WEBER – PASSIVE DEMOCRACY
Weber’s analysis of passive democracy offers three claims. First, he argues that the people or “demos” are an “inarticulate mass” that do not have the capacity to govern themselves, and must therefore be governed. Second, bureaucratic power derives from secrecy and a monopoly on credentials. Third, voting and expressions of public opinion help to contain bureaucratic power.
Your assignment is to evaluate two of these three claims with respect to society today, either in the United States or abroad. For this assignment, you should identify 1-3 news articles of your choosing that relate to the topic. Based on these articles, make an explicit argument about whether, and why, Weber’s claims are either correct or incorrect.
You should choose two, and only two, of the claims elaborated in the first paragraph above. DO NOT TRY TO ADDRESS ALL THREE CLAIMS. You should devote roughly half your essay to addressing each of the two different claims. You do not need to make the same argument for both claims, i.e. you can argue that one claim is correct while the other is incorrect.
Be sure to provide details from the news articles to support your arguments. Provide citations for your news articles, but do not include these citations in your word count.
