Abstract
The concept of power is central to many areas covered elsewhere in this volume: from the organization of work to class and stratification, from the family to gender relations, from religion to crime and deviance. Yet the concept itself is subject to considerable confusion. The aim of this chapter is to clarify some of these confusions by exploring three different understandings of power and toe divergent sociological approaches they generate. It should help you understand:
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The fact that power has different meanings which give rise to different sociological questions
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Theories of the distribution and production of power
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Theories of the legitimacy and effectiveness of power
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Theories which focus on how the effects of power are produced
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The importance of looking for the theories of power which underlie different sociological perspectives and research studies
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Further Reading
Hindess, B. Discourses of Power: From Hobbes to Foucault, Oxford, Blackwell, 1995.
Offers a critical examination of the treatment of power in western political thought and an extended discussion of Foucault’s radical alternative to conventional approaches to the study of power.
Lukes, S. (ed.) Power, Oxford, Blackwell, 1986. An excellent edited collection which brings together a range of different accounts of power, including Lukes’ own reflections on the argument of his 1974 book.
Wartenberg, T. The Forms of Power: From Domination to Transformation, Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1990. Combines a useful account of the historical development of the concept of power with a critical discussion of its main contemporary interpretations.
Wrong, D. Power. Its Forms, Bases and Uses, 2nd edn, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1988. Still the most useful survey of mainstream sociological understandings of power.
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© 1999 Christine Helliwell and Barry Hindess
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Helliwell, C., Hindess, B. (1999). Power. In: Taylor, S. (eds) Sociology. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27552-6_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27552-6_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-67620-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-27552-6
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