Domination and discipline are both crucial when one strives to attain power. In order for one to have power, they must be able to somewhat dominate and discipline their followers. It seems as though that in the past, domination has overpowered disciplinary tactics throughout the world. Rulers have reigned over their countries, dominating their people and sometimes forcing them to do things. In order to achieve power, one typically starts off by dominating whoever they are ruling, and then the domination turns into a sense of discipline. As time goes on, those who are being ruled over begin to accept what is being implemented.
When it comes to the role of domination and discipline in the attainment of power you can find it readily in the increasing violence found in jails/prisons. Based on media coverage, it seems as though the violence of inmates is increasing, partly due to the power-hungry actions of the guards. As the United States has progressed, people have called for harsher and harsher punishments and ways to handle criminals, such as using bb guns and tasers. Guards in the prison system have been on such a power trip that they are even the leaders in cause of rape in prisons. This escalation of violent, dominating behavior has led inmates to more readily revolt against the guards who are supposed to be protecting them from one another, as opposed to causing the harm.
Society as a whole seems to be letting these things slip under the rug because people want prisons to be harsher and stricter because they associate strictness with security and safety. People would much rather have the inmates being dominated over by the prison guards than having them run rampant, attacking innocent people for their own often sick and twisted pleasure. The use of more violent tactics when dealing with taming inmates appears to be encouraged by the government and society because they are the ones who are supplying the prison guards with things like tasers and pellet/bb guns. These actions would fall under the category of domination rather than discipline because the guards are somewhat forcing their power over the inmates and utilizing their abilities in a way that sides more with domination. The inmates don’t necessarily agree with the situation that is going on, but to some degree they do follow it (minus the outbursts that get reported).
Weber’s notions of dominance and discipline are still major aspects of today’s society, and will be for years to come. They play a huge role in one’s attempt to attain power over a group of people because they cause those being ruled over to conform to and abide by the rules set forth by whoever is in charge. While dominance seems to be the more popular choice amongst rulers, both past and present, discipline may be the better way to assert power because with a disciplined group of people comes the respect and cooperation a leader needs in order to maintain their power.