Symbiosis of PowerThe writings of Ralf Dahrendorf are important to understand legitimate power and illegitimate power. Similar kind of action related to power can be legitimate and illegitimate, according to who perform it or on what circumstances the action has performed. If state for instance performs violent actions on an individual or a group, it can be a legitimate action on the ground of national interests. However, similar action cannot perform by a citizen against another citizen since he or she not comes under the purview of the state authority. Existing social norms also give legitimate powers to some persons or a group. Consider the examples of the Khap Panchayath of Haryana where, the heads of the community has given the authority to perform violence on its members. From the existing theories and notions on power, we can understand the concept of power in two ways. Some scholars consider power as a simple quantitative phenomenon. It refers to the generalized capacity to act. This school of thought considers power from the actions of the individuals or group who possess the power ignoring its consequences on the victims. The writings of Hobbes and John Lock are the example of this school of thought.The second view on power consider power as both an capacity to act as well as the right to act; which derive from the consent of those over whom power is exercised. Writings of Foucault on power is crucial to understand this perspective on power. Some scholars further tend to consider power as a zero-sum concept. They maintain that, if one party possess and use the power, others will naturally loose the power. On the contrary, some scholars like Talcott Parsons maintain that, both the possessors of power and the subjects of power can also obtain power but may be in varying proportion.

Instruments of powersScholars have identified various instruments of power through which the performance of power can be mediated. They are as follows;Coercive or condign powerPower in this context would be performed against the will of the person using physical force, threatening, intimidation, physical and mental harassment, bargaining etc. The fear about the consequences prevents the victim of denying or resisting the attempt of the person or group which impose this kind of power on them. Most occasions, the performer of this kind of power would be an unquestionable authority.Compensatory powerCompensatory power involves performing of power on a subject by giving adequate compensation.. Unlike the coercive power where, person unwillingly have to accept the action of those who acquire power, in compensatory power, persons willingly or unwillingly accept the proposal because the compensatory benefit make the persons to agreed upon the conditions. The land acquisition procedures in different parts of the country can be a better example in this regard. Conditioned powerIn this, people are processed or conditioned to be remain as a subjugator of the dominant groups in the society. In the process of conditioning, in the everyday practices or in the normal consciousness of the people would not feel or understand that, whether they are been subjugated by any group. Through media, text books and socialization, the various exploitative practices are permeated and normalized in the everyday life of the people. The term hegemonic practices put forward by Antonio gramsci better explains this phenomenon. The everyday patriarchal practices through which the women are been subjugated and made vulnerable, has been one of the area, which sociologists explore by referring this kind of power.Thus, the concept of power and its instrument has been using extensively in sociology to explain every day social actions. In fact, the writings or Rousseau and other started to explore the concept of power to explain the reproductive practices of inequality, especially through the relationship between the king and its subjects. Later sociology has developed the concept of power as a device to understand the complex relations in everyday life which are largely influenced by power relations.

ReferenceCoser, Lewis A. and Bernard Rosenberg. (eds), Sociological theory: a book of readings, London: McMillen Company