Power in society

Comparison of 'Power and the Social' by Sallie Westwood and Steven Lukes' 'Power: A Radical View'

Scientific Essay from the year 2007 in the subject Sociology - Classics and Theoretical Directions, grade: B, Loughborough University (United Kingdom Loughborough University), course: Power in Society , 10 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Power has always been of a central meaning for the society as it is inherent in any social resp. political or economic relations. This concerns any kind of society, from the simple, primitive clans of hunter- gatherers, which are only segmentary differentiated to the highly differentiated societies of today´s industrial nations. Of course the importance of power relations has grown together with the amount of different social positons. According to its importance, it is a controversially discussed issue in many sciences. Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy and the economic sciences offer a large variety of different theories to explain its diverse aspects. One of the most influential concepts of power has been developed by Steven Lukes in his work 'Power: A Radical View'. The following text will compare and contrast this book with Sallie Westwood´s 'Power and the Social'. In the process, theoretical arguments and conclusions of both texts will initially be introduced followed by a consideration of several objections to each book. 2. Steven Lukes' 'Power: A Radical View' In 1974, Steven Lukes published his book 'Power: A radical View'. Despite its size of no more than 60 pages, it still had an enormous impact and provided material for further discussions and academic debates on the concept of power, as well as empiric research. However, his approach has been outmost controversially discussed and criticised. In a response to this, he published the second edition in 2005. There, he made concessions to criticism but also vindicated himself and still defends a revised version of his model. However, in the following text, I will refer mainly to Lukes` 1974 essay, in which he first criticised the theoretical views of power which have been dominant in the earlier part of the twentieth century, that is to say, the one- dimensional and the two- dimensional accounts of power. In the process of his critique on the previous accounts, more importantly, he first introduced his own three- dimensional approach. To understand Lukes` objections, the one- and two- dimensional concepts shall first be roughly explained. (...)