Basic Concepts

Basic overview of the concepts of power, authority, politics and ideology, plus an outline of  Weber's typology of power.

Theories of the State

The development of the modern state; stateless society; state-like society; traditional states; feudal and capitalist states.

Politics Chapter

This complete chapter taken from A2 Sociology for AQA covers:

1. The role of political parties and movements, pressure / interest groups and the mass media in the political process.

2. Explanations of the nature and distribution of power and the role of the modern state.

3. Different political ideologies and their relationship to different political parties.

4. The nature of, and changes in, different forms of political participation, including voting behaviour.

Voting Behaviour

An introduction to political systems (totalitarian and democratic); types of democracy.

 Theories of Power

1

An overview of a range of theoretical explanations of power: Elite theories; Pluralist theories; Parsonian Functionalism; Classical Pluralism; Elite Pluralism; Elite Theory (Mosca and Pareto).

Theories of Power

2

An overview of conflict theories of power (Weberian and Marxist); Instrumental Marxism; Structural Marxism; Milliband, Poulantzas and Gramsci.