Why People Obey

Recent sociological studies of power in organizations, although oriented toward practical ends, offer promise for a general sociological theory of power. Empirically grounded organizational studies examine social life as practiced by actors and preserve the tension between structure and action. Exchange theory and structural theories of power, in contrast, are abstract and theoretical; by asserting the primacy of structures (structural theories) or action (exchange theory), they cannot account well for the dialectic of human agency and structural constraint. We suggest the theoretical implications of organizational analysis and compare this perspective with traditional sociological approaches to power.