Phenomena of Power: Authority, Domination, and Violence

In Phenomena of Power, the foundational theorist Heinrich Popitz treats power as an essential concept of the social sciences. Instead of striving for a power-free society, he argues, mankind should try to delimit power where possible and establish counter-power where necessary. Phenomena of Power delves into the socio-historical manifestations of power and breaks through to its general structures. Philosophically trained, historically informed, and endowed with the power of observation, Popitz uses everyday examples, such as how the passengers on a ship may organize their deckchairs, to illustrate his theory of power. He clearly articulates how the mechanisms of power taking and power stabilization work and how to track them in the social world.