Concept of power
Meaning, Nature & Centrality of Power
Power = the ability to produce effects in social interaction, to secure compliance, to shape outcomes. Central to political science as money is to economics.
Key Definitions
| Scholar & Source | Definition / Core Idea |
|---|---|
| Bertrand Russell, Power: A New Social Analysis | “The production of intended effects.” |
| Robert Dahl | “A has power over B to the extent that A can get B to do something which B would not otherwise do.” |
| Max Weber | Probability that an actor can carry out his will despite resistance in a social relationship. |
| Robert M. MacIver, The Web of Government | “The capacity in any relationship to command the service or compliance of others.” |
| Schwarzenberger | Capacity to impose will on others, backed by effective sanctions for non-compliance. |
| H. V. Wiseman, Political Systems | “Power is the ability to get one’s wishes carried out despite opposition.” |
| Charles P. Schleicher | Ability to make others act via reward, threat, or deprivation. |
| Kautilya | Power from three elements: knowledge, military capacity, valour. |
| Nivedita Menon | Ability to do things and produce effects within social interaction. |
| F. M. Watkins | Political science = investigation of all associations for the problem of power (The State as a Concept, 1934). |
| Harold D. Lasswell | Political science = study of the shaping and sharing of power. |
| William A. Robson | Political science is primarily concerned with power in society — its nature, basis, processes, scope and results. |
| Mark O. Dickerson | Influence = the ability to persuade others to want to do your will. |
Power Cannot Be Only Domination
Power may operate as: coercion · influence · authority · hegemony · ideology · knowledge · discipline · consent · collective action
Two Assumptions in Dahl — and the Challenges
| Dahl’s Presumption | Contemporary Challenge | Challenger |
|---|---|---|
| Power is an attribute of individuals | Power is collective | Hannah Arendt; Talcott Parsons |
| Power is domination over others | Power is also enabling (power to) | Hannah Arendt; C. B. Macpherson |
Lewis Coser’s Two Traditions
| Weber Tradition | Parsons Tradition |
|---|---|
| Power as domination (power over) — impose will despite resistance; command & compliance | Power as collective facility (power to) — enables collective goals; positive social facility |
Bases of Power. Force · Influence · Authority. + knowledge & expertise · control of economic assets · command over organisation · control of ideology · discourse control · institutional position · military-admin apparatus · moral credibility · collective action. Three Levels of Power Bases: Individual level (Dahl) · Collective level (Arendt) · Structural level (Marx/Foucault).
Steven Lukes’ Three-Dimensional View of Power
Steven Lukes, Power: A Radical View: Power is an essentially contested concept. “Power is at its most effective when it is least observable.”
Lukes’ Three Faces of Power. 1st Dimension — Decision-Making: Visible conflict • open wins/losses • pluralist view; Ex: Hobbes, legislative voting → 2nd Dimension — Agenda-Setting: Keep issues out of debate • Bachrach & Baratz: non-decision-making • dominant economic classes → 3rd Dimension — Thought-Control: Shape perceptions, beliefs, preferences • prevent recognition of real interests • Gramsci’s hegemony • Marcuse’s one-dimensional man. Least hidden →→→ Most hidden & most effective.
Major Perspectives on Power
Liberal & Marxist — Comparison Table
| Dimension | Liberal | Marxist (Marx & Lenin) |
|---|---|---|
| Origin of power | People / popular consent | Economic relations; class structure |
| Holders of power | Elected officials, institutions, dispersed groups | Dominant class controlling means of production |
| Role of state | Symbol of popular sovereignty; accountable | Instrument of bourgeoisie; executive committee |
| Legitimation | Elections, constitutionalism, rule of law, rights | Ideology and false consciousness; hegemony |
| Goal | Order, rights, welfare | Class struggle; eventual classless society |
| Lenin | “The passing of state power from one class to another is the first principal, the basic sign of revolution.” |
Feminist Theory
Power is gendered. Patriarchal structures exclude women. Feminist conceptualisations: power as resource to be redistributed; power as domination; power as empowerment.
| Scholar | Key Contribution |
|---|---|
| Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex | Society constructs femininity; woman treated as “the Other” → subordination. |
| Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract | Traditional social contracts support patriarchy; women excluded from public sphere. |
| Kimberlé Crenshaw | Intersectionality: overlapping oppressions for women of colour. |
| Sandra Harding | Standpoint theory: marginalised perspectives challenge patriarchal knowledge. |
| bell hooks | Patriarchal systems affect both men and women; reinforces male dominance. |
| Gayle Rubin, The Traffic in Women | Women’s sexuality commodified in patriarchal systems. |
| Mary Wollstonecraft & Virginia Woolf | Prepared ground for critique of gendered power. |
Hannah Arendt’s Constructive View
“Power corresponds to the human ability not just to act but to act in concert. Power is never the property of an individual; it belongs to a group and remains in existence only so long as the group keeps together.”
Hannah Arendt
collective · communicative · public · positive · distinct from violence · arises through participation
“By its very nature, violence destroys and by destroying, it makes impossible the creation of power. Violence can destroy power; it is utterly incapable of creating it.”
Hannah Arendt
Examples: Civil Rights Movement (MLK), Women’s Suffrage, Gandhi’s Salt March, fall of Berlin Wall 1989.
C. B. Macpherson’s View of Power
C. B. Macpherson, The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke — connects power with liberalism, possessive individualism, extractive power and developmental power.
| Concept | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Possessive individualism | Individuals are owners of themselves and their property; liberal society links freedom with property; state protects property rights → limited idea of freedom. |
| Extractive power | Control over productive capacities of others for one’s own purposes; capitalist market institutions legitimise this; those who control property control others’ labour. |
| Developmental power | Ability to develop higher-order human capacities: rational understanding, moral judgement, aesthetic creation, friendship, love, religious experience — these are essentially human. Ethical, not merely descriptive. |
| Democratic goal | Eliminate extractive power; place self-development at the centre of democracy. |
| Nancy Fraser (critique) | Stresses role of wealth inequality, social hierarchy and historical legacies in shaping power and development. |
Postmodern Perspective
Jean-François Lyotard: postmodernism = incredulity towards metanarratives. Michel Foucault rejects both Hobbesian sovereign power and Marxist class-centred power. Power operates through institutions, discourses, knowledge, identity, surveillance, norms.
Elitist Theory of Power
Core claim: Power is always concentrated in the hands of a small organised minority — irrespective of regime type (capitalist, socialist, democratic, Marxist).
Precursors: Plato (men of reason/courage/appetite); Aristotle (master-slave); Machiavelli (not everyone can be a prince).
| Scholar & Work | Core Concept | Key Points |
|---|---|---|
| Vilfredo Pareto Mind and Society |
Circulation of Elites | Society: elites (governing + non-governing) vs masses. Foxes (cunning, manipulative) vs Lions (forceful, decisive). History = “graveyard of aristocracy” — elites decay, counter-elites rise, circulation restarts. |
| Gaetano Mosca The Ruling Class |
Ruling Minority | Every society: ruling minority + ruled majority. Oligarchy is universal. Organisation and leadership skills make elites powerful. Elite rotation maintains vitality. |
| Robert Michels Political Parties |
Iron Law of Oligarchy | “He who says organization, says oligarchy.” Large organisations → bureaucratisation → specialised leadership → passive masses → power in few. Even socialist parties follow this. |
| Charles Wright Mills The Power Elite |
Power Elite | US = oligarchy, not democracy. Elite: top government executives + military/defence leaders + corporate officials. Interconnected, similar background, worldview. Power pyramid: Elite → middle level (opinion leaders) → disengaged masses. Managed democracy. |
| Raymond Aron | Fractured vs Monolithic Elites | Liberal states: fractured elite (competitive parties, citizen choice). Communist states: monolithic elite (single party, no real choice). |
Assessment
Strength: Explains gap between formal democracy and actual power; explains concentration in bureaucracy, military, corporations. Critique: Dahl — multiple elites compete; Marxists — circulation changes faces, not class domination; Pierre Bourdieu — elite reproduction via cultural capital and schools.
Pluralist Theory of Power
Robert Dahl, Who Governs?: Democracy and Power in an American City (New Haven study) — rebuttal of Mills.
Polyarchy = rule of many; the best feasible form of democracy. High participation + contestation + multiple power centres.
| Stage | Scholar(s) | Core Argument |
|---|---|---|
| Classic Pluralism | Robert Dahl | Power dispersed among competing interest groups; no one group dominates all issues; citizens exercise power as group members. |
| Neo-Pluralism | Dahl & Charles Lindblom | Corporate groups have greater influence → deformed polyarchy; policy outcomes tilted towards corporate interests. Comes closer to Marxism. |
| Neo-Neopluralism | Eric Nordlinger | State monopolises power; relevant for third world — state is most prominent actor. Close to structural Marxism and overdeveloped state. |
Michel Foucault’s Concept of Power
Foucault rejects sovereign (Hobbesian) and class-centred (Marxist) views. Power is non-sovereign, dispersed, productive, capillary. Power flows like blood through capillaries.
“Power is everywhere, not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere.”
Michel Foucault
“Truth is a thing of this world: it is produced only by virtue of multiple forms of constraint. And it induces regular effects of power.”
Michel Foucault
| Concept | Meaning | Example / Illustration |
|---|---|---|
| Power/Knowledge | Power and knowledge are inseparable; what counts as truth is shaped by power; knowledge reinforces power; regimes of truth organise society. | Classification of mental illness; medical diagnosis; distinction between homosexuality and heterosexuality; changing understanding of madness (Renaissance to 19th century). Influenced by Nietzsche. |
| Discourse | Space where power and knowledge intersect; includes language, practices and institutions; produces subjects; marginalises some groups; power is discourse. | Identity is a product of discourse. |
| Disciplinary Power | Shift from spectacular punishment (public torture, fear, terror) to modern discipline, surveillance, normalisation, reform. Works through schools, prisons, hospitals, barracks, factories, exams, records, rankings, timetables. | Discipline and Punish: prisons as places of reform, not torture. |
| Panopticon & Surveillance | Bentham’s prison design: inmates may always be watched; possibility of watching > actual watching; individuals internalise surveillance; self-discipline replaces coercion. | Attendance registers, CCTV, performance metrics, ID cards, UPI records, facial-recognition gates, social media rankings. |
| Governmentality | Governance + mentalities; techniques and strategies to govern populations; shaping conduct through institutions and knowledge; freedom itself becomes a technique of rule. | Schools, hospitals, identity documents, welfare and health policies, bureaucratic categories. Nikolas Rose: “Freedom is not the opposite of government but one of its key inventions.” |
| Biopower | Regulation of life processes by modern states: health, hygiene, reproduction, birth/death rates, population management, sexuality. Old sovereign power = right over life/death; modern biopower = optimisation of life. | Population policies, vaccination drives, census, COVID-19 management. |
Foucault: Three Modes of Objectification (via Paul Rabinow). Dividing Practices — Exclude threats; lepers → colonies; poor → workhouses; criminals → prisons; insane → asylums. Normal vs abnormal categories. → Scientific Classification — Medical exam, psychiatric diagnosis, case records; hierarchical observation; power operates through surveillance, not punishment. → Subjectification — Individuals form themselves as subjects; self-define as normal/abnormal; comparison produces conformity; people internalise social expectations.
Resistance & Criticism
Foucault: “Where there is power, there is resistance.” Power is not absolute; individuals and groups can create counter-discourses.
Critics: Nancy Fraser (sidelines gender; relativism risk); Jürgen Habermas (lacks normative foundation); Steven Lukes (neglects class/economic structures); Charles Taylor (overly deterministic).
Significance: Shifted power studies from repressive to productive; from state to networks; from command to normalisation; from domination to identity creation.
Authority
Authority = power recognised as rightful; produces compliance through moral obligation; based on a perceived right to rule. Avoids two extremes: mere persuasion vs. coercion/violence. “Authority is the most effective instrument of exercising power in politics because it secures willing obedience.”
Weber’s Three Ideal Types
| Type | Basis | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional | Customs, traditions, hereditary rights; “it has always existed.” | Monarchies, tribal chiefs, religious leaders, British monarchy. |
| Charismatic | Exceptional personal qualities; devotion; transformative; may challenge existing structures. | Jesus, Prophet Mohammad, Gandhi, Hitler. |
| Legal-Rational | Rules, procedures, law; impersonal, bureaucratic; characteristic of modern states. | Elected officials, judges, bureaucrats, traffic rules. |
“Every genuine form of domination implies a minimum of voluntary compliance.”
Max Weber
De Jure vs De Facto Authority
| De Jure | De Facto |
|---|---|
| Legally sanctioned; formal right to rule. | Actual control in practice; may lack legal sanction. Example: military government after coup has de facto authority; deposed civilian government retains de jure authority. |
Power vs Authority: If power is a naked sword, authority is a sword in its scabbard. Authority = Power + Legitimacy.
Contemporary Importance
| Theme | Theory Applied | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Power & Surveillance | Foucault (power/knowledge, panopticism) | Social media shapes public opinion; Facebook, Twitter influenced US elections and Brexit; Shoshana Zuboff’s surveillance capitalism: behavioural data extraction = form of behavioural control. |
| Big Tech Hegemony | Gramsci (hegemony through consent) | Big Tech shapes what people see, think and accept; Wall Street + finance shape norms of market society; neoliberalism recoded as common sense via algorithms. Jeremy Gilbert & Alex Williams, Hegemony Now (2022). |
| Legitimacy Crisis in Democracies | Habermas (legitimation crisis) | Economic inequality, populism, political disenchantment, decline of institutional trust; protests in Hong Kong; demand for democratic freedoms. |
| Corporate Influence | Neo-pluralism (deformed polyarchy) | Lobbying by MNCs; Google, Amazon shaping data privacy, tax and antitrust policy. |
| International Power Shifts | Lukes’ 3 dimensions; Gramsci on IR | US-China rivalry: decision-making (trade war), agenda-setting (WTO rules), thought-control (global economic narratives). |
| Indian Politics | Weber (state authority), Lukes (PMO centralisation), Elite theory (political-bureaucratic-corporate elites), Pluralism (pressure groups), Foucault (surveillance, governance), Gramsci (nationalism as common sense) | India’s federal institutions, PMO centralisation, Aadhaar biometric system, dominant narratives. |
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