Michael Mann’s History of social power

In this essay, I summarize the main lines of Mann’s historical sociology, with particular focus on his work on social power. First of all (1), I examine Mann’s organizational conception of power and his approach to historical macrosociology. Secondly (2), I analyze the four sources of social power (ideological, economic, political and military power) and the different forms of organizational power Mann identifies: infrastructural and despotic power, collective and distributive power, intensive and extensive power, authoritative and diffused power. Finally (3), in a necessarily synthetic way, I go through the historical reconstructions presented in The Sources of Social Power, so as to give an overview of the practical application of the IEMP model.