Power: A Radical View (3rd)

The third edition of this seminal work includes the original text, first published in 1974, the updates and reflections from the second edition and two groundbreaking new chapters. Power: A Radical View assesses the main debates about how to conceptualize and study power, including the influential contributions of Michel Foucault. The new material includes a development of Lukes's theory of power and presents empirical cases to exemplify this.
Including a refreshed introduction, this third edition brings a book that has consolidated its reputation as a classic work and a major reference point within Social and Political Theory to a whole new audience. It can be used on modules across the Social and Political Sciences dealing with the concept of power and its manifestation in the world. It is also essential reading for all undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in the history of Social and Political Thought.
Review
Steven Lukes’s analysis on power is a modern classic that has shaped nearly fifty years of literature on the topic. With characteristic clarity and insight, this expanded and revised edition engages with neorepublican debates of freedom as non-domination to illustrate the relevance of Lukes’s three-dimensional conception for some of our most urgent philosophical and political questions. – Lea Ypi, London School of Economics, UK
This famous breakthrough to understanding persuasively displays the protean character of power. With the original chapters joined by one on domination and a second that deepens its three-dimensional orientation, this fundamental and influential book has become ever more compelling. – Ira Katznelson, Columbia University, US
In this age of conspiracy mongering, the new edition of Steven Lukes's Power is doubly welcome. It gives us a brilliantly tough-minded and realistic account of how power operates both when it is visible and when it isn't. – Professor Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, US
When first published, Steven Lukes’s classic “radical view” of power set the stage for any further critical debate about that concept. But now, with another expanded edition, we learn a new meaning of “radical”: rethinking one’s own theory from the ground up, in a truly dialogical way. Could a masterpiece ever be perfected? Yes, it can. – Professor Rainer Forst, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
From the Back Cover
‘In this age of conspiracy mongering, the new edition of Steven Lukes's Power is doubly welcome. It gives us a brilliantly tough-minded and realistic account of how power operates both when it is visible and when it isn't.’ – Professor Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, US
‘When first published, Steven Lukes’s classic “radical view” of power set the stage for any further critical debate about that concept. But now, with another expanded edition, we learn a new meaning of “radical”: rethinking one’s own theory from the ground up, in a truly dialogical way. Could a masterpiece ever be perfected? Yes, it can.’ – Professor Rainer Forst, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
The concept of power is central to social and political science. This third edition of a classic work assesses the main debates around how to conceptualize and study this difficult topic. Including the original 1974 text, updates and reflections from the second edition and two groundbreaking new chapters, Power: A Radical View poses urgent and influential arguments about how power over willing subjects is secured and maintained.
With a brand new introduction, this third edition advances a major development of Lukes’s three-dimensional view of power and presents empirical cases to support this. It brings a book that has consolidated its reputation as a major reference point within social and political theory to a whole new audience and is essential reading for all undergraduates and postgraduate students of Politics and Sociology.