The article views power as a potential tool for human resource development (HRD) practitioners and focuses on personal power (the ability to influence others) rather than on role power (the right to influence others). Manipulation is discussed as a way to exercise personal power. (Author/BP)

Two cartoon strips were the vehicle for surveying perceptions of power use in everyday situations. A stratified cross-sectional sample of 430 adults in Los Angeles were interviewed. Their task was to choose a behavior, illustrated by a cartoon panel, most likely to be employed by a policeman in one instance and a nurse in another to secure…

Methodological sophistication and conceptual complexity in the area of marital power has resulted in more questions than answers. The greatest danger of such a situation is a cessation of research motivated by fear of added mistakes, and supposedly justified by the lack of better measures and conceptualizations. Two particular stumbling blocks…

This paper develops a theory of sex-role stereotyping and power use in terms of how people interact in daily life situations. It is demonstrated that women have less access, in reality and in expectations, to concrete resources and competence leaving them with helpless modes of influence. (Author/AM)

This research project examines mobility, satisfaction and power relations in black middle class families. The variables discussed are: (1) mobility patterns over three generations; (2) family structure; (3) the kinship help network; (4) decision-making patterns in the family; and (5) the level of satisfaction with their present family situation.…

This paper describes an assessment of interpersonal power in a sample of college-age dating couples using both self-report and behavioral measures. While self-reports revealed egalitarian ideals, less than half the respondents perceived their current relationship as egalitarian in practice; rather, these relationships tended to be male-dominated.…

This paper explores the concept of social power as defined by the author and John R.P. French fifteen years ago. Social power is the potential influence which an agent could exert over some person. The means for exercising that power could be in the form of any of six bases falling into the following categories: informational power, which is…

The study presents the results of testing an original obersvation instrument designed to identify a power elite in multiple sessions of two eight-member adult discussion groups. Two questions guided the development of the study: (1) Can a power elite be identified in participation training groups? (2) Can an effective observation instrument with…