Beyond the Power Mystique : Power as Intersubjective Accomplishment

Robert Prus

ISBN 10: 0791440702 / ISBN 13: 9780791440704

Published by State University Of New York Press Feb 1999, 1999

About this Item

Neuware - Despite the considerable attention given to 'power' by foundational sources such as Machiavelli, Hobbs, Weber, Durkheim, and Marx, and those social theorists who have built on their works, surprisingly little attention has been given to the study of power as an enacted feature of community life. Locating power more directly within a symbolic interactionist framework, Beyond the Power Mystique not only enables scholars to permeate much of the mystique shrouding power but, explicitly viewing power as intersubjective accomplishment, the material presented here fosters a research agenda that is highly attentive to the collectively articulated aspects of power relations.

Seller Inventory # 9780791440704

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Beyond the Power Mystique : Power as Intersubjective Accomplishment
• Publisher: State University Of New York Press Feb 1999
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0791440702
• ISBN 13: 9780791440704
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 228W x 151H x 20D millimeters 228 millimeters width by 151 millimeters height by 20 millimeters depth
• Weight: 458 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Locating power within the symbolic interactionist framework, this book permeates much of the mystique shrouding "power" and examines the ways in which notions of power, control, influence and the like are brought into human existence.

Despite the considerable attention given to 'power' by foundational sources such as Machiavelli, Hobbs, Weber, Durkheim, and Marx, and those social theorists who have built on their works, surprisingly little attention has been given to the study of power as an enacted feature of community life. Locating power more directly within a symbolic interactionist framework, Beyond the Power Mystique not only enables scholars to permeate much of the mystique shrouding power but, explicitly viewing power as intersubjective accomplishment, the material presented here fosters a research agenda that is highly attentive to the collectively articulated aspects of power relations.

Consideration is given to the ways in which power is brought into existence, implemented, experienced, sustained, objectified, resisted, dissipated, and reconstituted in actual practice. Addressing the full range of associations occurring in all human arenas, from small group settings to large scale theaters of operations, this volume provides a conceptually viable means of synthesizing so-called "macro" and "micro" realms of power. Prus considers people's definitions of, and routings into, situations of power, as well as the dilemmas they face, the strategies they assume, and the limitations they encounter as they enter into interchanges with others on both more individualized and collectively coordinated bases and in both long-term and more situated instances.

About the Author

Robert Prus is Professor of Sociology at the University of Waterloo, Ontario. He is also the author of Symbolic Interaction and Ethnographic Research: Intersubjectivity and the Study of Human Lived Experience and, Subcultural Mosaics and Intersubjective Realities: An Ethnographic Research Agenda for Pragmatizing the Social Sciences, both published by SUNY Press.