Asked in paper II- June 2007- Mass Communication
Find out the correct sequence of four forms of power in society in relation to media :
- economic, political, coercive, symbolic
- political, symbolic, economic, coercive
- symbolic, coercive, political, economic
- coercive, symbolic, political, economic
Answer- economic, political, coercive, symbolic
Explanation
John B. Thompson (1995) distinguishes four forms of power.
- Economic power: โEconomic power stems from human productive activity, that is, activity concerned with the provision of the means of subsistence through the extraction of raw materials and their transformation into goods which can be consumed or exchanged in a marketโ.
- Political power: Political power โstems from the activity of coordinating individuals and regulating the patterns of their interactionโ.
- Coercive power: โCoercive power involves the use, or threatened use, of physical force to subdue or conquer an opponentโ. such as coercive institutions (military, police, carceral institutions, etc).
- Symbolic power: Symbolic power is the โcapacity to intervene in the course of events, to influence the actions of others and indeed to create events, by means of the production and transmission of symbolic formsโ. such as cultural institutions (church, schools, universities, media, etc).