Ebook: The four dimensions of power: Understanding domination, empowerment and democracy

This book explores the nature and workings of social and political power through four dimensions, which throw into relief different aspects of power-related phenomena. The analysis constitutes a sophisticated new framework that builds upon contemporary theoretical perspectives of power, including the work of Steven Lukes, Michel Foucault, Amy Allen, Clarissa Rile Hayward, Anthony Giddens, Pierre Bourdieu, Stewart Clegg, James Scott and Gene Sharp. The first dimension of power concerns agency between actors, including analysis of coercion, violence and authority. The second dimension involves structural bias, conflict and resistance, including both revolutionary and non-violent resistance. The third dimension concerns tacit knowledge, uses of truth and reification. This book moves beyond critique of ideology, developing Foucauldian theories of power/knowledge without nihilistic relativism by distinguishing different types of truth claim. The fourth dimension concerns the power to create social subjects, drawing both on genealogical theory, Norbert Elias on restraint and Orlando Patterson on social death in slavery.

Haugaard distinguishes sociological from normative claims. While the four dimensions stem from sociological theory, the book concludes with a normative pragmatist power-based political theory of democracy and rights. This has significant implications for critiques of contemporary populism and neoliberalism.

The book is theoretically sophisticated, yet written in an accessible style. Theory is explained using vivid empirical examples. Its originality makes it a ‘must-read’ for postgraduates and academics in the field. Yet, it is ideal for higher-level undergraduates and MAs, as a paradigmatic text on power. It is also indispensable for activists who wish to understand domination, resistance and empowerment.