What we think about power
2 min read · June 16, 2023
New Power Labs
Across Canada, there are major disparities in how capital flows and who gets funded — from philanthropy to venture capital to impact investing — that leave many behind and limit our impact and potential as a nation.
The question of who holds power in capital flow dynamics is crucial to New Power Labs’ theory of change. We define this as the interpersonal association in which an individual (or group) can cause another individual (or group) to take action. And we believe power exists within and between entities whether we acknowledge it or not. It can be formal or informal, meaning we might not even be aware of where it exists.
By intentionally unpacking what we mean by power, we aim to be better able to take on systemic changes that improve access to capital to achieve equitable outcomes.
We’d love to unpack this with practitioners working towards shifting how power is distributed in our financial systems. Click through to see the full map, and share your thoughts on power and capital flows by hitting reply.
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Citations:
1. Adapted from the definition found in the Open Education Sociology Dictionary, as a simpler definition focused within organizations. See: “Power.” (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/power/
For a more thorough discussion, see: Poggi, G. (2006). “Power,” in The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 464-469.
2. French, J. R., Raven, B., & Cartwright, D. (1959). The bases of social power. Classics of organization theory, 7, 311-320.
3. Rucker, D. D., Galinsky, A. D., & Magee, J. C. (2018). The agentic–communal model of advantage and disadvantage: How inequality produces similarities in the psychology of Power, social class, gender, and race. In J. M. Olson (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 71–125). Elsevier Academic Press.
4. Jarrett, M. (2017). The 4 types of organizational politics, Harvard Business Review, 24 April 2017. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2017/04/the-4-types-of-organizational-politics
