Discuss and compare the conceptions of power and domination found in the works of the following social theorists: Karl Marx, Max Weber and Michel Foucault. Illustrate your answer to this question with some appropriate examples of the operation of power.

CONCEPT OF POWER AND DOMINATION : KARL MARX , MAX WEBER AND MICHEL FOUCAULT

Concept of Power and Domination - Karl Marx

Karl Marx has provided a view of power and domination which arises from the distinction of class and possessions (Marx . Engels : 1998 . Thus state gains power from the guarantees it provides to all forms of property be it capital , landholding by feudal lords or slavery . Classes are formed based on the holding of property and domination is achieved through these possessions (Marx . Engels : 1998 . Group and political power create physical strength which

determines the extent to which social classes can organize themselves effectively to fight for their interests . These are the material dimensions of domination . Domination has another facet that of the force of ideas (Engels . Marx : 1998 This is determined by the means of mental production that are available in the realms of ideology (Collins : 1974 . Marx 's views on power also denote that material circumstances determine the style of life adopted by the class , culture and behaviors . Material conditions for mobilization of power as well as form of domination are said to vary amongst the various social classes . This is based on organization of communities and the means of communication employed by them . The means used for mental production are also varied wherein in some cases symbolic structures may be imposed on classes from outside (Collins 1974 . Thus class struggle is central to Marxian theory of power and domination

Marx has also defined labor power . It is a commodity which the worker is said to sell to the capitalist to secure means of subsistence . The worker then is said to belong to the whole capitalist class . The cost of production of this labor power has also been defined as the cost required for maintaining the labor as a worker . While the wage minimum is the cost production of simple labor power . Value of the work is said to be the labor power expended in production (Marx : 1999 . Thus Marx attempts to define power from its roots and takes it upwards to that of the state . History is denoted as a past narration of class struggles (Marx . Engels : 1998 . This entails domination by one class that is the bourgeoisie who exploit the oppressed class that is the proletariat . The struggle against domination has to be undertaken by freeing the whole society from exploitation . The aim of Communists as per Marx was political power in the hands of the proletariat . This is achieved not by abolition of property per se but by overthrowing bourgeois domination The first stage of any revolution as per Marx was to bring the proletariat into power , making it the ruling class and then wrest the capital from the bourgeoisie . Power in terms of instruments of production was to be centralized in the hands of the state which was also tasked to increase the possible (Summary : 2006

Thus Marx tends to view power and domination as a history of class struggle . Each society over the years is...