Power balance

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Power balance refers to the strength and dependency relationship within a social relationship or a network of relationships in the sense of a mutual balancing of weights. While colloquial language usually only describes symmetrical relationships of strength and dependency, the social science term also describes asymmetrical relationships of strength and dependency. In contrast to the static term “ power ”, the term power balance indicates that relationships of strength and dependency are never static, but always more or less dynamic and therefore changeable.

Word origin

The concept of power balance (of power and balance ) refers to the measuring instrument of a two-shell scale (from Latin bi- "two" and Latin lanx "( scales ) shell").

Colloquial language

In English, the term power balance has long been used to describe the power balance between states (verifiable from 1700). The term is also colloquial in English and is used in practically all social contexts - politics, economy, culture, family, associations, religion, administration, etc.

In German, the term power balance is understandable in everyday language, but it is used less than in English. Balance is mostly understood statically as the equilibrium and stability of an inner calm and imbalance as its opposite.

Sociological term

The term power balance was coined as a scientific term by Norbert Elias and is used today in many social sciences to analyze relationships of strength and dependency.

Coining as a technical term

Norbert Elias made the term power balance a central conceptual tool in his approach, process sociology . From a process-sociological point of view, the explanation of the dynamic changes in social relationships in short-term and long-term change processes is only possible on the basis of a dynamic and relational understanding of power.

Power balance denotes the strength ratio in a figuration (relationship or interdependence network) which, due to the mutual dependencies, is always subject to short-term and long-term relationship dynamics and is therefore always more or less unstable.

Elias first described the functional principle of dynamically changing balances of power in his habilitation thesis submitted in 1933 using the example of court society. It is considered a preliminary study for his work " On the Process of Civilization ", in which the term is not yet used explicitly. Only in the reprint of his habilitation thesis from 1969 is the term used sporadically. Elias later developed it into a central conceptual tool.

Working principle

The central motor of networked relationships with their power dynamics is their intrinsic dynamism through increasing functional dependencies. These arise in long-term social processes through differentiation and integration of functions (such as division of labor, formation of institutions, etc.).

The struggle for the fulfillment of functions or needs of the relationship partner creates tensions (and possibly conflicts) within social relationships. The extent to which the needs of a relationship partner are met depends on the strength of the relationship and the chances of power. Everything that someone else needs can become a power resource (money, confirmation, love, etc.). The stronger the position of a relationship partner within a network of relationships, the greater is his "chance of influencing the self-control of other people and of deciding the fate of other people". Thus, differently balanced relationships of functional fulfillment always occur between people.

Elias described his "sociological theory of power balances" as follows:

“Roughly speaking, the power chances of a specialist group are closely related to the urgency of the social needs, the satisfaction of which is the social function of the specialist group concerned. More precisely, they are related to the relationship between the extent to which a group of social functionaries is dependent on others and the extent to which others are dependent on this group of functionaries. This balance of the dependency of the functional groups of a state society on one another, that of their dependencies on one another, changes in a characteristic way in the course of human development. It is this structural change in the balance of dependency that is reflected in that of the social character of the respective main establishments. "

Background of the term embossing

Elias described power as an aspect of every human relationship, but he considered the simple term power unsuitable for scientific analysis because of the unconscious connotations , implications, idealizations and evaluations it contains . He particularly criticized the concept of power for the fact that its connotations seem static and reifying. Elias saw the open, factual discussion of the ubiquity of power aspects as a deeply rooted taboo , the breaking of which people are uncomfortable and embarrassing, which is why power phenomena are concealed.

Due to the misunderstanding of the concept of power, Elias preferred the concept of power balance in order to reduce reifying implications ('possessing power') and unconscious-emotional evaluations and to clarify the instability of relationship strength. For a more detailed description of power phenomena, processes and dynamics, he developed a. the theory of established-outsider relationships, the theory of the formation of central positions (called the king's mechanism ), symbol theory, theoretical approaches from the sociology of knowledge and science and the theory of the connection between psychogenesis and sociogenesis in the process of civilization . To this extent, Elias' entire process sociology is a “theory of power relations”.

How ubiquitous aspects of power are in every relationship, Elias described in the following much-quoted paragraph:

“Imagine that the baby has power over the parents from the first day of its life, and not just the parents over the baby - it has power over them as long as it has some value to them. If they don't, they lose power - parents can abandon their child if they cry too much. The same can be said of the relationship between a master and a slave: not only does the master have power over the slave, but also - depending on his function for him - the slave has power over the master. In the case of the relationship between parents and toddlers, between master and slave, the weights of power are very unevenly distributed. But whether power differentials are large or small, power balances exist wherever there is a functional interdependence between people. "

Interdisciplinary use

In many social science disciplines, power balance is used today as a process- sociological technical term for the scientific analysis of strength and dependency relationships in networked relationships.

Examples:

  • Uta Klein: The power balance between Ashkenazi and Sephardi in Israel. A reconstructive process analysis based on the established outsider model by Norbert Elias, in: Dietrich Thränhardt (Ed.): Immigrant networks and their integration quality in Germany and Israel. Münster 2000, pp. 53-82.
  • Jan-Peter Kunze: The gender relationship as a power process: the power balance of the sexes in West Germany since 1945. Wiesbaden 2005.
  • Monika Mochtarova: Shifting the balance of power and the Indonesian attitude towards the West: the example of the literary magazine "Horison" as a reflection of society (1966–1996); a contribution to the European-Islamic dialogue and to the established and outsider theory by Norbert Elias. Rangendingen 2011.
  • Klaus Wolf: Power processes in home education. A qualitative study of a traditional home education setting. Munster 1999.
  • Karina Becker: Power and Health. The informal trade about the use of labor, in: Berliner Journal für Soziologie, July 2015, Vol 25, pp. 161–185.

literature

  • Caesar Dreyer: Power theory: comparison of the power theoretical perspectives of Norbert Elias, Michel Foucault and Heinrich Popitz. Munich 2011. ISBN 978-3-640-95155-0
  • Eric Dunning; Jason Hughes: Norbert Elias and Modern Sociology. Knowledge, interdependence, power, process. Bloomsbury 2012. ISBN 978-1-78093-226-2
  • David Ledent: Norbert Elias: Vie, oeuvres, concepts. Paris 2012. ISBN 978-2-7298-5207-8
  • Jesús Romero Moñivas: Los fundamentos de la sociología de Norbert Elias. Valencia 2013. ISBN 978-84-15731-00-9
  • Angela Perulli: Norbert Elias: Processi e parole della sociologia. Roma 2012. ISBN 978-88-430-6772-5
  • Annette Treibel: The sociology of Norbert Elias. An introduction to their history, systematics and perspectives. Wiesbaden 2008. ISBN 978-3-531-16081-8

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Kluge, edited by Elmar Seebold: Etymological Dictionary of the German Language. 24th, revised and expanded edition. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2001, ISBN 978-3-11-017473-1 , keyword: "Balance", page 84.
  2. ↑ Michael Sheehan: The balance of power. History and theory. London 1996.
  3. ↑ See synonyms and opposite words for balance
  4. ↑ Norbert Elias: The court society. Frankfurt 1969, p. 123
  5. ↑ Editorial note in: Norbert Elias: Die Höfische Gesellschaft. Frankfurt 1969, p. 491ff.
  6. ^ Norbert Elias: Complete register. Collected writings Vol. 19. Frankfurt a. M. 2010.
  7. ↑ Norbert Elias: The Society of Individuals. in: The Society of Individuals. Ges. Schriften Vol. 10. Frankfurt / M. 1939/2001, p. 80.
  8. ↑ Norbert Elias: On the withdrawal of sociologists to the present (I). Collected writings vol. 15. Frankfurt a. M. 2006, p. 404.
  9. ↑ Elias, Norbert: What role do scientific and literary utopias play for the future ?, in: Essays and other writings II. Ges. Schriften Vol. 15. Frankfurt / M. 1982/2006, p. 217. ISBN 978-3-518-58454-5
  10. ↑ Elias, Norbert: Knowledge and Power. Interview by Peter Ludes, in it: 'The great struggle of the intellectual'. in: Autobiographical and interviews, m. Audio CD. Ges. Schriften Vol. 17. Frankfurt / M. 1984/2006, p. 279. ISBN 3-518-58422-7
  11. ↑ Elias, Norbert: What is sociology? Ges. Schriften Vol. 5. Basic questions in sociology. Frankfurt / M. 1970/2006, p. 94. ISBN 978-3-518-58429-3
  12. ↑ Elias, Norbert: Notes on the curriculum vitae, in: Autobiographical and interviews, m. Audio CD. Ges. Schriften Vol. 17. Frankfurt / M. 1990/2005, p. 82. ISBN 3-518-58422-7
  13. ↑ Engler, Wolfgang: Norbert Elias as a science theorist. German magazine for philosophy. 35th year 1987 / issue 8, pp. 739-745.
  14. ↑ Fröhlich, Gerhard: "Islands of reliable knowledge in the ocean of human ignorance." On the theory of science with Norbert Elias, in: Kuzmics, Helmut / Mörth, Ingo (ed.), The infinite process of civilization. Frankfurt / M. 1991, pp. 95-111. ISBN 3-593-34481-5
  15. ↑ Annette Treibel : Figurations- und Prozessstheorie, in: Kneer, Georg / Schroer, Markus (eds.), Handbook of Sociological Theories. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 165. ISBN 978-3-531-15231-8
  16. ↑ Norbert Elias: What is sociology? In: Norbert Elias (ed.): Collected writings . tape 5 , 2006, p. 94 .