Understanding Power: Political, Social, and Individual Influence
Understanding Power Dynamics
Power: is the ability or possibility of acting, doing things, or producing changes in other human beings.
Forms of Power
Equal Power: People are equal in their ability to act.
Power Over: People are in a state of inequality.
This power dynamic determines the behavior of others. A is the person or group that modifies the behavior of B. C represents the spheres of life where power is exerted: political, economic, social, and educational.
Exercises of Power
- Persuasive: A achieves behavioral change in B because B is convinced of the benefit received.
- Manipulative: B changes behavior inadvertently, influenced by the will of A.
- Coercive: B acts as A wants them to, against their own will.
Political Power
Political Power: is exercised in the political arena. The political sphere is where power relations are most evident. When influence continuously shapes behavior over time, this relationship becomes institutionalized and managed according to laws and regulations.
Legalization and Legitimacy
Legalization: occurs when something is legal, as defined by the national constitution.
Legitimacy: is when something is considered legitimate. Characteristics for the legitimacy of power include laws, tradition, and charisma.
Source of Power
The origin of power can be traced back to ancient Greece.
Political Power in Action
Political Power: can be defined as the ability of a political regime to impose guidelines on entire societies. Citizen action, specifically intervention in public space to establish criteria and guidelines for social coexistence, is also characteristic of political power.
The Greek Polis
Greek Polis: was the political and social expression of a broader cosmic order. To achieve perfection, people created a social organization imitating the divine order of the universe. It was a social system and a regime of government that regulated the political life of citizens, functioning as a system of values and norms.
Modern Perspectives on Sovereignty
Modernity:
- Machiavelli: maintained that sovereignty should reside in an entity, not necessarily an assembly, and could be attained through various means, including popular vote.
- Bodin: defined sovereignty as the supreme power within a territory, not subordinate to any other political power and limited by law, which would later be called the modern state.
- Hobbes: argued that the state is the result of political negotiation and does not represent the natural state of man. He proposed a political state in which citizens cede some of their rights and sovereignty.
- Rousseau: retained the concept of sovereignty but identified it with the people, not the state.
Public vs. Private
Public: can be thought of as the realm of all, in opposition to the particular. Public actions are necessarily related to the actions of the population as a whole. It is the realm of the ordinary, where we relate and recognize each other as equals, allowing us to consider differences.
Private: can be understood as the realm of the individual, including personal tastes and decisions not associated with a large number of people. It is also the area where personal decisions and actions do not affect the decisions and actions of others.