Power: A New Social Analysis

by Bertrand Russell

Book Overview

The key to human nature that Marx found in wealth and Freud in sex, Bertrand Russell finds in power. Power, he argues, is man's ultimate goal, and is, in its many guises, the single most important element in the development of any society. Writting in the late 1930s when Europe was being torn apart by extremist ideologies and the world was on the brink of war, Russell set out to found a 'new science' to make sense of the traumatic events of the day...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415325072
• ISBN13: 9780415325073
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Understanding mankind

When I read Russell's autobiography his geniuscombined with such a humble and loveable mannerattracted me undescribably, so I got to this book."In the course of this book I shall be concerned to prove that the fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics Like energy power has many forms, such as wealth, armaments, civil authority, influence on opinion" (P.9)He starts his study by showing "The Impulse to Power",and here one immediately recognizes howpower determines human action in every scale, whetherthe household or the world, and at every time.human affairs, being the development, love and hateIn Chapters 4 and 5 he differentiates Kingly Power,and Priestly Power, identifying repating processesin history, through which power is acquired, and lostagain. He describes various forms of power, at differenttimes:Naked power over human bodies, (Ch. 6)Revolutionary Power, (Ch. 7)Economic Power of the Controllers of Industry (Ch. 8) andPower over Opinion Ch 9)"The Biology of Organisations" explainsthe internal forces which press an organisation'sactions, may it be a party, a church or a chess club."Organisations and the Individual" shows how governmentis a requirement for civilization, and how various factorscontribute to the worst people having the biggest desireto get most power, place them into positions from whichthey oppress the majority.He concludes with the chapters "Competition", "Power and MoralCodes", "Power Philosophies", "The Ethics of Power" and"The Taming of Power", with the last two chapters beingof invaluable ideas for the development towards a mankindliving in cooperation instead of war; What makes hisideas realistic, are their complete lack of dogmatism, withthe acknowledgement, that the development of livemust not be constrained in the limits of a system, andwith the primary objective, of basing most on the individual,and only what is necessary for civilization, on the community orthe state. What's important is the human live, not an abstract construct, a creed or an ideology, excusing thepower hungry rulers with discussions about some abstrusegoal which lies in totality and not in the individual.I was deeply shocked when I read George Orwell's 1984, ashis insight into human minds was so overwhelmingly convincing,and his fears so often proved right. "If you want a picture of the future,imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- for ever". Seeingthe world's people becoming a raging crowd, crying to a manic leader,after last Tuesday's insane attack on the World Trade Center, a indiscribablefear mounted in my mind again, leaving me only left to hope for thewar cries to silence again, and reason to revive, but as this is not likely,I was at least pleased to be able to read an answer to 1984 now, whichwas written 12 years before the question. With "Power", Russell gavethe world a present of his intellect; explaining the free and liberaleducation of children, guid