ABSTRACT
Why do people want power? One answer to this question focuses on the peculiar motivations of power-hungry and powerful people (e.g., Fodor, 1985; McClelland, 1975; Winter, 1973). Another answer is that power enables people to get what they want (Boulding, 1989). As absolute control is rare, many social psychologists define power as the potential to influence others, which makes it relational (e.g., Fiske & Berdahl, 2007). Raven’s (e.g., 1965) seminal interpersonal power—interaction model describes six methods of interpersonal influence: (a) coercion, (b) reward, (c) legitimacy, (d) expertise, (e) information, and (f) referent (i.e., affiliation). Although these approaches have shown how power motivations and social influence work, they do not address why power is a recurrent feature of life and for all people. They also do not explain why structural inequality, a by-product of stable power and coalitions, is typical of societies.
