In the book ‘The systems view of life‘, the topic of social networks and specifically how power exists and develops in social networks. We realize that the exercise of power, which was in the Industrial Age through hierarchies, is now becoming quite different.
“The socio-biologist Manuel Castells argues that the paramount form of power in the network society is the power to constitute networks – to connect individuals and institutions to these networks, or exclude them, and to inter-connect different networks.”
“Whereas power as domination is most effectively exercised through a hierarchy, the most effective social structure for power as empowerment is the network. In a social network, people are empowered by being connected to the network. In such a network the success of the whole community depends o the success of its individual members, while the success of each member depends on the success of the community as a whole.“
Power in social networks therefore resides in empowerment through connection. Super-connectors have thus the most power. This quite different perspective helps explain how power is shifting in the most advanced societies – and what makes powerful today.
