Governemnt is the formal organized agency that exercises power and control in modern society, especially through the creation and enforcement of laws
power is the ability to control the actions of others
authority is the legitimate right to wield power
an example of authority: police officer, whose power is legitimate and given by the state
power elite: a relatively small group of people in the top ranks of economic, political, and military institutions who make many of the important decisions in american society because the power elite know eachother so closely the can collaborate in ways that serve their own interests this theory debunks the american rags to riches story
pluralist model: a system of political power in which a wide variety of individuals and groups have equal access to resources and mechanisms of power.
according to pluralist model, laws, policies, and the courts form a system of checks and balances that keep any one group from having too much power over others