Category: Theories Of Power, Dominance And Hegemony

Gramsci, also a neo-Marxian theorist, gave importance to the superstructure, politics, state, ideology and cultural and educational institutions. He advocated the relative autonomous view of the state and suggests that politics has autonomy of its own and should be ‘distinguished form the realms of economics, morality and religion.’79 Gramsci suggests that the domination of the capitalist…

The orthodox Marxian position as explained above, has been slightly revised by some neo-Marxian thinkers. In this, the capitalist class is seen as cohesive and their power unified. Exercise of political power is viewed as class power because the ruling class is also the politically governing class. This means the capitalist class organically, ideologically and…

To explain the distribution of power, Marxian distinction of base and superstructure should be understood. Marx divides the whole society into two categories. One relates to economic activity and production, private property, machinery, equipments, technology and techniques of production, labour force, etc. and another, to the rest of other activities such as politics, culture, law, etc. While the first…

Elitist, Weberian and Pluralist models discussed above talk about power originating from a variety of sources. These sources include personal qualities and merits, social standing, educational and professional qualifications, cultural and religious privileges, political and public authority, economic means, etc. No single base or source of power is taken as the primary or the only…

The Feminist perspective insists that society is male-dominated and power is normally exercised by males in their favour. Society is seen divided into two groups based on gender distinction. Feminists feel that biological distinction is used to create artificial distinctions in terms of material, intellectual and moral resources. Thus, males extend natural and biological distinctions…

The corporatist theory relates to organized interests and their participation in the decisionmaking process. In a way, it focuses on the decision-making process that involves various groups. Dahl and Rose’s study mentioned above, adopted the decision-making approach. However, corporatism especially focuses on organized capital and labour and how the industrial relations between employer and trade…

Can the pluralist model of power distribution be relevant in the analysis of contemporary Indian situation? Pranab Bardhan has illustrated the influence of the dominant proprietary classes comprising the business–industrial class, rich farmers and landed proprietary class and the bureaucratic class on decision-making. Bardhan’s study excludes the possibility of pluralism as the basis of decision-making…

One of the powerful refutations to the elite model comes from the pluralist model of power distribution. Pluralists find fault with the elite model because the latter confuses between power in one scope say, economic or intellectual or political as if, it leads to power over other scopes. For example, people having intellectual ability or…

In India, if one looks at the broad political spectrum, it appears that after independence the nature and composition of elites have undergone change. During the British period, there were limited choices and areas where elite formation or elite recruitment could take place, even though, after 1858, educational, business, professional and employment opportunities under the…

The elitist perspective on distribution of power recognizes diversification of power amongst a variety of intelligent, qualified, skilled, meritorious and distinguished persons. These people belong to different aspects of life—political, social, economic, religious, spiritual, educational, intelligentsia, etc. It maintains that power is diversified and distributed amongst those who are of exceptional qualities, intelligence and skill.…