Home > Power (sociology)
Sociologists usually define power as the ability to impose one's will on others, even if those others resist in some way. - "By power is meant that opportunity existing within a social relationship which permits one to carry out one's own will even against resistance and regardless of the basis on which this opportunity rests."
- Max Weber, Basic Concepts in Sociology
The imposition need not involve coercion (force or threat of force). Thus "power" in the sociological sense subsumes both physical power and political power, including many of the types listed at power. In some ways it more closely resembles what everyday English-speakers call "influence".
More generally, one could define "power" as the real or perceived ability or potential to bring about significant change, usually in people’s lives, through the actions of oneself or of others.
The exercise of power seems endemic to humans as social and gregarious beings.
1 Analysis and operation of power
Power manifests itself in a relational manner: one cannot meaningfully say (pace advocates of empowerment) that a particular social actor "has power" without also specifying the other parties to the social relationship.
Power almost always operates reciprocally, but usually not equally reciprocally. To control others, one must have control over things that they desire or need, but one can rarely exercise that control without a measure of reverse control - larger, smaller or equal - also existing. For example, an employer usually wields considerable power over his workers because he has control over wages, working conditions, hiring and firing. The workers, however, hold some reciprocal power: they may leave, work more or less diligently, group together to form a union, and so on.
Because power operates both relationally and reciprocally, sociologists speak of the balance of power between parties to a relationship: all parties to all relationships have some power: the sociological examination of power concerns itself with discovering and describing the relative strengths: equal or unequal, stable or subject to periodic change. Sociologists usually analyse relationships in which the parties have relatively equal or nearly equal power in terms of constraint rather than of power.
Even in structuralist social theory, power appears as a process, an aspect to an ongoing social relationship, not as a fixed part of social structure.
One can sometimes distinguish primary power: the direct and personal use of force for coercion; and secondary power, which may involve the threat of force or social constraint, most likely involving third-party exercisers of delegated power.
2 Types and sources of power
Power may be held through:
- Delegated authority (for example in the democratic process)
- Personal or group charismaThe word Charisma (from the Greek word charis or gift, is often used in this form to describe an ability to charm or influence people. Charisma has been credited with helping some politicians, especially those with vague platforms and populist ambitions,
- Ascribed power (acting on perceived or assumed abilities, whether these bear testing or not)
- ExpertiseExpertise is the property of a person (that is, expert) or of a system which delivers a desired result such as rapid, pertinent information. It generally implies large amounts of knowledge, and very good information processing speed ( fluency). Expertise (Ability, Skills) (the power of medicine to bring about health)
- PersuasionSee also: Persuasion the last novel written by Jane Austen. Persuasion is the process of convincing someone to believe or act on something. Dissuasion is the process of convincing someone to not believe or act on something. The word "persuasion" is usuall
- KnowledgeKnowledge is the awareness and understanding of facts, truths or information gained in the form of experience or learning. Knowledge is an appreciation of the possession of interconnected details which, in isolation, are of lesser value. Knowledge is a te (granted or withheld, shared or kept secret)
- MoneyGeneral definition of money Money is an agreement, between a community, to use something as a medium of exchange, which acts as an intermediary market good. It can be traded and exchanged for other goods. The agreement can either be explicit or implicit, (financial influence, control of labour, ownershipOwnership is the socially supported power to exclusively control and use for one's own purposes, that which is owned. Definitions of it are closely tied to definitions of wealth, private or public. It is claimed by many (principally among the political le control etc)
- ForceIn physics, a net force acting on a body causes that body to accelerate; that is, to change its velocity. The concept appeared first in the second law of motion of classical mechanics. It is usually expressed by the equation F m · a where F is the force, (violence, military might, coercion).
- Moral suasion
- Application of non-violence
- Operation of group dynamics
- Social influence of tradition (compare ascribed power)
