Domain

The domain of power or influence refers to the persons whose policies are affected. When power is exercised, it must be with respect to some person or group. The person or group affected is the domain of power. In potential power relationships, the domain refers to those persons potentially affected.

The term domain was introduced by Harold Lasswell and Abraham Kaplan in Power and Society to specify one of the basic dimensions of power. The other two dimensions were weight and scope. Weight refers to the amount of power or the degree to which the policies of others are affected. Scope refers to the kinds of policies affected.

Robert Dahl has also emphasized the importance of specifying scope and domain in specifying a power relationship. The observation that a person has a lot of power may not be meaningless, but it is not very meaningful. It begs the questions of “With respect to whom?” and “With respect to which issues?” Thus, specification of domain and scope is important for clear communication.

Specifying domain and scope also has important implications for the measurement of power. If the power of an actor varies with respect to different scopes and domains, it is difficult to determine an actor's total power. A sea captain may have a great deal of power with respect to the members of his or her crew and passengers but very little power with respect to other people. A powerful legislator may have much power with respect to how his or her fellow legislators vote but very little power with respect to whom they marry, how many children they have, what they eat, or where they take their vacations. Although one might say that someone who has power with respect to a large number of people has more power than does someone who has power over a small number of people, one might not want to do so. It could be argued that power over a large number of weak people constitutes less power than power over a small number of very powerful people. Variations in the scope and domain of power do not make it impossible to measure the total power of and actor or to compare the power of actors, but they do make it difficult to do so.