The Meta-Power Paradigm

«The book provides an innovative perspective in the study of power, a central concept not adequately conceptualized in the social sciences […] Theoretically robust and empirically grounded, the volume is rewarding reading for all those who are interested in the governance and change of contemporary global society.» (Alberto Martinelli, University of Milan, Italy, Former President of the International Sociological Association)
«In this book that all micro-theorists should welcome, Tom Burns and Peter Hall, along with other leading scholars, develop models that permit the connection of […] interaction and meaning with a deep recognition of how institutions and social systems operate. It […] belongs on the shelves of all sociologists who wish to understand the linkage between action and structure.» (Gary Alan Fine, Northwestern University, USA)
«‘Meta-Power’ offers a superb and all too rare combination of theoretical framing and empirical studies. Grasping power as action rather than property or attribute, Burns and Hall forge fresh sociological lenses that dissolve tired agency/structure dualisms. They detail many and diverse forms of ‘powering’ and a spectrum of ‘powering mechanisms’, demonstrating how these transect human, natural, material and techno-scientific phenomena, all of which are themselves active. They do not flinch at the complexities of life on earth but engage them. Bravo indeed!» (Adele Clark, University of California, San Francisco, USA)