Sociologists have tended to assume that women do not wield any significant social power and do not figure amongst the powerful. Feminist analysts, by focusing on women’s powerlessness, have supported this perspective. Both feminist and sociological researchers generally accept a narrow, androcentric conception of power and as a result are predisposed to overlook women’s exercise of public power. A small body of research indicates, however, that in certain historical circumstances women, particularly women from the upper class, do wield important power in the public domain. It is suggested here that in order to clarify women’s relationship to power and women’s role amongst the powerful, power must be reformulated in a manner more compatible with women’s social experience. Some proposals are presented toward this reconceptualization of power.
