Bound by Power
PrefaceHow would you define the concept of power? This is a question I've been asked many times in the past, and (to a large extent) this book constitutes my response. When I initially set about creating Bound by Power, there were many questions (and even more topics and issues) that I hoped to delve into. Many were what you could safely characterize as "big questions" dealing with the structure of society, how ideology "works" within various (institutional) contexts, ways in which power may be seen to be political.
In soliciting the essays featured in Bound by Power, I expressed to each contributor my view of the book as a whole: it would be concerned to examine the interplay between power, ideology and the institutional framework of society. Because the question of power is so extensive and far-reaching in terms of its implications, I also chose to undertake a series of interviews for inclusion in the book. My initial thought was that the interview format would significantly enhance the degree of play I would have available to me in terms of the sheer range of material that could potentially be taken up within the book. Those I interviewed have essentially devoted the whole of their professional lives to studying the multiplicity of topics covered in the interviews. And they have actively sought to engage with vital "public issues" and to participate in public discussions about these issues. Their insights, knowledge and impressions, together with the brilliant and engaging research essays featured within the book, bring the concept of power out into the open, affording a unique window into power, its dimensions and intended consequences.
One of my initial aims with the book was to rescue the concept of power from various discourses within the social sciences where the concept seemed, to my mind at least, to be languishing. It seemed to me that the terms of sociology's engagement with the concept ought to quite literally be exploded out. Power should, I thought, be highlighted, and its implications made front-and-center in terms of critical focus. Bound by Power, then, is intended to enter the fray as a catalyst, expanding and redefining the boundaries of critical scholarship and engagement, across a range of academic disciplines: media and communication studies, sociology, cultural studies, philosophy and history.
In effect, the book was built to engage with numerous "real world" public issues, as they relate to the question of how power can be seen to impact (and shape) the broader intellectual culture. These include spin, information management, public relations, education, universities and academic culture, social control, suppression of dissent, self-censorship, patriotic correctness, whistleblowers, institutional backlash and victimization, social inequality, markets, ethics, domestic and foreign policy, global politics, social policy, social class, workplace injury, social status, human rights, democracy, patriarchy, history and social change.
In looking at the book, now that it is finally completed, my sense is that Bound by Power: Intended Consequences is a vitally important book, one that seems destined to change the landscape, as it were, in various ways. It is my hope that readers will engage with the book, and that, in turn, the book will prompt and encourage much public and scholarly debate about the ideas, topics and issues that it raises and takes up throughout.
In conclusion, I would like to thank my publisher and give a very special thank you to each of the contributors to the book.
Jeffery Klaehn, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
December, 2005