Studies in social power

The first chapter develops the thesis that social power has been neglected by researchers and theorists in the field of social psychology. It attempts to show in some detail why the classic problems of social psychology cannot be solved without devoting greater attention to power.
The next three chapters take power as an independent variable and examine some of the consequences for persons who find themselves under the power of others, Major attention is directed to the threatening aspects of power and to how people respond to these disturbing features of power systems,
The next two chapters concentrate on the ways in which power relations become established. The first compares the development of power structures among groups of boys who differ in level of personal adjustment. The second reports an attempt to generate power relations in the laboratory and to docu ment microscopically the processes leading to stable power relationships. The following two chapters examine the determinants of power in natural groups -the family and the military work-group.

The last three chapters are concerned with theory. First is a discussion of "types of power" and of sources of power in groups and institutions. Then a model, employing mathematics, is described which permits rigorous derivation of several theorems concerning influences on opinions and attitudes among members of a group. The last chapter outlines a formal system of concepts by which it is hoped that the construct power may be placed un ambiguously in a more general theory of human behavior.