PHILIPPINE POLITICS AND

GOVERNANCE
 Unit I
Basic Concepts of Politics and
Governance
 Lesson 3
Nature, Forms, and
Consequences of Power
 Learning Objectives
• To define power
• To identify the nature, types, and consequences of power
• To explain the nature, dimensions, types, and consequences
of power
• To explain how power is exercised in different situations
 What Is Power?

Power in society spans a broad

spectrum of meaning that includes
force, authority, influence, and most
of the time, coercion.
• The focal point of the study of political
institutions is power and its uses.
• Although we think of the concept of power as
being associated particularly with politics or
so as to say political science, but it is, in fact,
exists in all types of social relationships. For
Foucault (1969), ‘power relationships are
present in all aspects of society.
• Celebrated sociologist Anthony Giddens (1997) sees,
‘power as the ability to make a difference, to change
things from what they would otherwise have been, as he
puts it “transformative” capacity’.

• Power can be defined by saying that ‘A exercises power

over B when A affects B in a manner contrary to B’s
interests’. According to Steven Lukes (2005), power has
three dimensions or faces: (1) decision-making, (2) non-
decision-making, and (3) shaping desires.
• It is concerned with the regulation, surveillance
and government.
• Disciplinary power is exercised in prison, schools
and places of work.
• Disciplinary power operates at the expense of
individual freedom and choice.
• In his opinion, notions like ‘ruling class
domination’ simply obscure the micro-realities of
power.
 Four Major Types of Power
Productive Power
In their attempt to classify and better understand power,
Structural Power
 looks into the relativePower
Institutional
Compulsory
political scientists… Power
position of the actors, the social
basically
the
Michael indirect
direct looks
Barnett
at
ways
control the
of in position
which
one actorand
an of the
actor
Raymond the
Duvall
production of their roles, and how the roles affect the actors’
roles
affects
conditions of various
another
and actors
(e.g.
actions theof in
use relation
of
another rules to
or
perceptions and actions
each other
and
(e.g. coach to player, boss
the law to impose order)
 focuses not on the direct structures provided and accepted
to worker, and captain to crew)
by each actor, but on the discourse between the actors in
which power is negotiated

…created the taxonomy of power with four major types.

Types of Power:
Max Weber (1958) believed that there are
three (not one) independent and equally
important orders of power as under.
 Economic power
• For Marx, economic power is the basis of all
power, including political power.
• It is based upon an objective relationship to
the modes of production, a group’s condition
in the labor market, and its chances.
• Economic power refers to the measurement of
the ability to control events by virtue of
material advantage.
 Social power:
• It is based upon informal community opinion, family
position, honor, prestige and patterns of consumption
and lifestyles.
• Weber placed special emphasis on the importance of
social power, which often takes priority over economic
interests.
• Contemporary sociologists have also given importance
to social status so much so that they sometimes seem
to have underestimated the importance of political
power.
 Political power:
• It is based upon the relationships to the legal
structure, party affiliation and extensive bureaucracy.
• Political power is institutionalized in the form of
large-scale government bureaucracies.
• One of the persistent ideas has been that they are
controlled by elites, that is, small, select, privileged
groups.
Besides, Weber’s types of power,
there are a few other types also
which are as under:
 Knowledge power

• To Foucault (1969), power is intimately linked

with knowledge.
• Power and knowledge produce one another.
• He saw knowledge as a means of ‘keeping
tabs’ on people and controlling them.
 Military power
• It involves the use of physical coercion.
• Warfare has always played a major role in politics.
• Modem mass military systems developed into
bureaucratic organiza­tions and significantly
changed the nature of organizing and fighting wars.
According to Weber, few groups in society base
their power purely on force or military might.
 Ideological power
• It involves power over ideas and beliefs, for
example, are communism, fascism and some
varieties of nationalism.
• These types of ideologies are frequently
oppositional to dominant institutions and play an
important role in the organi­zation of devotees into
sects and parties.
 Distributional power

• It is a power over others. It is the

ability of individuals to get others to
help them pursue their own goals.
It is held by individuals.
 Collective power

• It is exercised by social groups.

It may be exercised by one
social group over another.
Sources of Power:
 Force
• As defined earlier, force is the actual (physical force) or
threatened (latent force) use of coercion to impose one’s
will on others.
• When leaders imprison or even execute political
dissidents, they thus apply force. Often, however, sheer
force accomplishes little.
• Although people can be physically restrained, they cannot
be made to perform complicated tasks by force alone.
 Influence
• It refers to the exercise of power through the process
of persuasion.
• It is the ability to affect the decisions and actions of
others.
• A citizen may change his or her position after
listening a stirring speech at a rally by a political
leader.
 Authority
• It refers to power that has been institutionalized and is
recognized by the people over whom it is exercised
(Schaefer and Lamm, 1992).
• It is estab­lished to make decisions and order the actions
of others.
• It is a form of legitimate power. Legitimacy means that
those subject to a government’s authority consent to it
(Giddens, 1997).
Thus, there is a difference
between authority and
influence
• Authority is an official right to make and
enforce decisions, whereas influence is the
ability to affect the actions of others apart
from authority to do so.
• Authority stems from rank, whereas
influence rests largely upon personal
attributes
• Authority is based upon the status one holds,
whereas influence is based upon the esteem
one receives.

• An admired institutional officer can have both

authority and influence, whereas an unpopular
officer has authority but little influence
 The Concept of Power in Society
Expressing
Power inPower power in may
society, andrange
society bytakes from
extension, the the
differentsimplest
socialof
human interaction,
sciences, forms fromsuch
is more as whenthan
complicated
authoritative parents
power that tell
in their
the
children
natural what they because
sciences
to economic should
power.and
it isshould not do,being
continuously to the
grandest,
molded by such
the as when nature
dynamic the government imposes
of society and the
policies for and
objective the welfare of its
subjective constituents.
capacity of man.
 Power: Meaning,
Dimensions, Types and
Consequences
 Defining Power
As stated by Heywood (2007):
• The ability to achieve a desired outcome and is sometimes
seen as the ‘power to’ do something.
• He further explained that in the context of politics and
governance, power is usually thought of as a relationship:
the ability to influence the behaviour of others or having
‘power over’ people and the ability to punish or reward.
 Dimensions or Faces of Power
• According to Heywood (2007), the following are the
various ways how power is exercised by members
of society.
• These are called dimensions or faces of power:
Power as Decision-Making, Power as Agenda
Setting and Power as Thought Control.
 Power as Decision-Making
• This face of power consists of conscious actions that in
some way influence the content of decisions.
• Identifying who has power is done5 by analyzing
decisions in the light of the known preferences of the
actors involved.
• The implication of this view of power is that the most
powerful actors in society are those whose opinion are
considered and upheld in the decision making.
 Power as Decision-Making
• The powerful are able to get what they want and make
others behave the way they wanted them to.
• According to Boulding (1989) as cited by Heywood (2007),
decisions can be influenced in a variety of ways
distinguished between the use of force or intimidation (the
stick), productive exchanges involving mutual gain (the
deal), and the creation of obligations, loyalty, and
commitment (the kiss).
 Power as Agenda Setting
• The second face of power as further discussed by
Heywood (2007) is the ability to prevent decisions being
made: that is, in effect, ‘non-decision-making’. This
according to him involves the ability to set or control the
political agenda, thereby preventing issues or proposals
from being aired in the first place.
 Power as Thought Control
• The third face of power, still according to Heywood (2007)
is the ability to influence another by shaping what he or
she thinks, wants, or needs.
• This is power expressed as ideological indoctrination or
psychological control.
• In political life, the exercise of this form of power is seen in
the use of propaganda
Types of Power
According to French and Raven (1959) as
cited by Yukl (1989
Power Taxonomy
 Reward power

• The target person complies in

order to obtain rewards he or she
believes are controlled by the
agent.
 Coercive power

• The target person complies in

order to avoid punishments he or
she believes are controlled by the
agent.
 Legitimate power
• The target person complies
because he or she believes the
agent has the right to make the
request and the target person has
the obligation to comply.
 Expert power
• The target person complies
because he or she believes that
the agent has special knowledge
about the best way to do
something.
 Referent power
• The target person complies
because he or she admires or
identifies with the agent and wants
to gain the agent’s approval.
There are three consequences of power
according to Yukl (1989):

Consequences of
Power
 1. Compliance

• It means readiness or act of

agreeing to do something.
 1. Compliance

The two types of power most likely to

cause compliance are legitimate or
position power and reward power.
a. Compliance with the order may occur
if it is perceived to be within the leader’s
scope of authority.
b. Compliance is most likely to happen if
the reward is something valued by the
target person.
 2. Commitment
• Is an even more desirable outcome because of
the trust and emotional pledge that it causes.
• It is perceived as loyalty or a sense of
dedication or devotion.
• Commitment is most likely to be the
consequence when the powers used are
referent and expert.
 a. The common way to exercise referent
power is merely to ask someone with whom
one has a friendship to do something.
b. Expert power may result to commitment if the
leader presents logical arguments and
supporting evidence for a particular proposal,
order or policy.
It will depend on the leader’s credibility and
persuasive communication skills in addition to
technical knowledge and logical or analytical
ability.
c. Commitment is a very unlikely
consequence if coercive power is
employed.
 3. Resistance
means to refuse or to oppose. It is the
most likely outcome when coercive
power is used in a hostile or
manipulative way. (Yukl 1989)
 Final Note on Power

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.
 Analysis Guide
1. If you were to quantify power in political science, what would
your equation look like? Explain your answer.
2. How will you use the different types of power to affect the
behavior of other people (e.g., your classmates or group
mates during debates, group projects, school programs)?
3. Power can corrupt an individual. How can a person avoid
being corrupted by power or being abusive of power given to
him/her?