PAGE IN PROGRESS What you see here is a page of my hypertext book POWER of meanings // MEANINGS of power. Initially empty, this page will slowly be filled with thoughts, notes, and quotes. One day, I will use them to write a coherent entry, similar to these completed pages. Thank you for your interest and patience!
This page will briefly introduce main theories of power proposed by various scholars and list books associated with these theories. It will include links to pages on this website where these theories and corresponding books will be explored in more detail.
There exist numerous theories of power that focus on different aspects of power and different spheres of life, e.g., interpersonal relationships vs. politics vs. leadership, etc.
Marxist theory – False consciousness Ideology
Ideological state apparatus – Louis Althusser
(Cultural) hegemony– Gramsci Example: example of cooption: how not to draw, episode with dollar bill pyramid that turns evil (ironically, this is made by Disney, a major corporation)
Traditional, rational-legal, and charismatic power– Weber
"Power is everywhere" – Foucault (fluid power, biopower, power/knowledge)
Habitus– Bourdieu
Alfred Adler
Choice, freedom - Satrte [paradox - we have to choose even if we don't want to choose, we are condemned to freedom]
Wrong, D. H. (1996). Power: Its forms, bases, and uses. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
For theories related to other relevant concepts see: free will, social system, status quo, agency vs. structure, responsibility, and blame, right, entitlement, voice, influence
van Dijk "Discourse and Power" https://www.amazon.com/Discourse-Power-Teun-van-Dijk/dp/0230574092
Encyclopedia of Power: https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Power-Keith-Dowding/dp/141292748X#:~:text=Book%20overview&text=It%20provides%20a%20compendium%20of,by%20theorists%20over%20the%20years.
Keith Dowding, Power https://www.amazon.com/Power-Concepts-Social-Thought-Dowding/dp/0816629412/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2QCQK3D3RUB6R&keywords=Dowding+Power&qid=1693492933&s=books&sprefix=dowding+power%2Cstripbooks%2C164&sr=1-4
Wolf, Eric. 1999. Envisioning Power: Ideologies of Dominance and Crisis. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Studying power without using the term power as the key concept of the exploration: norms agency vs structure Social system