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Steven Lukes
Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2005, x+192pp.
ISBN: 0 333 42092 6
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Lukes's classic, brief and bold analysis of power, originally published in 1974, is here reprinted with two further chapters. Sympathetic readers of the original work will not be disappointed with these additional chapters, which cover critical reflections on his initial discussion, plus an analysis of some of the developments in power analysis over the last 30 years. There is the same taut, lucid style and the same incisive level of discussion. Moreover, although Lukes makes a number of concessions to his critics, he sees little reason to make any major shift of viewpoint, which defends a 'radical', non-Marxist view of power.
For those unfamiliar with Lukes' original argument, his main point was that the concept of power required a non-behavioural third dimension, pointing out the way in which power can prevent people 'to whatever degree, from having grievances by shaping their perceptions, cognitions and preferences in such a way that they accept their role in the existing order of things' (p. 11). The key question then became: 'how do the powerful secure the compliance of those they dominate -- and more specifically how do they secure...