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Jenelle Bonner
DSOC 1101 – Sec 211
Reading Summary: Power and Powerlessness (Chapters 2 & 3)
Gaventa continues his study of the role of power in quiescence by more closely
examining Central Appalachia. He begins by describing the present day conditions in the
area and the abject poverty that they experience. He notes that the land itself is not poor,
but rather resource rich. However, the average resident rarely sees the revenue from the
various goods taken from the area. Rather, the capital produced there is distributed
amongst large conglomerate corporations. The lack of protest against the stark
inequalities in the region implies an ominous power relationship.
Gaventa goes into more detail about the balance and the historical shaping of
power in the region. The people began as an independent, isolated community that
slowly became industrialized. The process began as an acquisition of land, then moved to
economic boom and political control by the corporations present. Eventually political
power evolved into ideological control, which covers all three dimensions of power
discussed in the introductory chapter.
The author uses many primary source materials such as letters, magazine articles,
power made the difference between Appalachia and other industrialized regions.
