Power elite
cians to a wide audience, in power-broking, has
resulted in their being referred to as the fourth
estate; that is, they rank alongside the judiciary,
the church and government as exercizers of
power and infl uence. Indeed it is the media who
play an essential role in communicating to the
public the nature, location and distribution of
power in the community and the power-rela-
tionships operating within it; hence the central
interest among media analysts and researchers
in the media’s capacity to infl uence, shape, rein-
force or undermine the exercize of power at all
levels of society, and the degree to which public
attitudes and behaviour may be infl uenced. See
democracy and the media; effects of the
mass media. See also topic guides under
media: issues & debates; media: ownership
& control; media: politics & economics;
media: power, effects, influence; media:
processes & production; media: values &
ideology.
Power elite Term used by C. Wright Mills in
his seminal analysis Power, Politics and People
(Oxford University Press, 1963) to describe those
members of a society who combine social and
political privilege with power and infl uence. See
cultural apparatus; elite; establishment;
hegemony.
PR See public relations (pr).
Pragmatics Adam Jaworski and Nikolas Coup-
land in Th e Discourse Reader (Routledge, 2006)
note that ‘closely related to semantics, which
is primarily concerned with the study of word
and sentence meaning, pragmatics concerns
itself with the meaning of utterances in specifi c
contexts of use’. Numerous factors within the
context of a communicative act can affect
its meaning: for example, the purpose of the
interaction; expectations as regards relevant or
suitable topics for conversation; the nature of
the relationships between the communicators;
and expectations concerning politeness. See
assertiveness; facework; communication:
intercultural communication.
Predatory pricing In relation to the press,
reduction in the price of a newspaper in order to
undercut the competition, and in the long run to
put the competition out of business.
Preferred reading Stuart Hall poses this concept
in ‘The determination of news photographs’
in Stanley Cohen and Jock Young, eds, The
Manufacture of News (Constable, 1973). Here the
preferred reading of a photograph – preferred,
that is, by the transmitter of the photograph- is one, Hall believes, that guides us to an
interpretation which lies within the traditional
which enables him to do it.’ As well as resources,
the exercise of power and infl uence requires a
power base and at the same time the selection
of appropriate methods of influence. In turn
this is predicated to a considerable extent on the
acceptance of, or acquiescence in, the exercise of
power by those subjected to it.
John B. Th ompson off ers a distinction between
the diff ering sources of power and categorizes
these into four main types: economic, political,
coercive and symbolic. Of course these often
overlap, and the way in which they do so is in
itself an indication of the often complex and at
times mutually supportive relationships that
exist within the overall power structures.
Varying forms of power are often concentrated
in institutions. Economic power is based in
ownership or control of those resources required
for the productive activity involved in trans-
forming human, material and fi nancial resources
into goods and services, for sale or exchange in
a market in order to generate a means of subsis-
tence. Th is might also be described as corporate
power.
Political power stems from the authority,
usually of governments and those bodies
invested with authority, to organize the activi-
ties of individuals, groups or organizations and
nations. Coercive power expresses itself through
the use of force and can be found in a diverse
range of power relationships. Most states, what-
ever their form of government, have resources
that underscore their political power with the
ability to employ physical force when the exer-
cise of power by persuasion seems likely to fail.
Very diff erent, but not necessarily less eff ec-
tive, is symbolic power, which Th ompson defi nes
as stemming from ‘the activity of producing,
transmitting and receiving meaningful symbolic
forms’. He sees such activity as being ‘a funda-
mental feature of social life ... Individuals are
constantly engaged in the activity of expressing
themselves in symbolic forms and in interpret-
ing the expressions of others; they are constantly
involved in communicating with one another
and exchanging information and symbolic
content’.
To do so, individuals draw upon the various
‘means of information and communication’, such
as access to the channels of communication,
communicative competence, knowledge and
acknowledged expertise in areas of symbolic
exchange. Th e mass media serve as key opera-
tors of symbolic power.
Th e pivotal role that the media play in trans-
mitting information about politics and politi-