Recasting power in its third dimension

Abstract

Lukes’s (1974) Power: A Radical View has become a widely cited classic in contemporary political sociology. Referencing his three dimensions of power, particularly the third dimension, has become a standard way of mapping the schools of thought regarding power. Now Lukes (2005 [1974]) offers a new second edition that includes the original 1974 text plus two new chapters that respond to criticisms of his earlier work and show how he has developed, indeed changed, his thinking on the topic over the last 30 years. While it is unclear that the 2005 work will enjoy the success of the 1974 statement, it usefully shows contemporary shifts in thinking on this important issue, notably the recent influence of European thinkers, like Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu, on the American “faces of power” debate in the 1960s and early 1970s that pitted pluralist, elite, and class structure perspectives against each other.