ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that theories are neither micro nor macro, it is only their interpretations that are micro or macro. It offers the application of power-dependence theory to conjugal power structures and to power-dependence relations among and within organizations. The chapter aims to develop the implications of the argument for differences in scale, level, and structure. It argues that theories are neither micro nor macro, they are abstract and general, they have multiple interpretations; and in the case of interactor theories, these interpretations may be either micro or macro. The chapter also offers the application of R. M. Emerson's power-dependence theory to power in families and organizations. Small versus large, actor versus system, subsystem versus system, less versus more structure do not give rise to qualitatively different micro versus macro theories because they are differences within, not between, theories. Some, interactor theories, are capable of either micro or macro interpretations.
