Power can take many forms, such as wealth, armaments, civil authority, and influence over opinion. Power is the fundamental concept in social science, just as energy is the fundamental concept in physics. There are different types of power, including priestly power derived from religion, kingly power connected to divine origins, naked power involving no subject acquiescence, revolutionary power depending on revolution, and economic power which is derivative and depends on law. Power is defined as the ability to produce intended effects and instruct others to act in a desired way.

1. ETHS201:
ETHICS OF
POWER
WHAT IS
POWER?

2. “POWER: A NEW SOCIAL
ANALYSIS” Impulse of Power
• The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense in
which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics. Like energy, power has
many forms, such as wealth, armaments, civil authority, and influence on
opinion. (Energy can move things, heat things up, cool them down, join things, break things,
cut things, make noise, make light, and power our electronics, etc)
• In our day, it is common to treat economic power as the source from which all
other kinds are derived. (?)
• Again, there are those who regard propaganda as the fundamental form of
power.
• Propaganda, if it can create an almost unanimous opinion, can generate an
irresistible power; but those who have military or economic control can, if they
choose, use it for the purpose of propaganda.
By Bertrand Russell (Chapters 1 to 8)
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3. IF IT WAS
POSSIBLE, WOULD
YOU LIKE TO BE
GOD? WHY?

4. IMPULSE OF POWER CONT.
 Power may be defined as the production of intended effects. A
has more power than B, if A achieves many intended effects and
B only a few.
 Power is the ability to instruct people, institutions, organizations
etc. in doing what the instructor (the holder of power) wants them
to do.
 Power is the cause of activities that are important in social affairs.
 Power is the chief motive producing the changes which social
science has to study.
 Power is the means, in ethical contests as in those of politics. But
with the ethical systems that have had most influence in the past,
power is not the end.
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5. TWO FORMS OF POWER IMPULSE
 Explicit and Implicit Power
 Explicit power - is that which is found among leaders.
 Implicit power - relates to followers.
 Power is based on the principle of inequality.
 Inequality in the distribution of power has always existed
in human communities, as far back as our knowledge
extends. This is due partly to external necessity, partly to
causes that are to be found in human nature.
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6. LEADERS AND FOLLOWERS
When men willingly follow a leader, they do so with a view to the
acquisition of power by the group which he commands, and they
feel that his triumphs are theirs. Most men do not feel in themselves
the competence required for leading their group to victory, and
therefore seek out a captain who appears to possess the courage
and sagacity necessary for the achievement of supremacy.
 WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
 Leadership power is the influence that leaders have over their followers. It
persuades others to support their efforts and do as they ask. Influence is
essential to leadership because leaders cannot exist without it. It is also a
key component of power
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7. THE FORMS OF POWER
•There are various ways of classifying the forms of
power, each of which has its utility:
Power over the human beings.
Power over dead matter or non-human forms of
life.
•Note: The chief cause of change in the modern
world is the increased power over matter that we
owe to science, such as physics, chemistry and
biology etc.
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8. NOTE:
• Power over human beings may be classified by the manner of
influencing individuals, or by the type of organization involved.
• An individual (human beings) may be influenced in three ways:
• (1) By direct physical power over his body, e.g. when he is
imprisoned or killed.
• (2) By rewards and punishment as inducements, e.g. in giving or
withholding employment.
• (3) By influence on opinion, i.e. propaganda in its broadest sense.
E.g. by – military, the only difference being that in such cases
action follows without any such mental intermediary as could be
called opinion.
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9. TYPES OF POWER
• (1) Priestly Power – is a power that is usually derived from
religion and is presented as prehistoric. Religious powers depend
upon the assistance of superhuman beings. This power makes the
priest separate from the rest of the citizens in society. They are
usually regarded as guardians of ancient religious traditions that
directly came from God. Religious leaders are usually regarded as
spokespersons of the will of God/Allah among human beings.
• (2) Kingly Power – The origin of kings, like that of priests, is
prehistoric. Kings claim their power to be connected with some
divine origins which can only be traced to the formation of the
kingdom/nation/chiefdom. He is, moreover, a sacred person: if not
himself a god, he is at least the Lord’s anointed.
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10. TYPES OF POWER
• (3) Naked Power – is the kind that involves no acquiescence on
the part of the subject. Such is the power of the butcher over the
sheep, of an invading army over a vanquished nation, and of the
police over detected conspirators. The definition of naked power is
psychological, and a government may be naked in relation to some
of its subjects but not in relation to others.
• (4) Revolutionary Power – as the name implies, it depends on
revolution. Examples or illustration of revolutionary power are : (I)
Early Christianity; (II) The Reformation; (III) The French Revolution
and Nationalism; (IV) Socialism and the Russian Revolution.
• (5)Economic Power – it is derivative and it depends on law. It has
been customary to accept economic power without analysis, and
this has led, in modern times, to an undue emphasis upon
economics, as opposed to war and propaganda, in the causal
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11. THE END
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