Power And Powerlessness Essay Example for Free

Power And Powerlessness EssayWhen I hear the word power many thoughts come to mind, that I feel power has many different forms. We could assume that power means much m wizardy, a bigger title, a corner office, a more generous budget, or a seat at the table. But that may not be true for every whizz. For some, power may mean having the competency to admit superstars career destiny in keeping with personal values and interests. Or power could mean having the opportunity to be fanciful as a project clear without too much interference from others. Or power could mean making decisions with trust and autonomy, such that no one can easily override your decisions. To me, power is control and the capacity to bring about change. For example, the United States administration, they control everything and also other countries. Our government has the power to give rise and print money, regulate interstate and international trade, make treaties and conduct foreign policies, declare wa r, provide an army and navy, establish post offices, and make laws necessary to tolerate out these powers.In addition to their elusive powers, both the national government and state governments share the power of being able to collect taxes, build roads, seize money, establish courts, make and enforce laws, charter banks and corporations, spend money for general welfare, and take private property for public purposes. Power is also make headwayd by means of possession or acquisition of the following resources government agency, money, status, knowledge, professional degrees, goods, services, votes, public support, information, ability to influence the media, and relationships with powerful people. Power can be derived from ones authority to make decisions in scheme s or by virtue of ones gender, ethnicity, affable class, or personal attri only ifes, such as expression and charisma. People often acquire power by establishing alliances and coalitions with others to support or o ppose various policies or decision-making options.Workers in companionable service organizations also acquire power because they often decide whether individual clients receive services, resources, or referrals. But how would it feel to not have power, a sensation of being out of control with no apparent solution to help you to regain control, impotence. When the lack of capability to affect the realities of life that you cant control such as how others cause towards you, if you will get a job you want, what the weather will be like, or if an accident will occur. Powerlessness can be simply delimit as the absences of power resources. However, the Mother of authorisation practice, Barbara Solomon (1976), defines powerlessness as a product of the interaction between individuals and the social structures that limit life opportunities for them Powerlessness is defined here as the inability to manage emotions, skills, knowledge, and/or material resources in a way that effective per formance of valued social roles will lead to personal gratification.The power deficiency so often seen among minority individuals and communities stems from a complex and dynamic interrelationship between the person and his relatively hostile social environment. When you feel powerless, you feel afraid to express your needs because you fear that what little you have will be taken from you. You may have learned powerlessness if you were kept in powerless positions repeatedly and/or over long periods of time, possibly during childhood, by those who used external forces (money, physical strength, legal status, and/or war machine force) to control you. You may have been abused as a child, a partner or spouse, an employee, a soldier, or you may have been the victim of racial or ethnic attacks. Such prolonged abuse can cause you to constrain afraid to feel even your own needs, to admit to yourself that you need something, you lead immobilized and in certain critical ways you stop growi ng, you cease to thrive.When powerlessness is learned, it becomes self-perpetuating, even if the external forces are no longer there. An abused child may grow up to feel permanently powerless as an adult, even though his or her parents no longer have physical or stinting power over him or her. One may then enter into a situation that repeats childhood experiences such as living with or marrying an opprobrious partner, and therefore keeping oneself in externally imposed danger. Or one may keep oneself down through with(predicate) self-abuse, compulsive behaviors, and depression because the powerlessness has become internalized. The first step to overcoming learned powerlessness is to learn to feel entitled to your personal rights. You have the right to live a life free from physical, emotional, sexual, and fiscal mistreatment. You have the right to be treated with respect, to earn a livable income, to be informed of matters that affect you, and to express yourself freely, without harming others.Most importantly, you have the right to rent for what you need, even though you may be turned down, and to fight for what you need and want, even if you are turned down. Most people who have learned powerlessness barely feel entitled to speak, let alone to speak freely. Often professional therapy is necessary to overtake the ingrained patterns. Never the less, to overcome learned powerlessness, you must(prenominal) gradually, but persistently lay claim to each and every human right, one after the other. The purpose of the dominance approach is to help people overcome feelings powerlessness by acquiring power. Mondros and Wilson (1994) differentiate power from empowerment by arguing that this second concept is actually a psychological state that allows one to pursue concrete activities aimed at becoming powerful. The literature on empowerment in organizations focuses on two distinct categories of organizations actors program beneficiaries and staff members. Rapp, S hera, and Kisthardt (1993) define empowerment in individual clients as confidence, control, decision authority, influence, autonomy, and self-trust.According to Shera and Page (1995), empowerment of employees in organizations can be defined as, a process of enhancing self-efficacy among organizational members through the identification of conditions that foster powerlessness and through their removal by both formal organizational practices and informal techniques that provide efficacy information. Empowerment in the social services can take place within the context of relationships between workers and clients, within the organizations formal decision-making structure, and within the contact between the organization and institutions or groups in its external environment. It should be noted that empowerment in organizations involves the redistribution of resources such as decision-making authority or goods and services. Therefore, in addition to producing specific outcomes, empowermen t is a political process.Staff members may feel they will lose power and authority to make service decisions if clients are treated as be partners in the decision-making process. Because one of the primary assumptions of empowerment in direct social work practice is to reduce feelings of powerlessness by increasing personal self-perceptions of ones own power, the model focuses on facilitating the acquisition of leadership skills and actual political power among agency clientele. Staff members also acquire power through participation in organizational decision-making and by advocating for improvements in organizational policies and services. The organization gains political power as constituents become empowered to advocate for changes in government policies and campaign for meaningful social change. In conclusion, power, powerlessness, and empowerment all have a different meaning and serve a different purpose but each one has a powerful meaning in its own way.