Sorry drear readers, I've been away for a while writing assignments for the subjects I hope to complete this semester.
All looks good so far.
I got a Distinction for my Sociology final essay.
Took the bloody tutor for ages to get the grade back to me but.
We were given a list of concepts: ideology, class, ethnicity, etc.
We had to choose one and carry out an original research project in that area.
I chose power.
Of course all the Gen Y townies had taken all of the relevant books out of the library.
So I was left with a book by JRP French & B. Raven: The Bases of Social Power.
This was published in 1959 and seems to be a bit on the PSY-side of things.
Still, it says there are five types of power.
(Don't you just love books that have "N Types" on offer?)
The five types are:
1. Positional. Sheer authority. A dictator.
2. Referent. Gaining loyalties through charisma. A film star.
3. Expert. Based on skill and knowledge. A professor; an inventor.
4. Coercive. The right to withhold or give rewards. Employers.
5. Informative. Having info others need. Witnesses to a crime.
So what I did was a case study.
I went over the road to interview the Prof and asked him about how he came to leave The University and what that might have to do with the five types of power.
This was very illuminating.
It seems his demise was due to one particular Professor of Administration.
At that time, universities were working on some kind of business model.
They got people in from international companies.
Of course, what they didn't realise is that they were getting the dregs.
Natch: if you were half good in the real business world, you could earn 20 times a professor's salary.
So they got the crap end of what was left.
Anyway, this guy ... let's call him Arnold ... was a reject from a branch of an oil company somewhere in SE Asia.
He'd been chucked out for fiddling with the figures.
But he had what the Prof describes as an "Asian mentality", even though he was, strangely enough, Belgian.
That is, he couldn't stand to lose face.
Apparently, the Prof had a tendency to call him to account in meetings.
Like: "We've been here twenty minutes, how about you stop wanking on about yourself and get on with the agenda?"
That sort of thing.
So Arnold got himself a hit list.
The Prof showed me a copy he was sent from a reliable source.
And his name was at the top.
So there was a kind of show trial involving the head of Inhuman Resources, Greta Vomit-Burger
She was the shoulder-pads-and-brooches bitch Nazi from Hell who had (surprise!) been chucked out of private enterprise herself.
The Prof left the place humiliated.
There was no other choice.
So: back to the five types of power.
Arnold obviously thought his power was Type 1: positional power.
He demanded respect instead of deserving it.
And he had delusions of Type 2: referent power.
Maybe he was confusing himself with Schwartzie?
Of course, he should have considered Type 3: which is what universities are (or should be) actually based on.
But that was outwith his ultra-limited pseudo-mentality.
So he actually wielded Type 4: Coercive power.
He had no claims to Type 5: Informative power.
Ironically, he was brought into the place because of his soi-disant IT connections.
All the Prof ever saw was a Photoshop manual on the bookshelf next to pictures of his Chinese trophy wife.
No books to be seen otherwise.
Must have taken them home in case they needed to be coloured in?
This is just the blood and guts of the thing.
Maybe that's what sociology should be about?
Who knows?
Still, I wrote a plausible essay around all this.
And got a Distinction.
By the time I'm in my 80s, I might even be suitable professorial material myself.
But if that's what you have to go through, I think I'll stick to the harmonica.
You can play that on any street corner with your cap in hand and not feel any humiliation.
Sledge
