ABSTRACT
IN 1967, Marwell and Schmitt published an article in Sociometry on dimensions of compliance-gaining behaviors. After about a decade, the article caught the attention of communication researchers. Schooled in the persuasion area, most of these researchers looked for some construct to enhance the relevance of persuasion to the increasingly interesting area of interpersonal communication. Compliance- gaining strategies appeared to be much better suited to interpersonal contexts than the message variables studied in the 1950s and 1960s. Now, compliance-gaining research occupies a dominant place among studies on persuasion in interpersonal communication. As has been the case with most popular trends in our field, this research apparently proceeded without adequate conceptual foundations or careful consideration of closely related constructs. In this chapter, we attempt to step back from the research to gain what we hope will be a useful perspective on compliance-gaining and power within the province of persuasion.
