Opening up new avenues for research on social power

Abstract

Power shapes relations within social contexts—often with relevant consequences for those lower and higher in power. To inspire novel ideas and dialogue on this topic, this special issue presents a collection of articles that illustrates important aspects of power research that have often received little attention to date. Specifically, we present four aspects that, from our perspective, for now as well as in the future can contribute to understanding the effects of power even better: (1) Going beyond main effects and considering contextual moderators; (2) Studying the mechanisms that bring the effects of social power about; (3) Examining the way those high in power behave towards each other; and (4) Taking into account that lay persons’ perception of power might affect how they deal with power. To conclude, while we already know many answers to how power shapes social interactions within hierarchies, there are also open questions that remain to be addressed in future research. This special issue gives four examples that may contribute towards targeting these future avenues — in the hope that many more research on aspects like this will follow.