The Dynamics of Power and Change

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King famously said, “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and . . . love without power is sentimental and anemic.” But many on the left seem allergic to power. This episode starts with a fundamental question: What is power? 

Drawing on the influential sociologists Michael Mann and Erik Olin Wright, Stephanie and Deepak present a novel typology, identifying six forms of power and giving examples of each. Then we hear from a guest who has brilliantly analyzed right-wing strategies to build power over the past several decades: Ilyse Hogue, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America and co-author, with Ellie Langford, of The Lie that Binds (which is also a terrific 6-part podcast). Hogue debunks the myth that the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade was the turning point in conservative organizing. In fact, she says the catalyst that activated a white, patriarchal, evangelical movement was Brown v. Board of Education, which challenged the power of churches in education. Hogue describes how in the 1970s, Phyllis Schlafly organized a mass movement to narrowly defeat the Equal Rights Amendment not, as many mistakenly believe, based on opposition to abortion but through scaremongering about women being drafted and being abandoned by husbands who would refuse to pay alimony. Schlafly’s skill at recruiting footsoldiers made her a kingmaker for Ronald Reagan and, decades later, Donald Trump. Hogue concludes with an insightful analysis of the parallels between these two presidents, the lessons we can learn from right-wing successes and failures in amassing power, and the strategic opportunities the left can seize on today to widen fissures within the conservative coalition.