Amber Clayton
Weber and Simmel’s Take on Power and Conflict
Jon Witt, explaining Max Weber’s theory on resources of power, was not surprised at the fact that students do not use the party resource to fight for better tuition costs, because of the individualistic society of the United States. This fits into conflict theory because the school would be considered a rational-legal authority. The students “give in” to the rules and perceived rights of the school to raise tuition costs. As Jon Witt said “there are reasons… for why people should do what they are told to do.” If the school did not charge the students money then they would not be able to pay the teachers and professors to educate them. This idea fits into the broader theory because

Witt’s claim about the US being individualistic is not expanded in this chapter, but it is in previous ones. In chapter 4, Witt mentioned “…we combine extreme interdependence (due to specialization) with a strong sense of individualism (tied to a weak collective conscience). We depend on each other more than ever, but we realize it less.” In an article by Margaret Foster, she asks 70 college presidents “can you school continue to attract students at its current rate of tuition growth?” and 80% said yes. This tells me that students are simply following the rational-legal authority of the bureaucratic schools, choosing to accept the higher charges and taking out higher loans. The students most like...

-13 -358 -8 /5 1 10 109 11 110 12 120 13 18.4 2 2007 2008 2010 2013 3 353 357 4 45 4th 5 500 52 54 59 6 7 70 73.3 8 80 82.1 86 89 9 abl academ accept accomplish action activ address advantag affect after-school agenc alcohol alcohol-rel allow although amber american among annoy anyth arm articl ask assist assum attract author away back bad ban becom behavior best better beyond big border broader budget bulletin bureaucraci bureaucrat buy ca calcul care case cash chain chapter charg children choic choos citi claim classic clayton cognit collabor collect colleg combin come communic communiti compani conclus conflict conglomer connect conscienc consequ consid consum contact contemporari continu control cost could creat current cut decad decis delta depart depend descript desir develop differ dilemma doesn done drink drug drug-rel due econom economi ect ed educ effect effici emot employ end enforc ensur entir error even ever everyon evid exampl exchang excus exist expand explain extrem face fact famili fast fast-food feder feel fight fit follow food forc forg form formal foster franklin futur gamma georg gilbert give go good govern greater group growth health height held help higher hill hous howev huge human idea illumin import inc includ individu individualist inform instead interdepend issu j job john jon jr kappa karen kick kivisto korzep law leader least led legal leisur less life like linda live loan look loss made make mani mar margaret max may mcdonald mcgraw mcgraw-hil mean medic meet member mention mere money mother multipl murfreesboro must n narrow need negat new nexus nonhuman oak offer old one opinion other outcom outlin outsid p parent park part parti partner pay peopl perceiv person peter physic pictur pine pioneer point polic posit power pregnanc premier presid press previous primer principl problem process professor profit program project provid rais rate ration rational-leg real realiz realli reason receiv recreat regul relat relationship replac requir resid resist resourc revisit rid right ritzer round rule said satisfact say scholar school search see sens shock shown simmel simpli social societi sociolog solut speak special start state staudenmei sticker still strict string strong student studi support surplus surpris system take take-ov talk taught tavern teacher technolog teen teenag telehealth telephon tell tennesse theori therefor think though thought thousand tie time tip told total treat tuition tutor typic understand unit unpredict us use util valu violenc weak web weber weberian well well-b will william window within witt work worker world worri would year yes york young