PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Power, Authority & Legitimacy
Comment on the Bases of Power.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
R1 Bases = what power-holders control to shape behaviour → power is more than force R2 Bases run visible —. near-invisible → power rests on a widening set of supports
Body flow
Three basic bases: force / influence / authority -. forms: coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, referent -. individual base: Dahl ("A over B") + Weber (will despite resistance) = power over → structural bases: Marx (economic class controls state).. feminist (patriarchy, exclusion of women) → Foucault (institutions, knowledge, surveillance, normalisation —. ideology/discourse = least visible base)
Counter-view
Arendt: "acting in concert” → collective, enabling base from civic participation, against power-as-domination
Conclusion routes
R1 Power rests on structure, knowledge and consent, not force alone R2 Bases widen from coercion (visible) to ideology (invisible) → power is far broader than force
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
