Power Relations: Social, Political, And Social Movements

Some theorists view social interactions as an exchange of objective and subjective power (Benford & Hunt, 1992, p. 3), with social movements being created for the purpose of restructuring an imbalance in social, political, and economic power, or the way in which such power is used (Lukes 1974, pp. 24-5). The dramaturgy theory agrees that the focus of a social movement is the amendment or transformation of power relations, and goes even farther by suggesting that leaders of said movements are responsible for developing new and alternate possibilities for current power relations, and must persuade members that they are capable of generating change (Benford & Hunt, 1992, pp. 3-6). Thus, the effectiveness, quality, and sustainability of

7). Stephen finds these grassroots movements to be motivated by issues of survival that are related to: domestic power inequalities such as lack of personal reproductive choices, domestic violence, and lack autonomy; economic power inequalities resulting in the inability to secure appropriate food, money, housing, land, and medical care; and social power inequalities such as physical and sexual abuse by authorities, sexism within the movements and unions, and active social exclusion of by the community. Yet, the researcher notes that by participating in grassroots social movements, these women grew in self-confidence, personal awareness, and became increasingly independent (Stephen, 1997, p. 114-122). Thus, the women represented by this author exemplify the aforementioned transformation of self, moving from a powerless person who is acted upon by external forces, to one who uses power to actively shape the