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Political Theory
Poggi is a significant scholar of the sociological classics and of theories of the state. In this work these themes are brought together with contemporary power analysis to create a richly textured work in which Weberian and Durkheimian social theory are interwoven with the analysis of state formation and debates on power including, in particular, the work of Mann, Rosinski and Popitz. In the power literature there are those who view power primarily consensually, as ‘power to’ (a position associated with Parsons, Luhmann and Barnes) while others, based upon Weber’s definition of power in terms of resistance, take a more conflictual view of power, emphasizing ‘power over’. Poggi sides with the latter, and uses a nuanced version of Weber’s definition which incorporates some of the contextual emphasis found in the work of the consensual theorists.
Poggi’s view of power is deeply cynical and, in that respect, he shares much with Machiavelli – Poggi is a kind of Weberian Machiavelli. In many respects this focus is a strength in the sense that it enables him to cut through many of the legitimations which sustain modern society. It is highly instructive (and entertaining!) to see just how far social order can be explained by this classical theoretical framework in combination with a cynical view of power. However, it can be argued that this reductionism is also limiting insofar as Poggi does not attempt to theorize the extent to which ‘power to’ is created by social order in surplus to quantities of power that can be explained coercively.
The purely coercive view of power also has an effect on his analysis of normative/ideological power. While the Durkheimian opening premises of the ideology/normative power argument, in particular with regard to the analysis of meaning, lend themselves to an account of the possibility of increasing social capacity for action (‘power to’) through the creation of particular interpretive horizons, this possibility is not explored. Such a mode of theorizing would have allowed Poggi to incorporate some of Foucault’s, Lukes’s and Gramsci’s observations into his theoretical framework – these thinkers are largely ignored. This could have been done by theorizing how the realm of truth and knowledge is the modern functional equivalent to the sacred in more traditional societies. However, it can be argued that these are more points of debate rather than criticism. They do not, in any way, detract from the fact that Forms of Power is a significant and original contribution to contemporary debates on power. I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in power and/or Weberian social theory.
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