The conflict or competition between or among classes make the classes are solid within themselves. The individual conflict is avoidable. A social class can be
understood as a condition of group life which was constantly generated by the organization production. This class formation is important, moreover essential, in
order to keep the existence of a common „class enemy‟, because without it
competition between individuals would prevail. The situation within classes as communities will be good if the
competition was brought in a fair condition. If there is dominationmonopoly of a specific number of people, the situation will be worst as what Marx had ever
written: “Accumulation of wealth at one pole is, therefore, at the same time
accumulation of misery, agony of toil, slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation, at the opposite pole
” Bendix 10.
3. Power and Status Relations
The role of power in a society becomes one of the main things in status relation and how the community will be built. Maintaining power in a society is a
must but needs consequences in practice. Power is needed in maintaining the management of a community in order to bring this community into a better future.
But, an unmanageable or uncontrollable power will lead into great destruction of a community.
Talcot Parsons says that power is one of the key concepts in the great western tradition of thought about political phenomena Parsons 240. To know
the roles of power in a society, it is important to know the nature of power. The PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
nature of power explained is based on the book titled Power and Society, An Introduction to the Social Sciences written by Thomas R. Dye. It is important for
us to know the nature of power in order that we can see the way power “works” in a society. Dye has proposed seven elements related to the nature of power.
Firstly, power is the capacity to affect the conduct of individuals through the real or threatened use of rewards and punishments Dye 4. It means that
power is exercised over individuals or groups by offering them some things they value or by threatening to deprive them of those things. We can use power as a
tool to rule the situation and persons. The rulers manage power by offering people some specific values so that they can build their society stronger. Power also
offers punishment if the “followers” do not obey or live the value they agreed. Secondly, we see power as a special form of influence. Influence is the
production of intended effects Dye 4. When people can produce intended effects by any means, we can say that they are influential. It is logic that someone who
has power also has influential effect in hisher society. Someone can be said to be powerful if heshe can produce intended effects by the real or threatened use of
rewards and punishments. Thirdly, power can rest on various resources Dye 4. It means that the
exercise of power assumes many different forms – the giving or withholding of
many different values. Yet power bases are usually interdependent – individuals
who control certain resources are likely to control other resources as well. This situation is next, to be one of the main problem that occur in a society related to
the misuse of power. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Fourth, power is never equally distributed Dye 4. “Power holder” must
control some values in hisher society in order to get hisher influence. This situation urge for one domination. By controlling the values, the power holder is
in a position to offer these values as rewards to others or to threaten to deprive others of these values. There is no power if power is equal.
Fifth, power is a relationship among individuals, groups, and institutions in society Dye 4. When someone is isolated from hisher society, heshe is
powerless. We can say that power is not really a “thing” that an individual possesses. Instead, power is a relationship in which some individuals or groups
have control over certain resources. When someone wants to be powerful, heshe has to manage hisher relationship well.
Sixth, power is exercised in interpersonal relations. Psychologist Rollo May wrote that “power means the ability to affect, to influence, and to change
other persons” Dye 4. In a society, interpersonal relation is the first step to “conquer” the mass as a whole community.
The last one, power is exercised in large institutions – governments,
corporations, schools, the military, churches, newspapers, television networks, law firms, and so on. Power that stems from high positions in the social structures
of society is stable and far-reaching Dye 5. Sociologist C. Wright Mills observed: “No one can be truly powerful
unless he has access to the command of major institutions, for it is over these institutional means of power that the truly powerful are, in the first instance,
powerful Dye 5 .” Not all power, it is true, is anchored in or exercised through
