NATURE, FORMS
AND
CONSEQUENCES
OF POWER
Here is where your
presentation begins
01. 03.
COMPULSORY POWER STRUCTURAL POWER
02. 04.
INSTITUTIONAL POWER PRODUCTIVE POWER
INTRODUCTION
One of the central concepts and issues of
political science is power: Who wields it? How
is it shared, checked, or monopolized? How
can power and its consequences be controlled
to gain benefits? You may not know it, but we
may be affected by the play of power, in its
political sense, in our everyday life. In the
same way, each of us wields power on other
people, things, or situations.
This lesson presents the different definitions
and aspects of power in political science. Not
only will the students be able to recognize
power, but they will also be responsible in
using it to avoid abuse in its usage, as well as
to give due respect to others who have power
over them.
“
“KNOWING IS NOT ENOUGH, WE MUST
APPLY. WILLING IS NOT ENOUGH, WE
MUST DO”
—BRUCE LEE
1. 2
3. 4.
Power in the natural sciences can be easily
established through a single equation which
signifies the quantifiable nature of physical
power. Power in society, and by extension, the
social sciences, on the other hand, is more
complicated because it is continuously being
molded by the dynamic nature of society and
the objective and subjective capacity of man.
Dahl (1950) defined power in society as the
ability of person A or institution A to make
person B or institution B do something that
person B or institution B, on his/ her/its own,
would not do. From the said definition, power
in society spans a broad spectrum of meaning
that includes force, authority, influence, and
most of the time coercion.
In addition, in society, there are different
forms of power--from authoritative power to
economic power. There are also many ways in
which power can be expressed by individuals
or institutions. Likewise, expressing power
may range from the simplest of human
interaction, such as when parents tell their
children what they should and should not do,
to the grandest, such as when the government
imposes policies for the welfare of its
constituents.
● The extent of the consequences of power is dependent upon the different
ways. degree, and the aims by which power is expressed in society. For
instance, political power in a state is exercised by the government.
Through this power, the government is able to create and enact laws that
promote peace and order in society and influence various processes such
as those affecting the economy for the benefit of its constituents as well.
● In their attempt to classify and better understand power, Barnett and
Duvall (Pallaver 2011) created the taxonomy of power with four major
types:
Compulsory Power
The direct control of one
actor of the conditions
and actions of another.
Institutional Power
The indirect ways in
which an actor affects
another. An
example is the use of
rules or the law to
impose order.
Structural Power
basically looks at the position
and the roles of various actors in
relation to each other.
Examples: are coach to player,
boss to worker, or captain to
crew relationships wherein the
position of each player toward
another provides them roles and
responsibilities that they play
even without one coercing the
other.
Productive Power
similar to structural power that
looks into the relative position of
the actors, the social production
of their roles, and how the roles
affect the actors' perceptions
and actions. However,
productive power focuses not on
the direct structures provided
and accepted by each actor, but
on the discourse between the
actors in which power is
negotiated.
According to Aristotle in his Politics, there are situations where power in government is
corrupted by the personal and selfish goals of individuals. Because of these egoistic goals,
individuals pursue laws and intervene with social services to achieve personal rather than
communal gains. This is true throughout the history of man wherein various individuals
identified by Thomas Carlyle (1841) as "Great Men" of history, such as dictators and
despots like Pol Pot and Adolf Hitler who used the power vested on them by their
respective governments to pursue personal ambitions over the welfare of their people.
In studying politics, we must be aware and accept the fact that power, as a central
concept, is dynamic and has different forms, depending on who is imposing power, and
how that power is expressed.
