For a society to exist, it must have a system of leadership. Some people will have to have power over others. As Max Weber point

admin2018-01-31  18

问题    For a society to exist, it must have a system of leadership. Some people will have to have power over others. As Max Weber pointed out, however, people can perceive power as legitimate or illegitimate. Weber used the term authority to refer to legitimate power that is, power that people accept as right. In contrast, illegitimate power, coercion, is power that people do not accept as just.
   1. Custom and authority
   Throughout the world’s history, the most common form of authority has been traditional. Traditional authority, which is based on custom, is the hallmark of preliterate groups. In these societies, custom dictates basic relationships.
   2. Traditional gender difference
   Gender relations in preliterate groups are also based on traditional authority. The divisions between men and women are based on the past, with custom determining that a gulf should be maintained between them. Custom also dictates the specifics of their relationships.
   3. Change of tradition
   When traditional society changes, traditional authority is undermined.
   4. Tradition in modern society
   Even in industrial and postindustrial societies, however, traditional authority never totally dies out.
   5. Challenges to tradition
   This traditional authority, unquestioned in most places in the world, has not gone completely challenged, however. Just as for the widow of Spain and Portugal, matters are no longer as clear-cut as they once were, and some Western societies debate the right of parents to hit their kids.
   Although the images that come to mind when we think of power are those of government—kings, queens, coups, dictatorships, running for office, voting—traditional authority, in the sense of power relations, is also an inevitable part of everyday life.
   [A]In a democracy, for example, the president’s authority comes from the office, as specified in the written constitution, not from his or her reputation or personal characteristics.
   [B]A good case in point is Sweden: it has even passed laws that forbid spanking, and Sweden authorities arrest parents who lay a hand on their children.
   [C]For example, in small villages in southern Spain and in a large part of Portugal, widows are expected to wear only black until they remarry—which generally means that they wear black for the rest of their lives. The force of a tradition is so strong that if a widow were to violate the dress code, she would create a scandal.
   [D]Parental authority provides an excellent example. Parents exercise authority over their children because they have always had such authority. From generations past, we inherit the idea that parents are not only responsible for providing their children with food, shelter, and discipline, but also that they have the right to choose their children’ s doctors and schools, and teach them religion and morality.
   [E]For example, because of birth a particular individual becomes the chief, king, or queen. As far as members of that society are concerned, this is the right way to determine a ruler because "that is the way it has always been done. "
   [F]As a society industrializes, for example, new perspectives on life open up, and no longer does traditional authority go unchallenged. Thus, in contemporary southern Spain and parts of Portugal, you can see old women dressed in black from head to toe, and you immediately know their marital status. Younger widows , however, are likely to be indistinguishable from other women.

选项

答案E

解析 本段主题是权威与习俗之间的关系。E项以酋长、国王或王后的例子说明有些人的权威是传统认可的,是血统决定的。例文中统治者代表的就是权威,而“that is the way it has always been done”说的也就是一代代流传下来的习俗。故选E项。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/ZfX7FFFM
0

随机试题
最新回复(0)