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Sociology question on politics

Hey all,
I am currently studying sociology as a module for my degree.
I was wondering if anyone could give any help as to what I could include for my presentation infront of my tutorial group.
We have to answer 'yes' to the question of :
Is political power in britain concentrated into the hands of small elite ?
any help would be great :smile:

Thanks all.

Reply 1

Got Nerd?

Look at
-the percentage of MPs who are Oxford graduates
-the percentage of MPs who went to private school (esp. Harrow, Eton, Rugby et al.)
-the Lords in general - the very concept is elitist
-voter turnout - it's low
-the percentage of swing seats - that is, ones that can be won or lost in an election. The vast majority of votes are wasted votes, because they won't change the MP of the constituency, because they're a safe seat (not impossible though. Portillo lost his safe seat in 1997)
-whether or not governments follow their mandate - if they deviate from the manifesto, the power is clearly in the hands of the government, not the people.

Those are some things about Parliament specifically.

Reply 2

adelante

I'd recommend looking at three books:

1 Who rules Britain by John Scott (1991) -- this is a classical sociological study of class, power and politics in Brtiain.

2. Captive State by George Monbiot (2000) who argues that the large corporations hold power over democratic government.

3. Who Runs this Place by Anthony Sampson (2004) looks at the various institutions that hold power in Britain.

Don't try to read them all but read the introductions to books 2 and 3. John Scott's book will give you more of the sociological tools that you need. But the book is now a bit dated and there may be an newer edtion available. But it is an important book.

I'd also have a peek at the latest edition of Sociology Themes and Perspective by Haralmbos and Holborn (2008) [look at the power and politics chapter] as this will briefly describe a number of perspectives on this subject and point you in the direction of further reading. This book is very up to date. A lot of people will laugh at undergraduates using Haralambos (and I wouldn't tell your tutor that you are using it) but it is a really useful book for sociology. I even refer to it for stuff on my masters course. It's a bit of an encyclopaedia of sociology for dummies.

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