According to Michael Mann’s theory of ethnocide and genocide, the mass murder of enormous numbers of human beings rarely occurs in a stable democracy in which the vast majority of citizens respect long established state institutions. According to Mann, genocide and ethnocide are more likely to occur when states are in the process of establishing democratic institutions for the first time. Why should this be?
Q.1 According to Michael Mann’s theory of ethnocide and genocide, the mass murder of
enormous numbers of human beings rarely occurs in a stable democracy in which the vast
majority of citizens respect long established state institutions. According to Mann, genocide and
ethnocide are more likely to occur when states are in the process of establishing democratic
institutions for the first time. Why should this be? Be sure to focus your response to this question
on Mann’s conceptual distinction between leaders and governments that seek support from an
ethnos on the one hand or the demos on the other. Mann discusses the distinction between the
appeals to the ethnos and the demos in the assigned reading that is Chapter 1 of his Dark Side of
Democracy. The distinction between appeals to an ethnos and the demos was also discussed in
lecture. Q.1=10 points
Q.2 In my lectures on the preconditions for democracy I made a point of emphasizing the
necessity of a stable and enduring constitution. Imagine a situation in which a substantial portion
of the citizens of a democratic country no longer found their constitution to be acceptable. This
withdrawal of support for this country’s constitution would threaten the collapse of its
democracy. In one paragraph, please explain why or how the withdrawal of support for a
nation’s constitution would threaten its democracy. Be sure to consult my lectures on the
preconditions for democracy in your answer. Q.2=5 points
Q.3. In your assigned reading from Modernity and the Holocaust, Zygmunt Bauman observes
that distancing makes it easy for people to inflict suffering without having a bad conscience.
Please define distancing and indicate how it allows people to cause other people to suffer without
giving them a bad conscience. Then please provide one example of a job or a task where a
person (or a small group of people) cause others to suffer without feeling guilty or having a bad
conscience. Please indicate how your example conforms to the definition you provide. Note:
examples must differ from examples used by Bauman or discussed in lectures. Previously used
examples will not earn any credits. Q.3=5 points.
Q.4. In my lectures and in your assigned readings from William Julius Wilson’s When Work
Disappears, Wilson observes that joblessness combines with concentration effects and social
isolation to create conditions that give rise to what Wilson calls “ghetto related behavior.” Please
indicate how joblessness, concentration effects and social isolation create conditions that give
rise to “ghetto related behavior.” During your discussion you will first need to define joblessness,
concentration effects, social isolation and ghetto related behavior.* Thereafter a sound response
will discuss how the overlapping concepts of joblessness, concentration effects and social
isolation create conditions conducive to “ghetto related behavior.” Q.4=10 points
*Note: while concentration effects and social isolation overlap you should indicate in your
definitions how they differ as well.
Contemporary-Social-Theory-Ghetto-Related-Behavior
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