Theories of Power and Governance Research Papers (original) (raw)

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This paper asserts that Lukes' conceptualization of power is fundamentally flawed on three counts. Lukes unintentionally falls prey to the behaviourist foundations of his predecessors, he pigeon-holes himself into a limited scope of analysis by neglecting to accept the full contribution of structures in the production of power, and finally, Lukes falsely identifies the normative aim of the study of power as to assign praise or blame, rather than promoting the quest for increased freedoms, which critical realists such as Bates argue, requires radical structural change.

The call to promote social justice sets the social work profession in a political context. In an effort to enhance social workers’ preparedness to engage in political advocacy, this article calls on educators to integrate a broad theoretical understanding of power into social policy curricula. We suggest the use of a multidimensional conceptualization of power that emphasizes mechanisms of decision making, agenda control, and attitude formation. We then apply these mechanisms to demonstrate how two prominent features of contemporary politics—party polarization and racially biased attitudes—affect the ability of social workers to influence policy. Finally, we suggest content that social work educators can integrate to prepare future social workers to engage in strategic and effective social justice advocacy.

- by Amy Krings and +1
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- Social Change, Decision Making, Political Science, Social Work Education

“Relational turn” is a new buzz word in the social sciences. Yet there is way less consensus on the very meaning of “relational”. The latter is a family-resemblance concept like most of the important social science concepts. One possible remedy for alleviating the confusion is using a metalanguage for organizing the different meanings of the word. I take my lead from one of such metalanguages, which was coined a couple of generations ago by Dewey and Bentley, picked up by programmatic metatheorists of “relational sociology” in 1990s and 2000s and carried to the topic of conceptualizing power in the current decade. This is the vocabulary of self-action, inter-action, and trans-action. In this chapter I use this conceptual triangle to capture the entire variation of conceptions of power that present themselves as “relational”.

- by Peeter Selg
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- Research Methodology, Theories of power, Relational Sociology, Relational Ontology

Onderzoek naar de ontwikkeling van de gulzigheid van de lokale overheid in de afgelopen 60 jaar in Nederland.

Wy˝sza Szko∏a Filozoficzno-Pedagogiczna "Ignatianum" Wydawnictwo WAM Kraków 2008 © Wyższa Szkoła Filozoficzno-Pedagogiczna "Ignatianum", 2008 ul. Kopernika 26 • 31-501 Kraków Recenzent naukowy dr hab. Aleksander Bobko prof. UR Projekt okładki i stron tytułowych oraz opracowanie ilustracji Lesław Sławiński -PHOTO DESING Korekta Katarzyna Stokłosa ISBN 978-83-89631-94-7 (Ignatianum) ISBN 978-83-7505-167-4 (WAM) WYDAWNICTWO WAM ul. Kopernika 26 • 31-501 KRAKÓW tel. 012 62 93 200 • fax 012 429 50 03 e-mail: wam@wydawnictwowam.pl DZIAŁ HANDLOWY tel. 012 62 93 254-256 • fax 012 430 32 10 e-mail: handel@wydawnictwowam.pl Zapraszamy do naszej KSIĘGARNI INTERNETOWEJ http://WydawnictwoWAM.pl tel. 012 62 93 260 • fax 012 62 93 261 Drukarnia Wydawnictwa WAM

- by Tomasz Homa
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- Political Participation, Politics, Religious Liberty, Investiture Controversy

Theories of Power and Governance Research Papers (original) (raw)

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