In this accessible and sophisticated exploration of the nature and workings of social and political power, Mark Haugaard examines the interrelation between domination and empowerment. Building upon the perspectives of Steven Lukes, Michel Foucault, Amy Allen, Hannah Arendt, Anthony Giddens, Pierre Bourdieu and others, Haugaard offers a clear theoretical framework, delineating power in four interrelated dimensions.
The first and second dimensions of power entail two different types of social conflict. The third dimension concerns tacit knowledge, uses of truth and reification. Drawing upon genealogical theory and accounts of slavery as social death, the fourth dimension of power concerns the power to create social subjects. The book concludes with an original normative pragmatist power-based account of democracy.
Offering lucid and entertaining illustrations of complex theoretical perspectives, this book is essential reading for undergraduates, postgraduates and academics, while offering an indispensable guide for activists wishing to understand domination, resistance and empowerment.
Table of Content
Introduction: the concept of political power.
Part 1: The four dimensions of power:
Chapter 1: Levels of conflict and consent: power-over, power-to and power-with.
Chapter 2. The first dimension of power: agency.
Chapter 3. The second dimension of power: structure.
Chapter 4: The third dimension of power: epistemology.
Chapter 5. The fourth dimension of power: ontology.
Part 2. Power and the social world.
Chapter 6. Authority: the performative nature of power.
Chapter 7. Emotion and ritual: the “irrational” aspects of power.
Chapter 8. God: reification, Truth and emotion.
Chapter 9. Political power and violence: reflections on historical trends.
Part 3:
Chapter 10: Conclusions: empirical and normative theoretical reflections .
About the author
Mark Haugaard is Lecturer in Political Theory at the National University of Ireland, Galway
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