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22.1: Introduction

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    One of the fundamental aspects of social interaction is that some individuals have more influence than others. Social power can be defined as the ability of a person to create conformity even when the people being influenced may attempt to resist those changes (Fiske, 1993; Keltner et al., 2003). Bosses have power over their workers, parents have power over their children, and, more generally, we can say that those in authority have power over their subordinates. In short, power refers to the process of social influence itself— those who have power are those who are most able to influ- ence others.

    This page titled 22.1: Introduction is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Kate Votaw.

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