Three Dimensions of Power

What I've learn from my Comparative Politics class this week.

The meaning of power is vague because it carries various meanings, especially amongst many political scientists according to Introducing comparative politics written by Steven Orvis and Carol Ann Drogus (2015). It has, however, been simplified into three sections. The three dimensions of power come from British political theorist Steven Lukes who also wrote the article The Problem of Apparently Irrational Beliefs.

The first dimension goes over the ability of one coercing another to do something they originally would not do.

The second dimension covers the idea of keeping one from doing something.

The third dimension analyzes the ability to redevelop one’s interests into demands contradicting their original views (Orvis, 2015).

An example of these dimensions can consist of the idea of patriarchy in race, gender, religion, and other forms people identify themselves as. Patriarchy is described by Orvis (2015) as a “rules by men,” (Introducing comparative politics: concepts and cases in context, p.28). Looking at this from a gender inequality perspective, it is males who have the upper hand, the patriarchy, playing as a majority in political positions allowing rules not in equal favor for both men and women. This can best relate to the second dimension of power of keeping one from something. In this case, (not calling out males at all) the power of man are keeping women from achieving their true potential in human development. Referring to recent updates on gender inequality, Neale Godfrey (2017) discusses average treatment gaps between male and females in a Huffington Post article. “Women today are paid 83 cents for every dollar a man earns,” as of 2017 which has barely gone up in the last decade (Godfrey, Gender Equality: Facts Or Alternative Facts?). Despite the fact women in the United States are more educated than man,--receiving more undergraduate and graduate degrees--women are still less likely to move up in the workplace (Godfrey, Gender Equality: Facts Or Alternative Facts?). This idea can also relate to racial inequality especially in effect of the African American community.

In Introducing comparative politics: concepts and cases in context, Orvis (2017) analyzes the concept that the Jim Crow laws never went away; they simply evolved. According to the Drug Policy Alliance, people from the black community are “far more likely to be stopped, searched, arrested, prosecuted, convicted and incarcerated for drug law violations than are whites.” Regardless of the fact the persecuted is guilty or not, it is the law enforcement increase stop-and-frisk tactics purposely in more urban areas and communities of color. This can still relate to the second dimension of power because a community of color is constantly brought under allegations of being guilty and destructive by the racial elite. Constant political and social discourse results in lack of a proper education, lack of equal chance of getting a well-paying job, and permanent association to inferiority.

Especially in today’s current political climate in regards to Charlottesville, Muslim Bans, the shooting of Philando Castile, and much more outcomes to the power used by the elite, a lot of these situations have been further questioned and called out on by civil society.

This leads to my own question: how can civil society drive politics and power like these three dimensions? As an African-American women, myself, I want to learn how I as well as my peers can make a difference diminishing these unequal rules of power. That’s something I would like to get out of this, looking through the lens of Comparative Politics.

References

• Godfrey, N. (2017, May 15). Gender Equality: Facts Or Alternative Facts? Retrieved September 05, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gender-equality-facts-or-alternative-facts_us_5917de91e4b0bd90f8e6a630

• Orvis, S. W., & Drogus, C. A. (2015). Introducing comparative politics: concepts and cases in context (3rd ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE/CQ Press.

• Race and the Drug War. (n.d.). Retrieved September 05, 2017, from http://www.drugpolicy.org/race-and-drug-war