1. (More) Theories of Power
Nathan Loynes

2. Notes from Day (2010).
• Day looks at the interplay between genetics,
personality, gender and power.
• For our purposes, we do not need to
concentrate on genetics. Although research
supports that individual human behaviour
does have a genetic component, it is unlikely
that practitioners will have access to this case-
by-case information on individual genetics
when ‘Working with Families’.

3. OCEAN
Goldberg (1990)
• Openness: Creative, imaginative ‘open’ to
life’s adventures, likely to focus on artistic and
intellectual pursuits.
• Conscientiousness: How organised, effective
at planning. Post-its; planners, anxious or fret
about assignments.

4. OCEAN continued
• Extroversion: Outgoing, work the crowd,
more energy at the end of the party than at
the start. Cf. Introversion.
• Agreeableness: Warm hearted trusting kind,
understand feelings and empathetic. Those
who score low are more focused on how they
feel rather than how others feel.

5. OCEAN Continued
• Neuroticism: Anxious, emotional, high
strung – Cf. balanced even tempered, self
assured.
Conclusion
• Keirsey (1998) Our goal should not be to
change our partners (relationships) but
understand them.
• If we understand our own personality
tendencies; we can modify them as necessary.

6. Gender (& Power)
‘Gender’ is not the same as ‘Sex’ – Why?
Oakley (1985)
1. Encouraging: Girls ‘mothering’, boys
discouraged.
2. Gendered play: Girls Dolls/ Boys Trucks
3. Adults label play – girls rough and tumble
‘aggressive’/ boys rough and tumble ‘active’
4. Adults interaction. Girls; softly spoken to,
Boys; ‘be a big boy’.

7. Father (figure): child dyads
• Furthermore: It is men who play a very active
role at socialising children.
• Hence, men’s position to exert power.
Daughters are encouraged to be emotionally
stable.
• Whilst Sons are encouraged to be task
orientated.
[See Tannen (2007) for more on this and
examples]

8. Day (2010) on Power
• Power is link with and economics and male physicality.
• Rational choice and social exchange theories are based
on (capitalist) economic theories.
• ‘True’ altruism does not exist (see student pack cover
photo).
• Day introduces ‘power dependency theory’ on page
95 and the influential work of Cook and others.
[See Tannen (2007) and Sell et al (2004) for more on this]

9. Power Dependence Involves:
• Mutual dependence
• Power and control
• The ‘other’ having a ‘resource’
that we want.
• What do you think is meant by
‘resource’?

10. Unbalanced Dependencies
• According to Cook and Emerson (1978) and
Molm (2003):
• Power in a relationship is unbalanced when
dependencies are unequal.
• Bonus question: Can dependencies ever be
truly equal?
• How would you explain this using previously
covered term ‘homeostasis’?

11. Dependencies and resources
• Social Capital – The ‘inside edge’, the ability to
make things happen.
• When power imbalances are high – the family is
less likely to achieve desired goals – because of
‘contention’.
• When power imbalance is high there is likely to
be low family satisfaction.
• When power imbalance is high, household
routines, and daily patterns will favour the person
with the most power (i.e. ‘cherry picking’ chores).

12. Conclusion
• Structural factors (i.e. gender and economics) influence
personality and access to ‘power’.
• Individual factors can be explained in terms of OCEAN
which can influence social relationships and power
relations.
• The ‘flow of power’ is seldom in a single direction. The
dynamic is mutual and involves seeking and keeping hold of
‘resources’
• Our relationship with ‘resources’ create ‘dependencies’.
• ‘unequal’ dependencies can result in problematic social
relationships.
(Source: Randal Day, (2010), ‘Introduction to family processes’).