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Power (SPS-RESGU-POW-23)

SPS-RESGU-POW-23

Purpose

This seminar introduces into the analysis of power in political and social sciences. There are many types of power analysis, as power is used in political theory / ontological assumptions, and in explanatory theories, where it can be a central component of theories of action or itself the aim of the analysis in theories of domination. Hence, power is used in political theory where it is often closely connected to the very understanding of politics or government (in its widest sense), as in the work of Hannah Arendt or Michel Foucault. It appears in political ontologies, such as Hans Morgenthau’s realism, where the drive for power or domination is considered one of innate human drives. It is fundamental for certain theories of action, such as Robert Dahl’s, where power is a central causal factor to explain outcomes. In social theory, it is the issue to be explained, as in Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of domination, based on different forms of capital, including symbolic capital and misrecognition. Finally, domination can be understood in the way discursive practices interact with social reality, when, as in Judith Butler’s performative analysis of power, discourses help create the subjects they presuppose.

One of the main objectives of the course is to make the different types and domains of power analysis visible and to show the necessity yet difficulty of consistently connecting them. It will also accompany researchers in carrying out a power analysis of their choice.
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