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The basic premise of this lucid book is that the motivating impact of power in the formative years and beyond is seriously underestimated within psychoanalytic circles. Horner maintains that the wish for power is second only to the need for love. As the experience of power is an intoxicant of sorts, she continues, it can sometimes even take precedence over love.
Horner reinterprets the developmental stages put forth by Margaret Mahler and provides a new perspective from which to comprehend power. She describes a developmental sequence with “crisis” points that need to be worked through to avoid unhealthy forms of powers to emerge. Each maturation stage has its power correlates, which, if left unresolved, will resurface later on in neurotic forms.
The author studies several types of power: formal power, intrinsic power, and defensive or compensatory power. Formal power rests in those who have authority over the self—parents, teachers, employers, members of the police force, the government. The workplace, for instance, is a stage where uses of formal power revive old parent-child issues. Apathy and various forms of rebellions will likely arise if leaders at the workplace abuse their formal power. On the other hand, job satisfaction and motivation to work will likely increase when leaders use their power benevolently.
The healthiest form of power is intrinsic power. Horner defines it as the experience of an internal locus of control, basic trust, hope, a sense of adequacy, competency, a conflict-free autonomy, self-sameness over time, self-esteem, and a comfort with the aggressive drives that are necessary for pursuing goals in life. Intrinsic power also provides one with a feeling of effectiveness and of having an impact on others and events without guilt or shame. It includes a strong sense of