Having previously been under the impression that Talcott Parsons had become an irrelevance in late 20th century social theory (an easy impression to make if you browsed some of the major sociology textbooks), I was somewhat surprised when I discovered that Habermas was quite the fan. This was apparent in his major work, The theory of communicative action, a key chapter… Read more →
By way of an introduction to criticisms of Lukes’ theory of power, I shall briefly present another theory of social power that is quite similar in structure and content to Lukes’ - that of J.K. Galbraith (1983). He classified power into: Condign power, which includes physical force and negative sanction Compensatory power, which includes inducement and incentive Conditioned power It… Read more →
‘Civil society’ – as a structure, concept, ambition - is a favoured notion among some groups of educators – especially in adult education, those working for voluntary associations and international organisations. The role of civil societyassociations as revolutionary forces, democratic enablers or associational bulwarks against neoliberal agendas, has long been a cherished concept among more progressively minded educators. And there… Read more →
It was Steven Lukes’ book Power: a radical view, which added a third dimension onto those provided by Dahl and Bachrach and Baratz. In his book, Lukes sought to address the over-emphasis on behaviour evident in the theories of both Dahl and Bachrach and Baratz. According to Lukes, power can work in such a way that a social actor’s belief… Read more →
As usual I went to the annual Social Policy Association Conference, this time held at the University of Sheffield. I always get a lot out of this conference, one of the reasons being that I can attend sessions on topics such as housing policy, welfare, pensions, health care, tax systems, and so on – topics that tend not to take… Read more →
Recent comments