21A.245J | Fall 2005 | Undergraduate

Power: Interpersonal, Organizational and Global Dimensions

Calendar

Lec # TOPICS KEY DATES
1 Introduction, Opening Discussion

- How is power defined? Is it possible to use a single definition of power to describe a variety of social situations?
- How do people get and use power?
- How much power is lodged within personality and how much is part of the structure of the situation?
- How does the use of power sometimes mystify the targets so that they do not recognize that power is being exerted?
- Can power be equalized, or must some people always have more?
- What is resistance? How might we identify resistance in situations of institutionalized power?

I. Defining the Concept of Power: A Preliminary Analysis
2-3 What is Power? Action and Intention

4-6 What Power is Not: Influence and Conformity

7-10 Force: The Limiting Case

11-12 Leadership and Charisma: Personal and Inspirational Power First paper due on Lec #11
13-14 Authority (1): The Ability to Command

II. The Sources, Structure and Institutionalization of Power
15-16 Some Classical Views

17-18 Modern Debates Midterm exam
19-20 Authority (2): Power Redefined, Institutionalized, and Disciplined

III. Institutionalized Power: Examples and Transformations
21-22 Bureaucratic Organizations and Entrepreneurial Corporations

23-24 Modernity, Post-modern Colonialism, and The Global Community

25-26 The Possibilities of Resistance

27 Powersharing

Can Power be Distributed Equally?

Final paper due

Course Info

As Taught In
Fall 2005
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