Lukes Three Dimensions of Power :: Power Society Symbolism Culture Essays

Lukes Three Dimensions of PowerPower serves to create power. impotence serves to re-enforcepowerlessness(Gaventa,1980256). Such is the essence of the on going kinship amid the Powerful and the Powerless of the Appalachian Valleywhere acquiescence of the repressed has have not only common practice but a mien of life and a means of survival. In his novel Power and Powerlessness, pratGaventa examines the oppressive and desperate situation of the Appalachian coalminers under the irresponsible power of absentee land-owners, local elites, andcorrupt union leaders. His analyses is based on Lukes ternion-dunderstanding of power from his book Power A Radical View. Gaventa applies the leash notions of power to the politics of inequalities in the Appalachian Valleyand, while demonstrating the inadequacies of the runner or pluralist approachand the merits of the second and particularly the third dimensions, asserts thatthe interrelationship and reinforcing come upon of all three dimensi ons isnecessary for an in depth understanding of the summate impact of power upon theactions or inactions and conceptions of the powerless(Gaventa256)This essay will examine Lukes three power dimensions and theirapplic efficiency to Gaventas account of the inequities found in the valleys of theCumberland Mountains. Reasons for the mountain peoples calmness and non-participation will be recognized and their nexus with the power relationshipestablished. In this way, Gaventas dissatisfaction with the pluralist approachwill be justified and the emphatic ability of the other two dimensions towithhold issues and shape behaviour will be verified as principal agents ofPower and Powerlessness.The one dimensional lieu of power is often called the pluralistapproach and emphasizes the exercise of power through end making andobservable behaviour. Robert Dahl, a major proponent of this view, definespower as occurring in a situation where A has power all over B to the extent he canget B to do something that B would not otherwise do(Dahl as cited in Lukes,197411). As power accordingly is defined in terms of B and the extent to whichA prevails is inflexible by its higher ratio of successes and defeats over B.Observable behaviour thus becomes a key factor in the pluralist approachto power. Dahls Who Governs? expresses the pluralist belief that the governmental arena is an open system where everyone may participate and expressgrievances which in turn lead to close making. Those who proposealternatives and initiate issues which contribute to the decision making processare demonstrating observable influence and control over those who failed alltogether to express any interest in the governmental process.The Pluralist approach assumes that in an open system, all people, not