Power and Its Consequences: A Rational Perspective

Power and Its Consequences examines the exercise of power and its empirical consequences short of any ideological bias in part to account for the increasing "liberalization" occurring in modern industrial societies such as the United States. The author presents an overall framework describing how societies are put together, including the presence or absence of power and authority, and applies it to many popular questions addressing changing social acceptance, such as with the death penalty and suicide. He describes the pattern of evolution to a more liberal social atmosphere in societies by evaluating the rise and accumulation of power which precedes the relaxation of certain controls over life, death, and sexual behavior following a period of restrictive attitudes as a reaction to a consolidation of secure power and authority, not a greater amount of freedom for the general population.