Steven Lukes

Is it not the supreme exercise of power to get another or others to have the desires you want them to have – that is, to secure their compliance by controlling their thoughts and desires?

Steven Lukes (born 1941) is a British political and social theorist.

Quotes

• A may exercise power over B by getting him to do what he does not want to do, in quick succession, but he may also exercise power over him by shaping or determining his very wants. Indeed, is it not the supreme exercise of power to get another or others to have the desires you want them to have – that is, to secure their compliance by controlling their thoughts and desires?
  • Power: A Radical View (1974)

• I don’t know if I actually use the concept of culture particularly, but it defines a large area of what interests me... The third dimension of power certainly has to do with the ways people are framing their experience. It’s about how language shapes beliefs and desires, and therefore we could think of it as central to the sociology of culture. Apart form Durkheim and power, a lot of what I’ve written is about morality, and morality also has to be thought of as part of culture.