Abstract
We introduce a new experimental method for studying power. Drawing from multiple theoretical perspectives, we conceptualize power as relational and structural, as well as comprised of different forms through which basic human needs can be met. Thus, the method we introduce examines how, when faced with a particular need, people use multiple forms of power concurrently and within a “field of influence,” namely, the other players in a game. This enabled us to examine how one form of power is transformed into another and how power is transferred from one player to another through interaction, as well as to measure power as behavior, as the exercise of choice, as potential, and as outcomes. Two experiments using egalitarian start conditions and a survivable ecology demonstrated that participants used power to gain more power, creating inequality. Being the target of force made some players unable to “survive” in the local ecology. Theoretical and methodological issues in the study of power are discussed and the application of our game method to the study of power in other fields is considered.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Melanie Dykas, Katherine Welch, Geoffrey Lake, Chun-ning Chou, Hilary Ryan, Jonathan Rosen, Renee Clarke, Erin McLeod, and Matthew Schmitt for their research assistance.
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Pratto, F., Pearson, A.R., Lee, IC. et al. Power Dynamics in an Experimental Game. Soc Just Res 21, 377–407 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-008-0075-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-008-0075-y