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Political Power

 

            There are many theories of power, and one crucial factor in .
             determining who has political power is in defining what political power .
             actually is. Many concentrated on studying power relationships within .
             communities: community power. Power is embedded in decision- making .
             so that it is held by those who make decisions that can affect the .
             community in general. Someone who is involved in making the key .
             choices shaping a community have power in the sense that what they .
             decide on changes people's lives and in this way, these decision- makers .
             have power or control over other people. This is typical for pluralist .
             theories of power. They focus their attention on the exercise of power, .
             rather than its sources. On the other hand, some theorists felt that there .
             was dominant elite in the community, that power is concentrated in the .
             hands of a few. This might also refer to "stratification theory" of power, .
             where power is a "subsidiary aspect of the community's social structure" .
             and the main determinant of the distribution of power within a community .
             is its social stratification. Stratification studies assert that communities are .
             divided into classes. The upper class, or the group with the highest social- .
             economic standing, hold the most power. They are the "power elite" and .
             can exercise influence over a large number of community decisions, thus .
             "ruling" the local community. .
             There are many criticisms of the elitist approach. People .
             understand power in different ways. They see different people as .
             powerful in different ways. It is unlikely that everyone understands or .
             knows the ways that in which different theorists believes the economic .
             elite to hold power over the community. Some theorists argue that the .
             economic elite is indeed important and very influential, but there are many .
             other factors involved in the distribution of power in communities. There .
             are though several elites who are not united.


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