Term Paper on "Watergate; Views of Authors Such as Emile"

Term Paper 7 pages (2339 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Watergate; views of authors such as Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, J. Alexander, Dinesh D'Souza and C. Wright Mills

Society is an organism that functions according to its own rules and has the interconnected mechanisms that allow it to regenerate just like a human body. The collective consciousness enables it to function properly. In case of a crisis situation, the mechanisms represented by the public, the elites and the media collaborate, driven by solidarity, in order to eliminate the evil so that the social body can continue its normal existence. The Watergate scandal represents such a moment of crisis. The circumstances favored the common profane politics event to turn into a sacred moment, drawing the attention to the fact that the relationship between morality and power had been weakened, thus weakening the society. Driven by a social force (the civil religion), the public, the media and the elites coordinated their actions in a manner which led to Nixon's resignation. Symbolically, this represented the elimination of evil and the sacred regeneration of the society through a reinforcement of the principles that lay at the basis of its functioning. Within the realms of the American culture that is essentially supported by and based on what J. Alexander calls "civil religion," the political scandal actually represented an opportunity to eliminate the aspects that were no longer functional, as well as a chance to reinforce the moral principles of behavior.

The cultural approach of Emile Durkeim to power, as well as J. Alexander's perspective on the American culture provide the necessary arguments in order to demonstrate that society benefits from the mechanisms that regu

Continue scrolling to

download full paper ⤓

late its proper functioning. According to Emile Durkheim, power represents a shared resource. The leading elites use it for the benefit of the public. The values of the society and the norms which support its functioning are actually agents that mediate power. The Watergate scandal shook the American society, but instead of weakening it, it made it stronger. If society is a moral phenomenon, than the individuals will act united, organically, driven by the desire to defend the principles of morality, since they are aware of the fundamental importance played by these principles. The Watergate scandal proves it. The media used its power in order to bring the matter to the eyes of the public. What it did was actually to draw the attention to the real significance of the event. By bringing it into the public space, making it available for all the citizens, the media helped create a new representation of the factual data. And it was this new representation that created the collective effervescence that ultimately led to a change.

Taking into consideration the strength of the civil religion in the American society, the frequency of the appeal to symbols, it can be easily understood how the event turned into a symbolical confrontation between good and evil. Nixon became a president that no longer fulfilled its righteous duties. Disobeying the moral principles that justified and supported his position, he no longer corresponds to the ideal of the public and therefore the public will punish him. If at first Nixon could have defended himself stating that he ordered the burglary because he was thinking about the long- term benefits of the American society, his further actions made it obvious that he did what was best for him. He was no longer assuming the role of the supreme authority, the President (designated to act in the best interest of the people), but a mere man in the skin of a President, acting against the principles and the well being of the people who helped him gain his position.

The Saturday Night Massacre deprives the President of the sacred aura of the ruler that the people loves and turns him into a tyrant. In "All the president's men," the atmosphere of tension suggesting that the lives of the Woodward and Bernstein are in danger contributes to the creation of the image of a president who would stop at nothing in order to keep himself safe, in a position of power. He will have to resign because he will no longer have the support of the people, nor the moral validity for him continuing his actions.

Not only did President Nixon act against the best interest of the people, but he also acted against the high authorities (the elites), trying to manipulate them. In a certain manner it could be stated that he "attacked" society at all its levels, believing that he was strong enough to deceive it.. This allowed the elites to unite with each other ("journalists frequently remarked on how congressmen rose to the sense of occasion, presenting themselves not as political representatives of particular interests but as embodiments of sacred civil documents and democratic mores" (Alexander, 199). And the masses in order to eliminate him, since he had become a symbolical enemy of society itself. Just like Durheim would put it, he no longer had the moral legitimation. The political process is characterized by three dimensions: moral, religious, legitimate. President Nixon no longer had any of these characteristics and this is why society had to eliminate him.

The Senate hearings that were shown on television played a crucial part in transforming the event from a regular political problem into a sacred event. The accent was shifted from the political issue to the one of morality. "Facts do not speak. Watergate was a story told by American society. It was the context of Watergate that changed, not the facts themselves." (Alexander, 181) The fact that the transmissions were repeated after a pattern gave the entire situation the feeling of a ritual. The intense media coverage not only drew and maintained the attention of the people, but it also created tension among the public (to create the collective effervescence), while the public put pressure on the authorities to find out the truth and act accordingly. The importance of the media is crucial. Just like the movie portrays it, it was the two reporters that started the entire story, drawing the attention to the things that could not be explained by the official declarations.

The reporters (symbols for the mass media) act as a connection element between the individuals (the public) and the elites (CIA, FBI, the Supreme Court, etc.). Thus, different organs of society collaborate like the organs of the body, driven by the survival instinct (the survival of the principles that support the existence of society). The collective consciousness of what was good and what was evil underlines the unity of the American people. Put in terms of good and evil, the political fight gains a moral, sacred character.

Considering the aspects involved by the Watergate scandal, it can be started that all the five elements of a ritual (Alexander, 183) were completed. The media coverage drew the attention to the fact that something was not working normally (social consensus that something is polluting). The fact that the president himself was acting against the law made it clear to everybody that the sacred center of society was threatened (the Constitution). The institutional forces intervened (such as the Senate Watergate Committee) and counter centers were established (such as the Special Prosecutor's Office). The sacred center had to be cleaned of the deviant factor, the President and it was all the public tension and pressure that led to his resignation. "The hearings revivified the civic religion of the people" (Alexander, 189) and "Watergate was legitimated as a real crisis since the issues were defined as being above politics and involving fundamental moral concerns" (Alexander, 190).

Under these circumstances, it can be stated that the political scandal served as an interruption of the profane every day living and it inserted the sacred dimension. This sacred dimension did nothing but renew the forces of the society, since it managed to identify the evil and eliminate it. At the same time, the basic principles of its functioning were remembered and reinforced.

Just like Durkheim who speaks about the irrational drive (the feelings) that unites the people of a country, D'Souza speaks about the importance of the inner voice and the ethic of authenticity. People are not angelical creatures to live in harmony and peace without laws and this is why the norms are needed I order to embody the values of a people; such an embodiment is the Constitution. And since it contains the fundamental principles that must be obeyed in order for the society to function properly, it is easy to comprehend how it can be symbolically considered the sacred center of society and defended at all costs when the situation claims it. Furthermore, national morality can not function outside any connection with the religious dimension.

The political area itself is a sacred area (the president himself is an institution and a sacred one too) and this is proven by the rituals that it uses on each occasion. "Although matter of personal religious belief, worship and association are considered to be strictly private affairs, there… READ MORE

Download Full Paper

Write a New Paper for Me

Quoted Instructions for "Watergate; Views of Authors Such as Emile" Assignment:

“

****Please note: This paper is being written for a political sociology course, and if you would like to get an idea what the class is about exactly, you may read the following brief description:

Political sociology considers the relationship between power and social institutions. In this course we will survey the major theoretical perspectives on power and politics within sociology. We will do so in relation to the phenomenon of political scandal within American society with special emphasis on the Watergate scandal of 1972-1974. Each theory we will look at in this class will have a different "take" on what political scandal represents and therefore each theory will have a different conception of what the whole Watergate affair actually means. In considering these differing perspectives on power and society, we will be focusing on four fundamental dimensions: 1) social, political and cultural elites; 2) the public; 3) the mass media; and 4) the "rationality" of social actors. Watergate is a central focus because there is plenty of documentation and "data" about it as an historical event but scandal is a recurring and inevitable part of the fabric of American political life: For example, former President Bill ***** was impeached over his improprieties in the Monica Lewinsky affair in 1999 and Ronald Reagan's last term in office was overshadowed by the so-called Iran-Contra affair in the late 1980's. More recently, George Bush and Dick Cheney have both been accused of potentially scandalous activities. What exactly is political scandal and what does it say about the distribution of power in American society? That is the central question we will try and answer.

More recently in this course, we have been focusing on the cultural perspectives of Emile Durkheim (as reflected, for example, in the ***** article) and Talcott Parsons, which are almost diametrically opposed to that of the critical perspective that we considered in the first part of the course. Durkheim and Parsons' theories challenge us to try and recognize what is beneficial and "functional" in the systems world, indeed, both argue that it is only through what we have called the systems world that our lifeworlds are even possible.

Here the idea is that while political elites act as "leaders" it is the public that determines outcomes, i.e., that contrary to the critical perspective political leaders are responsive and accountable to the public they serve. In terms of Watergate, the cultural perspective is especially effective at explaining the "Saturday Night Massacre" and Richard Nixon's resignation from the Presidency, while the critical perspective was much better in accounting for the original burglary and break-in as well as the resulting cover-up.

****You will be given two paper topics, which you will find below, and you may pick only ONE to write this paper on (the choice is yours). For the first paper option your job is to think with Durkheim and Parsons about what works in the American political system. The second paper option offers you the opportunity to compare and contrast Durkheim and/or Parsons with Marx and/or Mills.

*****IMPORTANT: for BOTH paper options you MUST have watched the film "All the President’s Men" in its entirety, read Dinesh D’Souza’s What’s So Great About America, and be very familiar with the Durkheimian and Parsonian perspectives on politics.*****

I am not saying you have to agree with D & P or that you cannot express your disagreement with them. But you MUST clearly demonstrate to me that you understand the cultural argument regarding Watergate and American politics.

Do NOT be afraid to be creative, funny or personal as long as you are able to draw upon the concepts, readings and materials mentioned and offered. However, putting in too much of your own personal opinion or writing in the first person is not recommended nor is it professional. Remember that it is very difficult to write a great paper that will convince your reader(s) with just your “opinions” all over the place, but if you have lots of evidence from the lecture summaries, videos and reading materials that you draw upon to support your analysis and argument, you should have no problems.

*****The paper should be minimum 7 FULL pages and maximum 10 pages in length, double-spaced, 12-point font and 1 inch margins all around and MUST have a (very sexy!) title, and the paper must contain citations from the relevant assigned texts, lecture summaries, documentaries and/or movies that are mentioned below; this is enough resources and they contain most of the information needed to complete this paper, so please do NOT use any outside sources. Please include a Work Cited Page at the end. The paper MUST have an introduction paragraph with a STRONG, ARGUABLE thesis, full body paragraphs that begin with a topic sentence followed by supporting sentences and examples and finally, a conclusion paragraphs that sums/ wraps up all the points/ arguments in you paper. *****

******PLEASE NOTE: In all of the options below, you should be able to demonstrate general familiarity with the events of Watergate, e.g., be able to properly name persons and refer to specific events and the order in which they occurred. It is very important that you do that. ******

****** Also, please do NOT recapitulate the whole history of the Watergate scandal, we don’t need a timeline. Just use specific events (e.g., the initial burglary, the cover-up, Senate Watergate hearings, Saturday Night Massacre, etc.) to illustrate the theories you're talking about. ******

Remember, the ultimate object in answering EACH of the questions below is to show how American culture affects politics, i.e., how what we often consider to be the systems world of politics impacts our lifeworld, for better or for worse. Your paper may include some reflection on your own experience of the systems world serving or enhancing your own lifeworld or how politics has operated to “colonize” your lifeworld. This is where you are granted to get personal in your paper, but briefly, please.

**** Here are the two topics for the paper; please answer only ONE of the following questions:

1. Choose one or both of the cultural theories – Durkheim, ***** and/or Parsons -- and focusing on Watergate, consider how the cultural perspective explains political scandal. You should draw particularly on " D'Souza's "What's So Great About America" and the film "All the President’s Men" for examples in illustrating the functionalist perspective on the relationship between political elites, the American public and the mass media in a democratic culture. How would this relationship explain events during Watergate such as the "Saturday Night Massacre" and Nixon's resignation? What would be the significance of the Senate Watergate hearings given the cultural perspective? What is the general nature of power in American society in the cultural view and what kind of society does the cultural view of politics assume? What have you learned from D’Souza’s book in terms of the advantages of American culture in regard to other societies that most impresses you?

2. Compare and contrast Durkheim's and Parson's (cultural) view of government with that of Marx and Mills or Weber. What are differences between how the theories you are comparing see the relationships between political elites, the American public and the mass media? Argue for the one you favor by considering D'Souza's arguments in What's So Great About America as compared to C. Wright Mills’ arguments in The Power Elite and their relevance for both the cultural and the critical views. Why is it that the critical view is better at explaining the cover-up while the cultural view is better at explaining the "Saturday Night Massacre" and Nixon's resignation? What kind of rationality characterizes the "public" and the "elite"? Why is it that Durkheim and Parsons do not see the "power elite" model of the critical view as being valid? How would Marx/Mills and/or Weber critique the film "All the President’s Men" (i.e., argue against it showing a functionalist perspective on Watergate and American politics?) and particularly the functionalist theory of the mass media? In the end, which of the perspectives, cultural or critical, is better at explaining Watergate overall and why?

**** If you cannot find or get a hold of any one of the works needed to complete this assignment, please let me know ASAP, so I can fax it to you; I can do that for the articles but not D. D'Souza’s novel, What's So Great About America, as it is too long. But please make sure you get a hold of one because it is absolutely necessary to have read it in order to complete this assignment. Now, here is a list of all the topics and titles of the specific readings we covered and the names of the authors who wrote them; most of them you will need to read or be quite familiar with in order to write this paper:

The Political Scandal of the State (1): Capitalist Exploitation - Marxist and Neo-Marxist Perspectives

J. Thompson, "What is Scandal?" and "The Nature of Political Scandal"

Neomarxism (concl.) - Bureaucratic Domination - Weber and Neo-Weberian Perspectives

C. Wright Mills, “The Power Elite” and Max Weber, “Bureaucracy”

The Culture of Political Scandal (1): Ritual Reaffirmation - Durkheimian and Neo-Durkheimian Perspectives

E. Durkheim, "The Concept of the State" ; R. Bellah, "Civil Religion in America"

J. *****, "Watergate and Durkhemian Sociology"

The Culture of Political Scandal (2): Adaptive Upgrading - Parsonian Perspectives

T. Parsons, "Voting" and "The Distribution of Power in American Society"

D. D'Souza, What's So Great About America: "Why They Hate Us," "Two Cheers for Colonialism" and "Becoming American"

The Meanings of “Watergate”: D’Souza and Ricoeur

D. D'Souza, What's So Great About America: "When Virtue Loses All Her Loveliness" and "America the Beautiful"

Paul Ricoeur, “Imagination in Discourse and Action”

**** Please note: there are THREE movies you need to get a hold of and watch:

1) “ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN” - (watching this one is definitely required in order to write this paper.)

2) “WAG THE DOG

3) “DICK”

**** And here are the links to a couple of C. Wright Mills’ works from the book “THE POWER ELITE”:

1) “The Higher Circles”

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Book_Excerpts/HigherCircles_PE.html

2) “The Mass Society”

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Book_Excerpts/MassSociety_PE.html

There is also a website that is recommended for quick reference: www.watergate.info

****And last but not least, I have lecture summaries and overheads from class, which are all typed up and an article titled “First Report of the Watergate Burglary” from the the Washington Post; and I will e-mail them all to you because they will definitely help with writing this paper. All these resources that I have will be e-mailed to *****.com right after I submit my order. If you do not receive them or want me to send them directly to our personal e-mail address, please let me know ASAP. Also, I can fax them to you, if you prefer that, just let me know. I have provided you with all the resources that I could, however, you are on your own on the other required resources that you will need to complete this paper such as D'Souza’s novel, What's So Great About America, the ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN video, Emile Durkheim & Talcott Parsons’ works, etc., as I cannot e-mail/fax them.

I you have any problems though or have any questions, please let me know as soon as possible. Good luck with the paper, and have a wonderful day! :)

*****

How to Reference "Watergate; Views of Authors Such as Emile" Term Paper in a Bibliography

“Watergate; Views of Authors Such as Emile.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2006, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/watergate-views-authors/7781368. Accessed 3 Jul 2024.

Watergate; Views of Authors Such as Emile (2006). Retrieved from https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/watergate-views-authors/7781368

A1-TermPaper.com. (2006). Watergate; Views of Authors Such as Emile. [online] Available at: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/watergate-views-authors/7781368 [Accessed 3 Jul, 2024].

”Watergate; Views of Authors Such as Emile” 2006. A1-TermPaper.com. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/watergate-views-authors/7781368.

”Watergate; Views of Authors Such as Emile” A1-TermPaper.com, Last modified 2024. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/watergate-views-authors/7781368.

[1] ”Watergate; Views of Authors Such as Emile”, A1-TermPaper.com, 2006. [Online]. Available: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/watergate-views-authors/7781368. [Accessed: 3-Jul-2024].

1. Watergate; Views of Authors Such as Emile [Internet]. A1-TermPaper.com. 2006 [cited 3 July 2024]. Available from: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/watergate-views-authors/7781368

1. Watergate; Views of Authors Such as Emile. A1-TermPaper.com. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/watergate-views-authors/7781368. Published 2006. Accessed July 3, 2024.

Related Term Papers: