Power From Below

There are different definitions and meanings of power. Being a politician is a type of power. Other power is more different as it might involve numerous people of groups which forms into mass or crowd, by different individuals, and that is ‘power from below’. Power can be both positive or negative, depends on how it is being used. Below I will be mentioning different types of perspectives of the term 'Power from Below'.

An example of power from below is when an issue that might not be addressed well during the governance of a country may cause to have individuals that forms a group to protest or sign petitions for it. In that way individuals, will be in power of acting/standing up for the situation being. Due to that, one individual will not have enough strength to express his/her own opinion, especially when people who are considered as middle class or lower class.

On the other hand, a government may seem to give power to its citizens, by showing the best picture of its governance and may start to give people money through reductions of things, etc. This way people gets manipulated to vote for the political party in government. However, the other political parties opposing the government may also show people a better picture from what it’s being delivered by the present government, also intending to manipulate people to vote for them too. In my opinion in Malta this matter happens a lot, which leads to have people to lose interest in politics. Apart from that, politics is always a large debate around Malta and sometimes I lose interest in it as well.

Money is also a source of power from below within society. For instance, having organizations collecting money for charity will eventually improve other people’s life by having individuals giving small amounts of money which eventually result in bigger amounts collectively.

Social media is a very powerful tool, that society has, which can be considered as power from below. It can serve as a good tool or sometimes a weapon. For instance, trends start from one person, most probably a celebrity and influences the society to act to a certain way. It may seem to be something which is small but will turn into something big once it is into social media.

Another form of power from below is when a small misunderstanding or misinterpretation happen, it may lead to rumors, that might affect a victim’s life. It may cause bullying towards an innocent person who will be the victim of a rumor. It is a tendency in us humans that when negative news or gossip is happening, we tend to show more interest and give it more importance than anything positive. I think that education, may do a huge difference, to educate people to act in certain manners in different situations, this will eventually change the way that new generations start to think.

Reference:

Fox Piven, F., 2008. Can Power from Below Change the World? American Sociological Review, Volume 73. Official Journal of the American Sociological Association. Available from: http://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/images/asa/docs/pdf/2007%20Presidential%20Address%20(Piven)%20ASR%20Feb%202008.pdf [Accessed 5 November 2016].