Political Institutions& Education

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS

Politics and political institutions are the most important institutions in society. As a concept, politics tells us so many things because we are experiencing power relations in our daily lives. For instance, even between parents there are power relations.So in society, there are micropolitics and macropolitics. Micropolitics is seen in our daily lives. Macropolitics refers to power relations that emerge at the institutional level. Political sociology is a discipline that studies the relationship between the state and the society. In order for us to understand power we must understand the relationship between person A and B. If A makes B to do something even if B does not want, A would have a certain power on B. In that sense, power is a very important concept. If power of a person becomes legitimate, it means authority. In other words, authority means legitimate power. For example, every political leader would like to have an authority over his people because these political leaders would like his people to believe in him so in that sense if political leaders can make people to believe in him, they would have a legitimate power.

According to Weber, there are three types of authority:

Traditional authority is seen in traditional societies such as kingdoms and empires. It receives its power from the tradition. Charismatic authority receives its power from the person's charisma. A charismatic would communicate his people easily. It means having a certain types of properties that he can have some abilities. In the modern world, we are talking about legal-rational authority which receives its power from the law. They receive their authority from the constitution. We are specially talking about legal-rational authority as well as charismatic authority. In that sense, these concepts (authority, power, force) are interrelated. State is the most important concept in political sciences and it puts pressure on people. In order for us to talk about democracy, we also need to see democratic institutions. When we talk about welfare state, we are talking about a type of state which provides some rights for citizens. It protects the social rights of them.

In all states, these rights are being guaranteed by the state in theory. In the state, our membership to state is defined by the citizenship. When we talk about modern states, we are talking about nation states because after the 17th century, we are seeing the emergines of modern states so the state as a concept is very important because it is a political institution which includes other institutions such as government, parliament, also the police and the army. These institutions are ruling over a specially defined territory which is defined a concept of sovereignty. Another important future of the state, it is an institution based on law. Their roles are clearly defined by the constitution so in that sense, whenever we talk about such an institution defined by law, it is republic. State is the only institution which has the power to use force. The way the state uses power is legitimate.

A) Order Model: It is a perspective which accepts that power is distributed among people. Interest groups are important because if we try to form an organization, we can affect political institutions. Interest groups are types of organizations formed to protect the rights of people. People can affect political institutions through interest groups. State serves for the benefit of every person in society.

B) Conflict Model: Power is concentrated and controlled by few groups. We cannot have as much power as we want because some people have more power than us. State only exists for the benefit of the ruling class. Classes are more important. When we talk about politics in the western world, do not think that western countries' regimes have no political problems. They have lots of problems and they are called "crises". Crises is something political, social, cultural...problem. In western world, there are four crises:

Education is a social and cultural institution. Apart from it, there are also religion and law. When we are being socialized, it means we are learning culture (how to speak, how to eat...) in that sense education comes first because we are being educated formally and informally. When we go to the schools, we are receiving formal instructions from teacher, who are specially trained for education.The institution of education has emerged after the 17th century because the industrialization required more trained people who could do some certain tasks. Church was the most important institution before the 17th century, after the 17th century, there is secularization. Education provides an opportunity to learn some things for students. Education also helps us to think new ideas. It provides ways to invent new ideas . It also helps for social integration.

In education, the most important thing is achievement. It helps students to develop their personality. It also helps them for social placement.It emphasizes achievement rather than personal differences. Because of this achievement, students will be positioned as successful and unsuccessful. On the other hand education reproduces inequality through education people can change their classes. Education is not only referring to giving instructions, it means taking care. In education sustain, people start forming social networks. Students start to having social relationships. Most importantly education promotes conformity. It motivates students to look like, act, think like one another. Students lose their capacity to be different. It also creates some subcultures. There is a big correlation between people's success and their social and economic statuses. So if a student is not coming from such a background, he or she would not be successful easily. Education and family income are positively related. Curriculum is formulated also for middle and middle upper class students. In order for us to understand some things, we have to look at some researches. Bernstain says "people or students who are coming from different classes, they speak differently. Lower class children have restricted speech code". Students have a hidden curriculum when they go to school. Illich says "students instead of becoming creative, they are passively consuming information. In that sense, they are learning how to be passive".