Power

This far-reaching study gives a concise and coherent overview of the debates surrounding the analysis of social power. The concept of power is outlined, and its main dimensions are explored through consideration of various facets – command, pressure, constraint, discipline, protest, and interpersonal power. The book examines both the theoretical debates that have arisen and the kinds of empirical materials relevant to them.

Topics covered include the nature of the contemporary state, global economic power, world systems, business governance, professional power, social movements, and family dynamics.

Power will be an indispensable introduction for students and researchers in sociology, politics, and the social sciences generally.

Acknowledgements.

1. Patterns of Power

Mainstream and Second Stream.

The Elementary Forms of Social Power.

Structures of Domination.

Counteraction.

Interpersonal Power.

2. Command and Sovereign Power

States and State Elites.

Integration and Recruitment.

Economic Governance..

3. Pressure and Policy Formation

Pressure and Polyarchy.

Decisions, Nondecisions, and Representaton.

Networks of Pressure and Policy.

4. Constraint and Hegemony

Financial Power and Economic Constraint.

Political Constraint and Hegemony.

State Power and Class Hegemony.

5. Discipline and Expertise

Government, Discourse, and Discipline.

Expertise and Professionalism.

6. Protest and Collective Mobilisation

Structures of Collective Protest.

Theories of Organised Protest.

The Development of Protest.

Globalisation and Protest.

7. Interpersonal Power

Power, Dependence, and Embodiment.

Patriarchy, Sexuality, and Power.

Interpersonal Power and Charismatic Authority.

8. Coda

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index.

‘Scott provides a well-documented and admirably succinct analysis of social power in its diverse forms and their embodiment in both hierarchical social institutions and interpersonal relations' Dennis Wrong, Professor Emeritus, New York University

‘Using some simple but robust analytical distinctions, Professor Scott neatly and lucidly surveys alternative approaches to studying power and thereby illuminates various patterns of domination and of resistance in contemporary societies, focusing on the political and economic spheres.' Steven Lukes, London School of Economics

John Scott is Professor of Sociology at the University of Essex and the University of Bergen. This far-reaching study gives a concise and coherent overview of the debates surrounding the analysis of social power. The concept of power is outlined, and its main dimensions are explored through consideration of various facets – command, pressure, constraint, discipline, protest, and interpersonal power. The book examines both the theoretical debates that have arisen and the kinds of empirical materials relevant to them.

Topics covered include the nature of the contemporary state, global economic power, world systems, business governance, professional power, social movements, and family dynamics.

Power will be an indispensable introduction for students and researchers in sociology, politics, and the social sciences generally.