ABSTRACT
Power may be defined as the production of intended effects. There are various ways of classifying the forms of power, each of which has its utility. In the first place, there is power over human beings and power over dead matter or non-human forms of life. Power over human beings may be classified by the manner of influencing individuals, or by the type of organization involved. The most important organizations are approximately distinguishable by the kind of power that they exert. Naked power is usually military, and may take the form either of internal tyranny or of foreign conquest. A very different type of character comes to the fore where power is achieved through learning or wisdom, real or supposed. The two most important examples of this form of power are traditional China and the Catholic Church. The power of the intellectual depends upon superstition: reverence for a traditional incantation or a sacred book.
