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Abstract

The article is a discussion of the concept of power in three different and though related theories: the theories of Jürgen Habermas, Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault. In everyday life, the concept of power is used as if it only had one interpretation: power as possessed by somebody (‘the powerful’) while exercised over someone else (‘the powerless’). In this case, power is considered as a (potentially) repressive force and ascribed to a person or a society. Though, power can be comprehended otherwise: as not possessed and productive. In the paper, the three conceptions of power are presented and discussed in relation to each other and to specific philosophical topics like dualism, reductionism, determinism and auto- nomy, truth, normativity and relativism. Finally, the paper shows that the applied power concept has significant consequences to the way we consider conflicts in practice. Thus, considering power as a repressive force possessed by somebody evidentially leads to designation of an offender and a victim, while a more depersonified power concept will lead to analyzing the conflict as a relational occurrence.