Power (social and political)

In social science and politics, power is the social production of an effect that determines the capacities, actions, beliefs, or conduct of actors.[1] Power does not exclusively refer to the threat or use of force (coercion) by one actor against another, but may also be exerted through diffuse means (such as institutions).[1][2] Power may also take structural forms, as it orders actors in relation to one another (such as distinguishing between a master and an enslaved person, a householder and their relatives, an employer and their employees, a parent and a child, a political representative and their voters...), and discursive forms, as categories and language may lend legitimacy to some behaviors and groups over others.[1]

Social and political power as a multifaceted concept. Top-left: The Great Hall of the People, the central state building used for legislative and ceremonial activities by the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Top-right: in the 2021 Henley Passport Index, Japan had the most visa-free access of any country through their passport agreements to 193 destinations; an example of soft power. Bottom-left: a chain gang of prisoners serving their sentences under the authority of prison institutions in Texas, USA. Bottom-right: statue of Barack Obama and Michelle Obama near Moneygall, Ireland; an example of cultural power.

Part of a series on
Sociology
History Outline Index
Key themes Society Globalization Human behavior Human environmental impact Identity Industrial revolutions 3 & 4 Social complexity Social construct Social environment Social equality Social equity Social power Social stratification Social structure
Perspectives Conflict theory Critical theory Structural functionalism Positivism Social constructionism Symbolic interactionism
Branches Aging Architecture Art Astrosociology Body Criminology Consciousness Culture Death Demography Deviance Disaster Economic Education Emotion (Jealousy) Environmental Family Feminist Fiscal Food Gender Generations Health Historical Immigration Industrial Internet Jewry Knowledge Language Law Leisure Literature Marxist Mathematic Medical Military Music Peace, war, and social conflict Philosophy Political Public Punishment Race and ethnicity Religion Rural Science (History of science) Social movements Social psychology Sociocybernetics Sociology Space Sport Technology Terrorism Urban Utopian Victimology Visual
Methods Quantitative Qualitative Comparative Computational Ethnographic Conversation analysis Historical Interview Mathematical Network analysis Social experiment Survey
People East Asia 1900s Fei Xiaotong South Asia 1800s G.S Ghurye 1900s Irawati Karve M. N. Srinivas Middle East 1400s Ibn Khaldun Europe 1700s Auguste Comte Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès 1800s Émile Durkheim Harriet Martineau Karl Marx Georg Simmel Herbert Spencer Ferdinand Tönnies Max Weber 1900s Michel Foucault Jürgen Habermas North America 1800s Jane Addams Ernest Burgess W.E.B. Du Bois George Herbert Mead Thorstein Veblen 1900s James Coleman Patricia Hill Collins Erving Goffman Paul Lazarsfeld Charles Wright Mills Robert K. Merton Theda Skocpol Dorothy E. Smith
Lists Bibliography Terminology Journals Organizations People Timeline By country
Society portal WikiProject Sociology
v t e

The term authority is often used for power that is perceived as legitimate or socially approved by the social structure. Power can be seen as evil or unjust; however, power can also be seen as good and as something inherited or given for exercising humanistic objectives that will help, move, and empower others as well.

Scholars have distinguished between soft power and hard power.