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Showing papers on "Legitimacy published in 1986"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors traces the way in which both changing political ideologies and state-village relations have been mediated by the term gotong royong, and suggests that its multiple meanings have been central to its semantic, political, and economic roles.
Abstract: The idea of “mutual assistance” (gotong royong) in Indonesia has been the basis for political discourse concerning the nature of authority, the characteristics of village society, and the legitimacy of demands for labor by the state. This article traces the way in which both changing political ideologies and state-village relations have been mediated by the term gotong royong, and suggests that its multiple meanings have been central to its semantic, political, and economic roles. Local interpretations of national doctrine and reactions to state policy are examined in two cases: East Java and Gayo (Aceh). The wide variety of local strategies is perceived as depending on preexisting political traditions and power relations vis-a-vis the state.

305 citations


Book
01 May 1986
TL;DR: Rohr as discussed by the authors analyzes three significant founding periods: 1) the founding of the Republic, 1787-1795; 2) the foundin of public administration, 1883-1899; and 3) the beginning of the administrative state, 1933-1941.
Abstract: In 1887, the centennial year of the American Constitution, Woodrow Wilson wrote that "it is getting to be harder to run a constitution than to frame one." The context for Wilson's comment was an essay calling for sound principles of administration that would enable government officials to "run" a constitution well. Wilson and his fellow civil-service reformers had a profound influence on the development of American administrative institutions. Unfortunately, the reformers paid more attention to the exigencies of running a constitution than to the Constitution itself. They and their intellectual progeny developed a theory of administration that was at odds with the theory of the Constitution. As a result, we find ourselves living today in what we often call an "administrative state" a state seemingly bereft of legitimating principles grounded in the political thought of the framers of the Constitution. In "To Run a Constitution," John A. Rohr takes seriously two basic premises: d Tocqueville's belief that citizens are corrupted by ebeying powers they believe to be illegitimate, and the view that, despite present political sentiment, the administrative state is here to stay. The book focuses on the important question of whether the administrative state, an abiding presence in American politics, can be justified in terms of the American constitutional tradition. In addressing this question, Rohr goes beyond considerations of case law to examine the principles of the Constitution both at its founding and in its subsequent development. Reying on the normative character of political "foundings," Rohr analyzes three significant founding periods: 1) the founding of the Republic, 1787-1795; 2) the foundin of public administration, 1883-1899; and 3) the founding of the administrative state, 1933-1941. He judges the last two foundings by the first in developing his argument that the modern administrative state can be justified in terms of the kind of government the framers of the Constitution envisaged. On the eve of the bicentennial of the Constitution, Rohr's argument advances a new, normative theory of public administration that is intended to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States," in accordance with the oath of office taken by public administrators. It is critical reading for scholars in the fields of public administration, political science, and constitutional studies."

300 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that "value free" decisions or research that is "neutral" are a myth and that practitioners and academics need to measure the worth of their decisions and research studies in terms of the basic moral conceptions embedded in "the culture of ethics".
Abstract: Corporate managers and business-and-society scholars cannot escape the normative implications of their decisions or their research. "Value free" decisions or research that is "neutral" are a myth. Practitioners and academics need to measure the worth of their decisions and research studies in terms of the basic moral conceptions embedded in "the culture of ethics. "Doing so enhances the legitimacy of corporations and clarines the nature of business-and-society research.

276 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined children's concepts of authority with regard to the age of persons giving commands, their position in a social context, and the type of command given, and found that children accepted the legitimacy of both peer and adult authorities and were able to conceptualize the social organizational role of authority.
Abstract: LAUPA, MARTA, and TURIEL, ELLIOT. Children's Conceptions of Adult and Peer Authority. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 405-412. This study examines children's concepts of authority with regard to the age of persons giving commands, their position in a social context, and the type of command given. The study was conducted at a school with a program that places children in positions of authority. Subjects (24 female, 24 male) from the first, third, and fifth grades were interviewed to assess their evaluations of peer and adult authority commands and rationale for obedience. Subjects also made choices between different individuals who gave opposing commands; age (peer/adult) and social position (with or without an official school authority position) were varied. Subjects at all ages accepted the legitimacy of both peer and adult authorities and were able to conceptualize the social organizational role of authority. However, the boundaries of authority justification did not extend to commands that failed to prevent harm. In addition, children gave priority to adult authority over peer authority and to peer authority over adult nonauthority. The findings indicate that children do not have a unitary orientation toward authority and that they take into consideration the age and social position of authority as well as the type of command given.

161 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors define four common types of corruption and point out the political consequences of each of them, namely, the extent to which each tends to solidify or weaken linkages among people and groups at various strata of political systems.
Abstract: Disagreement continues over the political consequences of corruption. Perspectives on the question are almost as numerous as cases of corruption itself. Thus, the literature resists any easy classification into schools of thought. In general, however, "moralists" (a term used more by critics of this outlook than by its adherents) have long argued that corruption is harmful to societies and governments, impeding development and eroding the legitimacy even of honest elites and well-run institutions.' "Revisionists, by contrast, point to possible benefits of corruption, suggesting that it can speed up cumbersome procedures, buy political access for the excluded, and perhaps even produce de facto policies more effective than those emerging from legitimate channels.2 A third outlook suggests that the consequences of corruption depend in part upon the characteristics of political systems, such as the balance of political and economic opportunities,3 levels of economic development, national integration, and governmental capacity,4 or upon the relationships among key factions and elites.5 But while the debate has produced many useful studies of particular cases, its overall findings have been contradictory. In one sense, the debate has been curiously asymmetrical, with moralists arguing that corruption is harmful, while revisionists reply that it can be beneficial.6 Moralistic analyses also suffer, at times, from an a priori assumption that corruption is a bad thing (or that "legitimate" policies are inherently preferable to those produced corruptly) and tend to blame corruption for a disproportionate share of a society's problems. Revisionists, for their part, often rely too much upon anecdotal evidence, hypothetical cases, and speculative linkages between corruption and social outcomes. This paper is an attempt to refocus the debate by calling attention to two recurring problems. First, I will argue that we have tended to focus upon overly broad (and at times unanswerable) questions. Before we can attribute general systemic trends and problems to corruption, we need to understand its more specific political effects. Second, I will suggest that we can reconcile seemingly contradictory findings if we recognize that corruption can come in many forms with differing consequences. Most forms of corruption, I will argue, can be studied as processes of exchange whose internal logic differs from one form to another. This approach will be used to define four common types of corruption and to point out the political consequences of each. These will be "micro" consequences, specifically the extent to which each tends to solidify or weaken linkages among people and groups at various strata of political systems. This analysis is not intended to produce global generalizations about the implications of corruption for such systematic processes as economic or political development. Rather, it will propose categories which will allow us to employ the concept of corruption more

156 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A central conundrum facing postcolonial political leaders is how to govern and hold together unintegrated peasant societies in the absence of legitimacy as mentioned in this paper. But personal rule has an economically destructive tendency that only shrewd political leadership and propitious world economic conditions can check.

130 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined four different mechanisms of adaptation in the context of a dictatorship: electoral mechanism, incorporation into the ruling party, associational incorporation, and letters to party and state bodies and to the press.
Abstract: Unlike liberal democracies where the legitimacy of government inheres mostly in the process of competitive elections, communist regimes are widely believed to be legitimated mostly by their socioeconomic performance. The marked slowdown in the economic growth of the communist countries, particularly since the late 1970s, has suggested to many scholars that regimes of this kind are likely to experience a “legitimacy crisis” in the relatively near future. Prognoses of this kind are held to be premature and probably misconceived; they overlook the ability of the regimes concerned to maneuver politically and to generate additional support by the development of their consultative capacities. Four such “mechanisms of adaptation” are examined in detail: the electoral mechanism; incorporation into the ruling party; associational incorporation; and letters to party and state bodies and to the press.

97 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that the concept of legitimacy is not appropriate for the analysis of mass compliance in such societies, and that the persistence of stable social and political order in these societies, as well as the occurrences of mass dissent, may be better accounted for in terms of "conditional tolerance".
Abstract: It is worthwhile debating the meaning of concepts only when they start to hinder the process of inquiry. This seems to be the case with Max Weber's concepts of legitimacy and legitimate authority. They are becoming increasingly popular among students of Soviet-type societies despite the numerous problems posed by their application in a socio-political context that is so different from the one Weber had in mind. This increased popularity results in a ‘conceptual stretch’. More importantly, it increases the danger of a serious misinterpretation of socio-political processes in Soviet-type societies because, as will be argued in this article, the concept of legitimacy is not appropriate for the analysis of mass compliance in such societies. Instead, the persistence of (relatively) stable social and political order in these societies, as well as the occurrences of mass dissent, may be better accounted for in terms of ‘conditional tolerance’. In order to demonstrate the utility of this concept, and to show the problematic nature of accounts in terms of legitimacy and legitimate authority, it is necessary to start with a brief reprise of Weber's conceptual scheme.

70 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that during the post-Franco era the criteria of legitimacy have begun to shift from formal political to social democratic values and that the Spanish public distinguishes not only between successive governments, but also between Francoism and democracy as political systems, and estimate the determinants of support for and opposition to the two regimes.
Abstract: The political transition in Spain provides a rare opportunity to monitor popular attitudes toward alternative regimes. Through the analysis of national surveys conducted in 1978, 1979–80, and 1984, we first establish that the Spanish public distinguishes not only between successive governments—the Franquist and the center-right and socialist governments of the post-Franco period—but also between Francoism and democracy as political systems. Second, we show that during the post-Franco era the criteria of legitimacy have begun to shift from formal political to social democratic values. These analytical results are achieved by comparing standard with less orthodox measures of political legitimacy and performance, and by revising conventional theories of system support. Third, we estimate the determinants of support for and opposition to the two regimes. The Franquist system remains more polarizing than does the democratic system; the constituencies of the democratic regime are considerably broader and more heterogeneous. However, while the new democratic state is comparatively inclusive and autonomous, low rates of political participation and changes in traditional socialist ideology have made the institutional bases of legitimacy ambiguous.

69 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Challenger tragedy compromised NASA's status as a legitimate institution and actions taken to repair legitimacy included the open hearings of the Rogers Commission, scapegoating of executives, and limiting performance goals.
Abstract: The Challenger tragedy compromised NASA's status as a legitimate institution. Actions taken to repair legitimacy included the open hearings of the Rogers Commission, scapegoating of executives, and limiting performance goals. It is suggested that NASA's long‐term legitimacy will require new and dramatic performance goals.

Book
19 May 1986
TL;DR: Curtis as discussed by the authors argued that the framers of the 14th Amendment intended to incorporate the Bill of Rights guarantees and thereby inhibit state action and rebut their argument with vigor and effectiveness, conclusively demonstrating the legitimacy of the incorporation thesis.
Abstract: "The book is carefully organized and well written, and it deals with a question that is still of great importance--what is the relationship of the Bill of Rights to the states."--"Journal of American History""Curtis effectively settles a serious legal debate: whether the framers of the 14th Amendment intended to incorporate the Bill of Rights guarantees and thereby inhibit state action. Taking on a formidable array of constitutional scholars, . . . he rebuts their argument with vigor and effectiveness, conclusively demonstrating the legitimacy of the incorporation thesis. . . . A bold, forcefully argued, important study."--"Library Journal"

Book ChapterDOI
01 May 1986
TL;DR: The most influential scholars of the subject also made two radical suppositions about Mexico in particular: the most significant fact in the country in 1910 was the struggle between the upper and lower classes, and the conflict was about to explode.
Abstract: Three theoretical assumptions in liberal sociology long ruled historical study of the Mexican Revolution: mass action is consensual, intentional, and redistributive; collective violence measures structural transformation; and nationalism aggregates interests in a limited division of labour. In plain words, movement of ‘the people’ is movement by ‘the people’ for ‘the people’; the bloodier the struggle, the deeper the difference between ways of life before and after the struggle; and familiarity breeds solidarity. The most influential scholars of the subject also made two radical suppositions about Mexico in particular. First, the most significant fact in the country in 1910 was the struggle between the upper and lower classes. Second, the conflict was about to explode. And on these premises respectable research and analysis framed a pro-revolutionary story of the rise of the downtrodden: the Revolution began over a political issue, the succession to Porfirio Diaz, but masses of people in all regions quickly involved themselves in a struggle beyond politics for sweeping economic and social reforms. Enormous material destruction throughout the country, the ruination of business, and total defiance of the United States were necessary for the popular struggle to triumph, as it did. And through the struggle the champions of ‘the people’ became the revolutionary leaders. Economic and social conditions improved in accordance with revolutionary policies, so that the new society took shape within a framework of official revolutionary institutions. The struggle ended in 1917, the year of the revolutionary constitution. The new revolutionary state enjoyed as much legitimacy and strength as its spokesmen said it did.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the foot-in-the-door and door-inthe-face techniques for compliance were compared under conditions of high and low source legitimacy in a telephone survey, yielding a significant chi-square for response X strategy X source legitimacy.
Abstract: The foot-in-the-door and door-in-the-face techniques for compliance were compared under conditions of high and low source legitimacy in a telephone survey. Calls were made to 240 people, employing either the FITD, DITF, or a control, requesting television viewing preferences for either a public interest group (high legitimacy) or a private consulting firm (low legitimacy). It was predicted that both techniques would be effective when legitimacy was high but that only the FITD would be effective when legitimacy was low. Compliance results supported this prediction, yielding a significant chi-square for response X strategy X source legitimacy. The results were interpreted in terms of the type of pressure or obligation that may follow from each strategy.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article examined variations in institutional processes and legitimacy, gathered data on levels of voluntary compliance, and questioned defendants about their reasons for paying claims against them, concluding that institutional legitimacy is related to voluntary compliance and that the language of obligation is an important part of normal discourse.
Abstract: Legitimacy is a much used concept in the social sciences. However, the absence of precise operational meaning has prompted questions about its utility as an explanation of compliance with social norms. Most recently, Alan Hyde has argued that legitimacy cannot be disentangled from other explanations of compliance such as coercion and self-interest and should, therefore, be abandoned. However, institutional, attitudinal, and behavioral dimensions of legitimacy can be operationalized. As part of our research on small claims courts we examined variations in institutional processes and legitimacy, gathered data on levels of voluntary compliance, and questioned defendants about their reasons for paying claims against them. We conclude that institutional legitimacy is related to voluntary compliance, and that the “language of obligation” is an important part of normal discourse. Operational meanings for legitimacy are available and empirical research about legitimacy should be a prominent part of the social science research agenda.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In Nigeria, Islam has been an element in the conflict between ethnic-language groups as discussed by the authors, and Islam itself has worked to intensify fissures opened up by social and economic change in Nigeria.
Abstract: Nigeria has not evolved political formulas that explicitly allow religion or religious authorities to define legitimacy. There have, however, been struggles carried out in religious terms over constitutional mechanisms for adjudicating conflict. Religion also has been an element in the conflict between ethnic-language groups. Finally, religion provides a language, a set of values, and institutions through which groups struggle and over which groups contend, both within and between religious communities. It has been necessary for northern leaders to stress Islam in order to maintain northern unity. However, Islam itself has worked to intensify fissures opened up by social and economic change in Nigeria. Islam in Nigeria continues to be contentious in both domestic and foreign policy.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The role of religion has been in the modern political history of Libya, and it illustrates ambiguities in political identity that are, in fact, common throughout the Muslim Arab world.
Abstract: Striking as the role of religion has been in the modern political history of Libya, it illustrates ambiguities in political identity that are, in fact, common throughout the Muslim Arab world. The tensions between the concepts of political legitimacy bequeathed by the historical Islamic empires and Western-inspired notions of ethnic nationalism and state patriotism have created dilemmas for rulers and the ruled in the Muslim Arab world since the beginning of the twentieth century. The Libyan governments' reliance on Islamic formulas to inspire political loyalty reflects the weakness of both Arab and Libyan nationalist traditions in the country. Qadhdhafi's revolutionary ideology constitutes an effort to transcend the dilemmas of Libyan national identity, but it has not proved persuasive to most of his compatriots.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The modern American electoral system took recognizable shape between 1880 and 1910 as discussed by the authors, marking what historians and political scientists have recognized as a sea change in American politics-the "collapse of an earlier political universe" and the creation of "both a quantitatively and qualitatively different electorate" from that of the nineteenth century.
Abstract: The modern American electoral system took recognizable shape between 1880 and 1910. Party loyalties, which had been strong and durable since the 1830s, weakened, and party organizations relinquished many of the methods they had formerly used to rally their supporters. Voter turnout at the polls declined, and new evidence of electoral independence, as well as apathy, appeared. Together these developments marked what historians and political scientists have recognized as a sea change in American politics-the "collapse of an earlier political universe" and the creation of "both a quantitatively and qualitatively different electorate" from that of the nineteenth century.1 Although briefly reversed during the New Deal era, the electoral trends established early in the 1900s have prevailed in American politics ever since. Particularly within recent decades, rates of voter participation have resumed the downward slide begun around the turn of the century, and the political parties have encountered renewed challenges to their popularity and even to their legitimacy. The political changes of the 1880-1910 era are well documented, and most historians agree on the developments that were broadly responsible for causing them. In the most general terms, urbanization and industrialization placed new demands on government that the parties had difficulty meeting and called forth interest groups that assumed many of the parties' old functions. New election laws, adopted in response to dissatisfaction with the existing system, changed and regulated the parties' behavior and encouraged the decline of voter turnout. Among the most important innovations were the Australian ballot, voter registration, the direct primary, and woman suffrage. Especially between 1905 and 1917, the spirit of progressive reform spread and intensified

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that there are many perfectly good reasons for policy-making by voluntary agreement between regulators and those whose conduct is to be regulated, and that such agreement does not enhance the moral legitimacy of the policies thereby promulgated.
Abstract: There may be many perfectly good reasons, of a purely pragmatic sort, for policy-making by voluntary agreement between regulators and those whose conduct is to be regulated. Pragmatism aside, however, policy-makers characteristically claim that that strategy is also morally superior to legislative compulsion. That claim is incorrect. Voluntary agreement, as it is presently procured, does nothing to enhance the moral legitimacy of the policies thereby promulgated. Anything a government is morally entitled to do with voluntary agreement of that sort, it would be morally equally entitled to do without it.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Analysis of court hearings in a case to prevent a child with AIDS from attending school reveals how perceptions of risk are shaped by a range of cultural, political, and institutional factors.
Abstract: Analysis of court hearings in a case to prevent a child with AIDS from attending school reveals how perceptions of risk are shaped by a range of cultural, political, and institutional factors. The many actors in this ritualized verbal combat sought to control interpretations of evidence, scientific credibility, legitimacy of decision-making procedures, and the balance of rights and responsibilities. Technocratic authority may be less important than symbolic and political issues in determining acceptability of risk.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Communist regime in Poland and argue that the role of the Church is conditional on the performance of the regime.
Abstract: Since the founding of the Communist state in Poland, the growth of the institutionalized basis of Catholicism there has accelerated. This trend obviously reflects a continuing growth in the social base of support for Catholicism. This article presents church-state relations in terms of confrontation between the church and Communist rule, and it postulates that the Polish Roman Catholic Church has been transformed in the course of its coexistence with Communist rule and resembles very little the Catholic Church of the prewar period. The Roman Catholic Church serves as an alternative legitimate system within Communist Poland. It is an authority system that is not constitutionally recognized, but in real terms it functions as if it were and coexists with the Communist authorities. Moreover, in the eyes of the general public, the role of the Polish church is conditional upon the performance of the Communist regime. The church's authority extends beyond the spiritual and moral domain and directly enters politi...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In India, the early Hindu experience established a legitimizing link between religion and the state and non-Hindi faiths adopted similar legitimizing practices as discussed by the authors, and Indian religions then became legitimizers of anticolonial freedom movements.
Abstract: In no region of the world have so many political entities intermingled with so many religious traditions for so long as in India. The early Hindu experience established a legitimizing link between religion and the state. Later, non-Hindu faiths adopted similar legitimizing practices. British colonialism displaced local religions as political legitimizers of the state and replaced them with Anglicized Christianity. Indian religions then became legitimizers of anticolonial freedom movements. After independence and partition of the subcontinent in 1947, India had a predominantly Hindu population, but the new state was created as a secular entity. Although secularism has been endangered and pressured in the past four decades, it remains largely intact at the national level; however, there are inconsistencies in its application and threats to its integrity at the regional and state level. Religion has, however, ceased to be the key legitimizing instrument of the state; democratic voting has replaced it. Yet, r...


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jun 1986
TL;DR: The authors argue that political scientists should themselves be willing to become colonizers, not just collaborators, and that they should extend their territory to include what are conventionally regarded as economic institutions.
Abstract: retical benefits resulting from this process, this article argues that political scientists should themselves be willing to become colonizers, not just collaborators, and that they should extend their territory to include what are conventionally regarded as economic institutions. It does so by showing how political analysis contributes to our understanding of the activity of such a preeminently economic institution as the modern large corporation. In the end what emerges from this essay is further evidence of the artificiality of disciplinary boundaries in the social sciences and the infirmity of any territorial claims. In arguing that the large corporation should be viewed as a political institution, the essay, then, is a conceptual rather than empirical endeavor, though it concludes by showing how empirical verification is possible. We begin by discussing the question that initiated the development of this perspective.

Book
30 Jan 1986
TL;DR: Christenson as mentioned in this paper examines numerous political trials throughout history, bringing into question basic foundations of law, politics, and society, and classifies political trials according to the issues they generate in the political sphere: "partisan trials" are spurious legal proceedings but politically expedient; "trials of corruption and insanity" raise questions of public and personal responsibility; "trivial trials of dissenters" involve problems of conscience; and "nationalists" highlight the nature of representation and the relationship of the part to the whole.
Abstract: Political trials take issues of responsibility, conscience, representation, and legitimacy, which are tied in tight political and legal knots, and force us to face questions about our public identity, our standards for public policy, and our sense of history. Ron Christenson explores how political trials, especially those within the rule of law, engage society's conflicting values and loyalties. He examines numerous political trials throughout history, bringing into question basic foundations of law, politics, and society. Christenson classifies political trials according to the issues they generate in the political sphere: "partisan trials" are spurious legal proceedings but politically expedient; "trials of corruption and insanity" raise questions of public and personal responsibility; "trials of dissenters" involve problems of conscience;" trials of nationalists" highlight the nature of representation and the relationship of the part to the whole; and "trials of regimes" engage the most fundamental concept of both law and politics--legitimacy. "Political Trials" brings these considerations to bear on some of the best-known cases in history, including the Gunpowder Plot; the Spanish Inquisition; the Dreyfus affair; the Nuremburg trials; trials of dissenters such as Socrates, Thomas More, Roger Williams, and the Berrigan brothers; and trials of nationalists such as Joan of Arc, Gandhi, Knut Hamsun, and the Irish republicans. Since the first edition appeared, a number of notable political trials have raised critical issues for society. Shocking public exposures about the Guildford 4 and Maguire 7 trials shook the British criminal justice establishment, while in the United States trials concerning the beating of Rodney King led up to the O.J. Simpson spectacle and a host of parallel questions. The trials of right-wing terrorists such as Paul Hill, found guilty of murdering an abortion doctor, and Timothy McVeigh, convicted of the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, parallel the case of left-wing dissenter Karl Armstrong in the 1970s. Finally, the South African Truth and Reconciliation Committee provides a test case of whether a nation can not only remember but grant amnesty and achieve true reconciliation. In examining the dilemmas involved in these trials, Christenson shows how they make a positive contribution to an open and democratic society. "Political Trials" will be an important addition to the libraries of historians, legal scholars, and political scientists.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A Marxian theory of sport has two major dimensions: a political economy in which one weighs the degree to which sports serve the accumulation problems of advanced monopoly capital and a cultural-Marxist dimension in which the ways in which sports solve the problems of legitimacy and help produce alienated consciousness in self and society as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: A Marxian theory of sport has two major dimensions: A political economy in which one weighs the degree to which sports serve the accumulation problems of advanced monopoly capital and a cultural-Marxist dimension in which one examines the ways in which sports solve the problems of legitimacy and help produce alienated consciousness in self and society. This article provides insight in both uses to which commodity sports are put. In brief, advanced monopoly capitalism uses the advertising industry to colonize desire and myth in sports as an envelope in which to insert commercial messages. The human desire for good and enlivening social relations is transferred to the lifeless commodity. A better use of sports is to locate desire within community and interpersonal concerns rather than profit and false solidarity. A radical research agenda is summarized in the last section.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that the theory of legitimation provides an ideal potential situation which critics may use to evaluate the actual presumptions and procedures of political communication, and the possibility of casting questions of legitimacy in rhetorical terms, applying communication criteria to justifications of legitimacy, and uniting the pragmatic and ethical realms of communication.
Abstract: Jurgen Habermas's theory of legitimation is a social‐critical perspective with clear implications for rhetorical criticism. It posits that political orders claim legitimacy implicitly and explicitly, that these claims must be criticizable and redeemable through argument, and that the justifications advanced must be rationally and motivationally worthy of recognition. In the explication and evaluation of the theory advanced here, it is argued that the theory of legitimation provides an ideal potential situation which critics may use to evaluate the actual presumptions and procedures of political communication. There are three major opportunities for rhetorical critics embedded in the theory: (1) the possibility of casting questions of legitimacy in rhetorical terms, (2) the possibility of applying communication criteria to justifications of legitimacy in procedural terms, and (3) uniting the pragmatic and ethical realms of communication. Despite weaknesses in Habermas's idea of a transcendent rationality, ...

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Sep 1986
TL;DR: In this paper, two competing explanations for references to Supreme Court decisions by the Court itself are presented, one explanation emphasizing personal or political factors, thus viewing such references as products of the ego or ideology of the citing judge, and the other explanation views references as a functon of such legal concerns as clarifying past policy or applying precedent when appropriate.
Abstract: T) HE QUESTION addressed in this article is straightforward Why does the Supreme Court cite and follow some of its previous decisions while ignoring or distinguishing others? This question is important for the emerging literature on citation behavior among courts which views the citation of past cases as important indicators of communication (Caldeira 1985; Harris 1979), legitimacy (Friedman et al. 1981), status of the law (Landes and Posner 1977; Merryman 1977), or changes in the law over time (Merryman 1977; Johnson 1981). For these scholars, citations to previous decisions are important because they inform us about the institutional side of law that is, law as a system of rules which may constitute a "language" and a constraining force on extra-legal factors affecting judicial decisions (Brigham 1978). A major assumption of past citation research is that citations are more than casual references in judicial opinions and that, in fact, they represent an attempt to legitimize decisions by linking past decisions to contemporary ones. As Lawrence Friedman et al. note, judges are expected to decide "according to law," which means that "they are not free to decide cases as they please, [but instead] are expected to invoke appropriate legal authority for their decisions" (1981: 793). To the degree that citations are systematic, and the assumption is false that they are casual or random, then researchers may, indeed, use them as reasonable indicators of such phenomena as communications among courts. The research reported here tests two competing explanations for references to Supreme Court decisions by the Court itself. One explanation emphasizes personal or political factors, thus viewing such references as products of the ego or ideology of the citing judge. The other explanation views references as a functon of such legal concerns as clarifying past policy or applying precedent when appropriate. These two explanations are elaborated below, and are followed by presentation of research findings on follow-up citations by the Court.

Book
01 Jan 1986
TL;DR: The Frailty of Authority as mentioned in this paper explores the social, economic, cultural, and historical forces that shape and constrain the common worldviews that give ideological legitimacy to collectivities ranging from dynastic American families to Communist party cadres in China.
Abstract: "The Frailty of Authority" explores the social, economic, cultural, and historical forces that shape and constrain the common worldviews that give ideological legitimacy to collectivities ranging from dynastic American families to Communist party cadres in China. "The Frailty of Authority" is the fifth consecutive volume in the series, "Political Anthropology." It offers original analyses in a pioneering, multidisciplinary field concerned with understanding political man. Articles cover a wide range of theoretical, conceptual, and methodological approaches in exploring the complex inter-relationships among socioeconomic, cultural, and political phenomena.