Eleven Sources of Power
- Yevgen Nebesov
- Feb 13
- 3 min read
Power does not stem from authority alone. There are ten additional sources.
While the previous post explored the structural composition of power across four layers, this post shifts the analytical lens to the origins of power: what generates it, and from which sources it can be derived.
A classical framework for understanding this comes from John R. P. French and Bertram Raven in their foundational work The Bases of Social Power (1959). The authors distinguish six fundamental types of power, or “bases,” describing how an agent, whether a person or a group, can exert influence over a target, again a person or a group.
These six types primarily address overt expressions of power, especially within decision making and agenda setting processes. To capture deeper, more systemic, and symbolic dynamics, particularly those shaping beliefs, identities, and environments, we need to restructure and extend this list with additional sources of power. The result is the expanded set of eleven sources presented below.
1) Coercive Power: Power rooted in the threat of punishment or negative consequences.
Examples:
A manager threatens an employee with demotion or dismissal.
A government threatens journalists with imprisonment.
A teacher lowers a student’s grade for rule violations.
2) Reward Power: Power based on the ability to provide positive incentives.
Examples:
A parent offers extra screen time for completed homework.
A manager offers a bonus or promotion for meeting deadlines.
3) Legitimate Power: Power derived from recognized authority, usually tied to a formal role.
While coercion creates compliance through fear of punishment, legitimacy creates compliance through the recognized right to decide.
Examples:
A police officer directs traffic. Drivers comply not out of fear but out of recognition.
A judge declares a contract invalid in court, and both parties accept the ruling because the court has jurisdiction.
A Product Owner decides which features to implement next. The team accepts the decision because that role carries recognized authority.
4) Expert Power: Power that stems from superior knowledge or skill.
Examples:
A patient following a doctor’s advice.
A subject domain expert, asked by politicians to help them create a policy.
An IT specialist leading a task force due to deep expertise.
5) Referent Power: Power grounded in admiration, respect, or identification.
Examples:
A person adopting political views or fashion inspired by a celebrity.
A social media influencer shaping purchasing decisions.
A charismatic startup founder attracting talent and funding.
6) Informational Power: Power through selective disclosure, framing, or withholding of meaning-relevant information.
Examples:
An executive assistant controlling access to reports or agendas.
A whistleblower releasing documents that shift public opinion.
7) Narrative Power: Power exercised through control of symbols, language, and meaning.
Examples:
A news outlet framing a conflict as “a war” or “a hostage-rescue operation.”
A manager calling layoffs “strategic restructuring.”
The 19th-century invention of the “homosexual” as a psychiatric category, enabling new forms of social and medical control.
8) Data Power: Power through systematic collection, aggregation, and computational processing of behavioral traces at scale.
Examples:
Social media algorithms shaping exposure and attention.
Tax authorities adjusting obligations based on detailed income data.
Insurance companies adjusting premiums based on driving telemetry.
9) System Design Power: Power embedded in the design of environments, architectures, and processes.
Examples:
Speed bumps nudging drivers to slow down.
Bureaucratic processes forcing long waiting periods.
Default UI flows guiding user behaviour.
10) Psychological Power: Power that manipulates through emotional triggers such as fear, shame, guilt, admiration, or dependency.
Psychological power operates below the surface, often bypassing rational evaluation.
Examples:
A cult leader creating dependency through alternating fear and flattery.
A spouse using guilt to influence their partner’s decisions.
11) Legacy Power: Power derived from accumulated privilege, historical structures, or inherited status that continues to reproduce advantage across generations.
Examples:
Noble families whose status persists through inheritance (e.g., a king’s son becoming the next king).
Colonizers’ languages (e.g., English, French, Spanish, Arabic) creating global linguistic ecosystems that benefit native speakers in diplomacy, business, and academia.
Why It Matters
If power has multiple sources, then resistance and change require multiple lenses.
Most people focus on the visible ones: authority, coercion, reward. They try to negotiate with decision makers, persuade leaders, or compete for formal roles. But often the decisive forces operate elsewhere.
A policy may fail not because authority is weak, but because narrative power frames it as illegitimate. A reform may stall not because experts disagree, but because legacy power protects incumbents. A project may collapse not because of bad leadership, but because system design power silently steers behavior in another direction.
Understanding the sources of power changes the strategic question. Instead of asking, “Who is in charge?”, the more useful question becomes, “Which sources of power are shaping this situation?”
These theoretical ideas will be explored in practice in the upcoming webinar “The Architecture of Power” on 23 February 2026.
To learn more about how power operates across systems, subscribe to updates on The Architecture of Power book.
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