Monday, April 26, 2010
W14 - Discussion Question # 3
One concept that I found interesting in this week’s reading was about power within group conflict. It was interesting to see all the seven different types of power defined and the different characteristics of them. This made me think about the concept of power in a general context and not just limited to group communication. Personally, I think from the time of childhood until adolescence, we are bound by the reward and punishment power that our parents hold because they ultimately have the ability to reward us when we follow their rules and punish us when we disobey them. As we get older, I think that people who have interpersonal linkage power are the most influential because they are able to “engage the services of individuals, other groups, and organizations, or to gain access to resources generally not available to others” (pg. 239). Ultimately, I feel like since these individuals are well connected amongst various circles they probably hold a lot of power within a lot of different groups and therefore are well respected or feared in some cases. These individuals live by the saying, “it’s not about what you do, but who you know, and the people who you know can make you or break you”.
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Hello,
ReplyDeleteI thought the concepts related to power that you discussed in your post were very interesting. When referring to our parents, you say that, "we are bound by the reward and punishment power that our parents hold because they ultimately have the ability to reward us when we follow their rules and punish us when we disobey them". I thought this was very interesting because a lot of parents rely solely on the reward system to motivate their kids, and then when the kids grow up, they always expect to be rewarded.
In reality, we know that as adults, we are not always rewarded for each positive behaviour we demonstrate, rather we are expected to follow the rules instilled for that specific place without the rewards.
I also thought your quote was interesting about how important it is to know influential people. Sometimes older people think i am connected because of my husbands profession (he is a Prosecutor at the Office of the District Attorney in Santa Clara County). I have worked in jobs in the past (such as a receptionist of a non profit organization) where the main boss would invite my husband and I for dinner. He does not make much mony working for the county, so no one expects him to financially contribute, but the people who take us out to dinner hope that he will connect them to people who do such as judges and private lawyers.
Power..it is something we all wish we had more of.
GCL,
ReplyDeleteYou did a Great job of incorporating the concepts and quotes in your post this week. I agree that when we are younger there is a sense of authority and power between parent and child relationship. As a child we do not the power to push us and help us learn right from wrong, in the sense that you are rewarded for the good things you do and punished for the things done wrong.
Once you become an adult you realize that the logistics of this may change. And I agree that many people that are interpersonal linked have an upper hand and may be more power. Throughout your life there are always going to be issues of power. Someone will always have more power than you regardless of his or her title. I think that you used good examples to explain this and I liked that you went "outside the box" and think of power as a bigger whole not just between small groups.