power

Examples of power in the following topics:

• Power

  • Legitimate power, power given to individuals willingly by others, is called "authority;" illegitimate power, power taken by force or the threat of force, is called "coercion. " In the corporate environment, power is often expressed as upward or downward.
  • Power can be seen as evil or unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as endemic to humans as social beings.
  • 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.
  • Compare the positives and negatives associated with the use of power and how power operates in society

• Power

  • Typically, the employer (or boss) has more power.
  • By comparison, the employee has less power.
  • Power can be seen as evil or unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as endemic to humans as social beings.
  • Thus power has a connotation of unilateralism.
  • In one example, more powerful people turned off an irritatingly close fan twice as much as less powerful people.

• Study questions

  • Why does betweenness give an actor power or influence?
  • How does Bonacich measure the power of an actor?
  • Less powerful?
  • are they the most powerful and influential?
  • Who might be central, but not powerful?

• Dictatorship and Totalitarianism

  • Dictatorships govern without consent of the people and in totalitarian dictatorships the power to govern extends to all aspects of life.
  • Dictatorship is a form of government in which the ruler has the power to govern without consent of those being governed.
  • A dictator's power can originate in his or her family, political position, or military authority.
  • In other words, dictatorship concerns the source of the governing power (where the power comes from—the people or a single leader) and totalitarianism concerns the scope of the governing power (what is the government and how extensive is its power).
  • In this sense, dictatorship (government without people's consent) exists in contrast with democracy (government whose power comes from people) and totalitarianism (where government controls every aspect of people's lives) exists in contrast with pluralism (where government allows multiple lifestyles and opinions) .

• Power and Inequality

  • In social science and politics, power is the ability to influence the behavior of people.
  • The term authority is often used for power perceived as legitimate by the social structure.
  • Power can be seen as evil or unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as endemic to (or regularly found in) humans as social beings.
  • Because power operates both relationally and reciprocally, sociologists speak of the balance of power between people in a relationship.
  • Given that power is not innate and can be granted to others, to acquire power you must possess or control a form of power currency (such as wealth, social status, authority, etc.).

• Authority

  • Authority refers to the use of power that is seen as legitimate or socially approved/recognized.
  • Authority only lasts so long as people recognize the legitimacy of power.
  • But when people begin to question the legitimacy of that power, it loses authority.
  • Without authority, Britain's power had to be backed by force.
  • Power can be exerted by the use of force or violence.

• The Conflict Perspective

  • Conflict theory suggests that men, as the dominant gender, subordinate women in order to maintain power and privilege in society.
  • In the context of gender, conflict theory argues that gender is best understood as men attempting to maintain power and privilege to the detriment of women.
  • While certain gender roles may have been appropriate in a hunter-gatherer society, conflict theorists argue that the only reason these roles persist is because the dominant group naturally works to maintain their power and status.
  • Therefore, their approach is normative in that it prescribes changes to the power structure, advocating a balance of power between genders.
  • Men, like any other group with a power or wealth advantage, fought to maintain their control over resources (in this case, political and economic power).

• Bonacich's approach

  • Fred is clearly more central, but is he more powerful?
  • Similarly, actor B's power and centrality depend on actor A's.
  • So, each actor's power and centrality depends on each other actor's power simultaneously.
  • Let's examine the centrality and power scores for our information exchange data.
  • Bonacich also had a second idea about power, based on the notion of "dependency."

• Types of States

  • States vary based on who holds power, who elects the empowered, and how authority is maintained.
  • One way to classify these governments is by looking at how leaders gain power.
  • Some monarchs hold unlimited political power while many constitutional monarchies, such as the United Kingdom and Thailand, have monarchs with limited political power.
  • An oligarchy does not have one clear ruler, but several powerful people who rule.
  • However, if any democracy is not carefully legislated with balances, such as the separation of powers, to avoid an uneven distribution of political power, then a branch of the system of rule could accumulate power and become harmful to the democracy itself.

• Weber's View of Stratification

  • Max Weber formed a three-component theory of stratification in which social difference is determined by class, status, and power.
  • Weber examined how many members of the aristocracy lacked economic wealth, yet had strong political power.
  • Many wealthy families lacked prestige and power, for example, because they were Jewish.
  • He treated these as separate but related sources of power, each with different effects on social action.
  • Power refers to a person's ability to get their way despite the resistance of others.