Power: on the issue of defining it

Among the phenomena having the social nature, the power is the phenomenon providing institutionalization and designing of structure and the system of the organization of society. It sets not only the levels of institutionalizing, but also the levels of the relationship influencing the tradition per se, its ethic and legal system. The power, being initially individual and public “institute”, also forms two types of standard institutionalization - axiological eschatological system and civil and political (etatist) system, which provides several types of hierarchization and subordination: generic / specific and hierocratic, implemented in the history as ethnocultural national tradition. Thus, the power as a functional and institutional phenomenon represents itself as a reproduction process the essence of which is realization of sacralization, codification, legitimation and management principles. All this in complex also defines the status of the power - its place in the social system which also has direct expression in the image of its sender - the actor/subject acting on its behalf. While analyzing the phenomenon of power, namely the volume and the essence of this notion the article emphasizes/highlights its qualitative semantic (genetic) characteristic - alienation, which at the same time serves as the fundamental platform for forming the sovereign - “I” (subjectivity). The nature of “alienation” as the basic function is unique in its ability to reveal, provide manifestation of universals and/or categories, the most basic of which are binomials, such as: “being and nothingness”, “sacred - profane”, “spiritual -material”, “ideal - real”, “The god / Absolute - a person”, “transcendent - transcendental / immanent”, “the power - a right / duty”, “one whole - concrete / individual”, “common - private”, etc. The hypothesis is made that it is due to this “natural” similarity that processes of sacralization/clericalisation of power and religization of policy, as well as ideologization and politicization (etatization) of religion, occur (being, in fact, defamation of each category) if the institutes of science and education do not provide the onto-axiological grounds, and legislative and law enforcement agencies do not provide separation of powers and development of civil and state processes and institutes. In conclusion, the following author's definition is put forward: power is the actor's ability to alienate the right of self-determination in favor of a subject of a higher level, for the purpose of distribution of powers for all types of the actors forming the system (society). In the course of delegation and social interaction the power gains the nature of the dynamic institutional system which is in a condition of continuous development. This system within an episteme appears as well as the function providing dialectic unity of the elements by means of continuous communication through sacralization/coercion, legitimation/defamation, certification (sanction)/restriction.

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