Seminar Eighteen: Power and the new politics

Intro

Let us look at the different meanings of power and then map out these meanings to the different theoretical approaches to power.

Three meanings of power:

1. Power as ‘capacity’ i.e. the possession of control or command over others. The conception of power here is that of capacity, meaning the capacity to get others to do what you want them to do.
2. Power as “legal ability, capacity or authority to act; especially delegated authority”. Here power is the ‘right’ that some people have to tell others what to do.
3. Power as the “ability to do or affect something or anything”. Power, in this sense, relates to human agency; that is, to one’s ability to ‘make a difference’ in the world.

Finally, it should be noted that these three meanings of power can overlap.

Power as quantitative capacity

• This meaning of power sees power as some form of entity, similar to wealth, and can be measured in terms of those who have ‘more of’ or ‘less of’ it. Those who have ‘more of’ power are more likely to get there way, than those with ‘less of’ power. Hence, power is seen as a capacity, the capacity to get one’s own way, with groups accordingly having more or less of this ability.
• This understanding can be seen in Weber’s definition of power as “the chance of a man or a number of men to realize their own will even against the resistance of other”
• Approaches that look at power in terms of this meaning, concentrate on the distribution or production of power. Implicitly here is the idea that power is quantifiable and can be measured and compared empirically.
• The distribution of power – As wealth, power is a quantifiable entity, and unevenly distributed. This translates in the ability of some to impose their will over others.
• There are three dimensions to the distribution of power (Lukes 1974) – (1) the dimension which operates to determine the outcome of direct conflict. (2) The dimension which operates behind the scenes so as to exclude certain interests from direct public conflict in the first place. (3) The dimension which operates on people’s thoughts and desires.
• Production of power: Some sociologists argue that power should be viewed in terms of its production. It is argued that power is not simply a fixed quantity, as wealth. Rather, power is created and maintained continuously. Hence, we should study the social conditions in which power is produced and maintained. Once again, as with those who look at the distribution of power, this view sees power in quantifiable terms – those who can produce ‘more’ power and hence have greater authority, then those who produce ‘less’. This approach overlaps with the definition of power as ‘right’, as it views that forms of agency that produce and maintain power, usually have the ‘right’ to be obeyed or followed – whether this is by coercion or consent.

Power as ‘right’

• Those who would emphasize the meaning of power as ‘right’, investigate how power as a ‘right’ is given to some parties to command control over others. This entails questions of legitimacy – how power becomes legitimated, whether it is through coercion or obligation. Sociologists, such as C Wright Mills, are more concerned with how legitimacy is created and maintained, rather than the belief of legitimacy on part of those who are subjected to an authority.

Power as acting on the actions of others

• Focault views power as an inescapable feature of human interaction. Power simply is (it is part of all actions directed at others. We all act on the actions of others, and hence are part of the greater circulation of power). People simply do not have ‘more’ of it, as it is not quantifiable. Focault describes power as the ‘total structure of actions’.
• Focault focuses on how the effects of power are produced – rather than on power itself as the explanation for such effects. Such an approach breaks away from those who view power as either ‘capacity’ or ‘right’, and hence avoids the disputes concerning how we can identify and measure power, and how we should determine its legitimacy.

The presentation notes above was based on Chapter 4 (this chapter gives a good overview of the sociology of power) by Christine Helliwell and Barry Hindess in ‘Sociology: Issues and Debates’ (edited by Steve Taylor).

You can download the notes above (which were used as the seminar’s presentation slides) by clicking here…

To download the handouts that were given in the seminar, click here and here

Further Resources:

• Hegemony in Antonio Gramsci
  
• The Truth about Capitalist Democracy by Atilio A. Boron
• Excerpt The Subject and Power (1982) by Michel Foucault
• An excellent guide on the web for Contemporary Philosophy, Critical Theory and Postmodern Thought
• Antonio Gramsci on Culture by Raquel de Almeida Moraes
• A guide to web resouces on an array of theorists