Social Power

Definition

Social power is the potential for social influence. The available tools one has to exert influence over another can lead to a change in that person. Social power and social influence are separate and distinct concepts. Although social power is potential (which may or may not be used), social influence is an effect, an actual change (or deliberate maintenance) in the beliefs, attitudes, behavior, emotions, and so on, of someone because of the actions or presence of another. The person or group that is the source of influence is commonly known as the influencing agent, whereas the object of the attempted or successful influence [Page 913]attempt is commonly known as the target (of the influence). Thus, influencing agents have social power, which are the means they may use to influence targets.

Background and History

The ability of one person (or group) to get others to do his or her will, also known as social power, has long been of interest to social psychologists. Perhaps this is because so much of human interaction involves the change or the attempt to change the beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors of another. Because of the long-standing interest in the topic, several different investigations have used different definitions of social power and different ways of measuring power. However, an extensive survey has found that the approach most commonly used originally identified five distinct potential tactics one could use in an influence attempt. This approach was updated some years ago and now includes six distinct tactics that can be subdivided into 11 varieties. Of course, in an influence attempt multiple types of influence are often used at the same time. The types of social power are as follows:

• Informational. This type is the ability to rationally persuade someone.
• Expert. This social power is similar to informational power except that arguments are not necessary because the target trusts the influencing agent.
• Referent. The referent type is based on the target's identifying and liking the influencing agent and, because of this, wanting to comply with his or her requests.
• Coercive power. This type involves threat of punishment. These can be things such as monetary fines (impersonal) or simply personal disapproval (personal).
• Reward power. This social power type stems from the ability of the influencing agent to grant some kind of reward, either impersonal or personal.
• Legitimate power. Based on what general society typically expects of us, this includes (a) the formal legitimate (or position) norm, which is the right to ask for something based simply on position or job title; (b) the reciprocity norm, whereby if someone does something for you, you owe him or her the favor in return; (c) the equity norm, the idea that one is expected to help others receive what they deserve, for example, if you work hard, you should get rewarded; and (d) social responsibility (or dependence), whereby people are obligated to help those who depend on them.

The type of social power used in an influence attempt often depends on a person's motivations. Sometimes people are consciously aware of their motivations, and sometimes they are not. Clever influencing agents often choose the kind of influence they use based on considerations of potential effectiveness and other factors. These factors can be quite varied. For example, some people are motivated by the desire to appear powerful. To feel powerful, an influencing agent may choose a type of influence strategy that makes him or her feel as though he or she is in control of the target of influence. If so, the influencing agent may choose to use coercion or reward in the influence attempt. Similarly, a desire to enhance one's sense of power in the eyes of others, status, security, role requirements, the desire to harm a target of influence, and self-esteem considerations might lead one to choose the more controlling, stronger, or harsher types of influence tactics (such as coercion). Others may wish to maintain a friendship or appear humble. In that case, they would rely more on information.

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