Power: a critical reader

Successfully bringing together accessible readings that cover the broad range of issues of importance to those studying politics and society, this volume provides a unique mix of theoretical and empirical pieces, such as state and electoral politics, that address both classic issues in political sociology as well as more recent developments, such as globalization. With strong integration of race and gender throughout, this collection offers a coherent analysis of power that reflects the contributions of a variety of critical perspectives, including Marxism, feminism, critical race theory, postmodernism, and power structure theory. Power: A critical reader goes beyond the traditionally national focus of political sociology to include readings on globalization, war, genocide and human rights, revolution, nationall liberation movements, multilateral institutions, and international labor activism. Not only does this demonstrate the importance of the global context of power, it also offers students a foundation for understanding contemporary global conflicts. -- from back cover.

Section I: Critical theories of power -- The festishism of commodities / Karl Marx -- The new forms of control / Herbert Marcuse -- Hegemony / Antonio Gramsci -- The possessive investment in whiteness / George Lipsitz -- Public spaces, private lives / Anne Phillips -- The body of the condemned / Michel Foucault -- Section II: State theory -- The state of superstructure / Hal Draper -- Defining the class dominance view / G. William Domhoff -- Political choice and the multiple "logics" of capital / Fred Block -- A feminist theory of the state / Mimi Abramovitz -- Section III: Electoral politics -- Does voting matter? / Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward -- How the power elite dominate government / G. William Domhoff -- Follow the money / Dan Clawson, Alan Neustadtl, and Mark Weller -- The tyranny of the majority / Lani Guinier -- Section IV: The welfare state -- Relief, labor, and civil disorder: An overview / Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward -- Who deserves help? Who must provide? / Linda Gordon -- Welfare reform as race population control / Kenneth J. Neubeck and Noel A. Cazenave -- The three worlds of welfare capitalism / Gøsta Esping-Anderson -- Section V: Media an…