with at least two parties. A polyarchy - a situation of open competition for electoral support within a significant part of the adult population - ensures competition of group interests. The existence of diverse and competing interests is the basis for a democratic equilibrium, and is crucial for the obtaining of goals by individuals. Any change under this view will be slow and incremental, as groups have different interests and may act as 'veto groups' to destroy legislation that they do not agree with. There may be inequalities but they tend to be distributed and evened out.

Lines of conflict are multiple and shifting.

Groups of individuals try to maximize their interests. The central question for classical pluralism is how power is distributed in western democracies. Classical pluralism is the belief that politics and decision making is located mostly in the governmental framework, but many non-governmental groups are using their resources to exert influence.