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Power Of The Fittest By Richard M Emerson Essay

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POWER-DEPENDENCE RELATION
INTRODUCTION
“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful”- Malala Yousafzai
Power is a term that breaks all boundaries and establishes its intensity. The concept of power has pre-domitantly existed in the society. It has become the prerogative of human survival as power has become the ticket to suppress others and move ahead in the society. As Charles Darwin formulated the theory of ‘survival of the fittest’ the very nature of power becomes evident. Richard M Emerson an formulated the famous Power-Dependence relation on the basis of these paramaters. In the very beginning of his theory Emerson states that there is an existence of ambiguities surrounding the terms “power”,”authority”,”legitimacy” and “power structures”.The ‘Power Dependence relations’ attempts to bring about a sense of balance. According to this theory, “the dependence a person has on another brings up the concept of power”.1 Emerson brings forth a similar concept as presented by Max Weber whose presentation was basically a typology rather than an organized theory of power. Emerson brings about an argument that says that ‘social power’ is in dire needs of a systematic treatment. He criticizes the common norm of treating ‘power’ as an attribute of a person or group. He also proceeds to rank-order persons by some criterion of power and this ordering is called the ‘power structure’. So to wind it up in definable terms we can say

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