Theories of power relations

Gregoris Ioannou

Chapter 7 in Theories and Concepts in Work and Employment Relations, 2025, pp 68-76 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter offers an overview of the main theories about power relations and their application to the field of work and employment. It begins with some general definitions of power and where it is encountered in society and introduces the distinction between power as a capability to do things and power as influence over what others do. It traces the development of theories about power relations from the nineteenth-century classic formulations by Karl Marx and Max Weber to more recent ones such as those developed by Bourdieu. In doing so, it presents several definitions and conceptualisations of power, as agentic, institutional and structural, and discusses the related themes of legitimacy, ideology, competition and conflict. Subsequently, the chapter focuses on how theories of power relations have been used to analyse and explain issues encountered at work and employment. Thus, more specifically, it discusses issues of management and control, trade unions and industrial conflict, and the making and re-making of rules and regulations. Power is analysed both as a multifaceted resource as well as in terms of its involvement in ideational and ideological antagonisms. The chapter also briefly considers the Foucauldian critique of conventional understandings of power and outlines the alternative conception of power as a diffused and productive attribute. It ends with suggestions for future research, picking up on Braverman's and Burawoy's concepts of ‘degradation of work’ and ‘cultural adaptation’ to analyse recent developments in worker subjectivity facilitated by the organisational challenges imposed by digitalisation.

Keywords: Power; Control; Employment relations; Power dynamics; Employment institutions; Social ideologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035316199
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