Roger Christopher R.

REYES
Department of Social Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences, UE Caloocan
November 9, 2015

Outline
Power: the Heart of Politics; Definition
The Faces of Power
Realist View of Power
Properties of Power
Characteristics of Power
Influence v. Authority v. Legitimacy

POWER: Heart of Politics

Potere (Latin) to be able to
The capacity of a political actor to affect the

actions of another in accordance with the

formers intentions
A process of affecting policies of others with
the help of (actual or threatened) severe
deprivations for non-conformity
Conceptual Definitions (AB Model)
Decision-making Robert Dahl
Agenda Setting Bachrach and Baratz
Thought Control Steven Lukes

3 Faces of Power
DECISION-MAKING FACE

Power involves the ability to influence the making of

decisions.

AGENDA SETTING
Power may be reflected in the capacity to shape the
political agenda.
The non-decision facet of power
Organization = mobilization of bias

THOUGHT CONTROL
Power may take the form of controlling the peoples
thoughts by manipulating their needs and preferences.
Most subtle facet of power

Conceptual Problems
Does

the exercise
deliberate?

of

power

need

to

be

Does A need to be conscious of his goals, needs

and desires?
What if there is non-compliance?
What if B acted on his own way?

A Realist View of Power

POWER TO instead of power over
An enduring capacity to act, which may or may

not be exercised on any particular occasion

Implicated in social structure and is a necessary
feature of human agency
Implicated in all social life X incidental
Reciprocity if A has power, then B also has
power.

Properties of Power
RELATIONAL Property

The power of a political actor is measured in relation

to other political actors.
Governors and governed
Domination and submission

INTENTIONAL Property

Power is pursued and exercised with a conscious

purpose in mind
Coercive force for social control*
Political organization political party, interest groups,
NGOs
Control over economic and/or natural resources

Characteristics of Power
Concentrated
One

or
few
exercise power.

groups

Diffused
No

single
group
monopolizes power in
the society.
P

POWER

P
POWER
P

P
P

Characteristics of Power
Soft

Hard
Ability to change others

position by force or
inducement
Military and economic
power
Aggressive; coercive
Realist View

Ability

to shape the
preferences of others by
attraction
Cultural power
Carrot-and-sticks
strategy
Liberalist View

Influence
Relation among actors such that the wants,

desires, preferences, or intentions of one or

more actors AFFECT the actions or
predispositions to act of one or more other
actors
Can take place even without rewards and

punishment
PI; Y
IP; N

Authority
The right to exercise the power and influence

of a particular position that comes from

having been placed in that position
according to regular, known, and widely
held practices
Kinds of Authority (Max Weber)
Legal-rational formal legal means; formally installed;
supported by law
Charismatic uses personality traits
Traditional divine rights

Legitimacy
The condition of being considered to be correctly

placed in a particular role and to be carrying out

the functions of that role correctly

Kinds of Legitimacy

Embedded deals with HOW organizational structures as a

whole have gained acceptance from society at large;
institutional legitimacy
Manufactured legitimacy is an operational resource that
organizations extract from their cultural environments and that
they employ in pursuit of their goals.

AL; N
LP; Y

Political power is

the most serious

threat to liberty.
LIMIT THE
POWERS OF
GOVERNMENT
and GIVE RIGHTS
TO PEOPLE.